Ikram Aliskerov out, Anthony Hernandez now faces Roman Kopylov at UFC 298
Roman Kopylov steps up
UFC 298 took a slight hit this week when Russian stud Ikram Aliskerov (15-1) was forced from his upcoming clash with Anthony Hernandez (11-2, 1 NC) a couple days ago.
Though many of us were very much looking forward to this match up, the UFC has given us a stellar replacement as fellow Russian striker Roman Kopylov (12-2) is expected to take Aliskerov’s place and fight Hernandez at this event.
UFC 298 is to go down on February 17, 2024, live from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Aliskerov was coming into the bout on a seven-fight win streak that showcased six finishes, including three kimura submissions, one of which came in his Contender Series appearance, and back-to-back first round knockout victories to begin his UFC tenure. In contrast, his only career defeat comes to Khamzat Chimaev.
That was going to be a good one, but Kopylov has lately been making some serious waves in the UFC himself.
Roman Kopylov came to the UFC in 2019 as the FNG middleweight champion, having won and defended the title in his two bouts prior to joining the promotion, both wins coming via fourth round knockout.
Kopylov would go through some growing pains once first coming over, suffering back-to-back defeats to Karl Roberson (rear naked choke) and Albert Duraev (UD). Since then, however he’s gone 4-0 with wins over the likes of Alessio Di Chirico (KO), Puna Soriano (TKO), former kickboxer Claudio Riberio (KO), and most recently Josh Fremd (KO) this past September.
Anthony Hernandez also came to the UFC as an unbeaten talent, and he also went through a rough patch to begin his promotional tenure.
Following a 40-second KO victory over Jordan Wright on the Contender Series, a win that would later be overturned due to a failed post-fight drug test for marijuana, Hernandez would go 1-2 through his first three promotional bouts, losing to Markus Perez (anaconda choke), defeating Jun-Yong Park (anaconda choke), and losing to Kevin Holland (TKO).
Hernandez would win the 2021 Submission of the Year in his next fight however, where he submitted (guillotine choke) perhaps the greatest grappler to ever step foot into an MMA cage, six-time BJJ World Champion Rodolfo Vieira.
This was followed up by three more wins over the likes of Josh Fremd (UD), Marc-Andre Barriault (arm-triangle choke), and Edmen Shahbazyan (TKO) last May.
There are a lot of parallels between these two and their careers:
- If it weren’t for Hernandez’ no contest, he would also be 12-2 as a professional, just like Kopylov
- Both men come into this fight on four-fight win streaks
- Both men are finishers, Hernandez having finished 10 of his 12 wins and Kopylov having finished 11 of his, the only decision he ever won being in his first ever fight
- They both get better as the fight goes on and finish opponents late more often than early – Hernandez boasting two second-round finishes and two third-round finishes in his five-win UFC career, Kopylov boasting five second-round finishes, three third-round finishes, and two fourth-round finishes in his 12-win career
- Both came over to the UFC as champions – Hernandez having won the LFA middleweight championship against current no. 7 ranked Brendan Allen in his fight prior to joining, and Kopylov having won the FNG middleweight title against Abusupyan Alikhanov, who’s since gone 5-0 and is 14-1 in his last 15 with the only defeat coming to him
This is going to be a good one!
Who walks away from this middleweight bout going down at UFC 298 the victor?
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