Anthony Hernandez accuses Gregory Rodrigues of ‘cheating’ at UFC Sacramento

Anthony Hernandez has accused Gregory Rodrigues of rule violations following their middleweight clash at UFC Sacramento, where Rodrigues secured a unanimous decision victory in a grueling five-round encounter. Both fighters earned Fight of the Night honors, yet Hernandez believes the outcome was tainted by Rodrigues' allegedly repeated glove-grabbing during grappling exchanges.

At the post-fight press conference, Hernandez praised Rodrigues' toughness while lodging his complaint. "I hit him a few times, I rocked his sh*t, he's a tough son of a b*tch," Hernandez said. "I hit him with everything and the kitchen sink, hit him with some hard elbows, f*cker was cheating and grabbing the inside of my gloves and I told [referee] Herb [Dean] that."

Hernandez claimed Rodrigues grabbed his gloves as many as four times during the fight to gain an advantage in clinch situations. According to Hernandez, referee Herb Dean was made aware of the infractions and verbally warned Rodrigues to stop, but no point deduction was issued. "I told f*cking Herb, 'This motherf*cker grabbed my glove, like, four times. Hey, he's grabbing my gloves,' and he told him, 'Hey, stop'," Hernandez recounted.

The loss marks Hernandez's second consecutive UFC defeat, leaving him with work to do to climb back into contention. Rodrigues, meanwhile, extended his winning streak to four fights and used his post-fight interview to call out top middleweight Dricus Du Plessis. Glove-grabbing accusations are not uncommon in MMA, though they typically require clear visual evidence or multiple observations by officials to result in point deductions.