“A little bit of tension hoping everything goes f***ing smooth, but really excited, really grateful to be back at fight week and get everything going,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez was in Las Vegas earlier this year, primed to face off with fellow streaking veteran Michael Johnson at UFC 324 before their bout was pulled from the card hours before they made the walk. While nothing official became of the situation—Johnson returned to action a few weeks ago— the public drama and scrutiny definitely didn’t sit well with the fiery San Antonio native to start.
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“It made me a little disillusioned, untrustworthy of the powers at play, and the security around myself,” admitted Hernandez. “You’ve got these uninformed, prop-bet social media profiles, unregulated bookies, and an uneducated bureau that can come after you, and as a fighter, there’s not really anyone looking out for you to take care of circumstances completely out of your control like rumor milling and information spreading… It was certainly a headache and a half dealing with that for the five weeks after the fight, getting everything squared up with the UFC. I let them know pretty staunchly that I’m not afraid of the Feds or going to prison. I’m afraid of losing my job — being flagged as a liability and then put on ice during these prime years. So I’m grateful we were able to turn around and get back in there as soon as we were.
“It was a long, stressful five weeks, but we were able to get a new contract, and six weeks later, here we are with a fight,” he added. “I’m excited for that and really want everything to run super-smooth and have no bulls*** to pop up, you know what I mean?”