You only get one Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut!
Only one fighter out The ultimate fighter (TUF) Finale’s first appearance in the Octagon UFC Vegas 121 last night (Saturday, September 26, 2026) at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada — and “The Stache” made quite the impression.
Now that the dust has settled, we grade the individual newcomers to UFC Vegas 121.
One caveat: I am not judging the fighters competing in the TUF Finals. I rate them after their first appearance in the Octagon on TUF. It said, shout Tin Black—he is great and violent.
“The Stache” immediately attacked with a combination, but Dumas escaped the threat. Hernandez then hit him with a left hand, pinned him against the fence and dragged him to the canvas.
As Dumas scrambled to his feet, Hernandez wrapped up a standing guillotine. Dumas quickly tapped out, ending the fight just 57 seconds into the opening round (watch the highlights).
While Dumas isn’t particularly good, it was still a breakout performance for Hernandez, who immediately looked like a potential fan favorite. His wild celebration and over-the-top personality certainly helped, as did the matchmaking joke that practically wrote itself: an active sheriff’s deputy fighting a convicted felon.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Hernandez now holds a perfect 9-0 record with a 100 percent finish rate, including six submissions and three knockouts. Seven of them have been won in the first round.
He’s not exactly the most polished or technically refined fighter, but he’s an absolute berserker who immediately sends opponents into chaos. This aggressiveness will cause problems for many fighters, although I still want to see what happens when someone survives their initial storm and forces them to fight deep into the second or third round.
Hernandez plans to drop down to middleweight for his next appearance. If that happens, I would answer him Nikolai Veretennikov.
If he stays at middleweight, give him Ryan Loder.
Click for complete results, coverage and highlights from UFC Vegas 121 HERE.