At 10-2, Nohelin Hernandez was called upon to fill in at UFC 239 against Marlon Vera.
The UFC is coming to Las Vegas, Nevada, in the T-Mobile Arena on July 6. The card is headlined by the light heavyweight champ, Jon Jones, defending his title against Thiago Santos. In the co-main, Amanda Nunes defends her bantamweight title against Holly Holm. On that card, Marlon Vera was scheduled to take on Sean O’Malley. Once again, O’Malley was forced to withdraw a second straight time due to a failed drug test. Now, Nohelin Hernandez is set to take on Marlon Vera on short notice.
5’8″
Bantamweight
25-years-old
Gilroy, California
American Kickboxing Academy
10-2
3 KO/TKO
How Will Nohelin Hernandez Fare in the UFC:
Nohelin Hernandez is a solid young prospect out of American Kickboxing Academy with only two losses. His first loss came to Fierce Taylor Jr. where he was dropped early and finished with a rear-naked choke. His second loss came to Vincent Cachero in a three-round war that could have gone either way. Hernandez is purely a striker, very rarely ever shooting for a takedown and his takedown defense had held up for the most part. “Suave” is an excellent boxer, always throwing in combinations of up to three or more strikes. He has a solid jab and does a good job at slipping punches and landing counters. The seven decisions may deceive you but he is no boring fighter as he is always an aggressive volume striker.
When Hernandez sets his feet, however, his head sits still. He also tends to throw across his body. Both of those are reasons why he’s been tagged and dropped a few times in his career. Hernandez has been taken down before but his overall takedown defense is pretty good. He’s a good addition that will be in a lot of fun fights and at his age, he could develop.
How Nohelin Hernandez Matches Up with Marlon Vera:
The biggest factor here is the UFC experience of Vera with 11 total fights for the promotion. John Lineker is easily the best guy Vera has fought, but he clearly lost and his best win was against Brian Kelleher. I would have said his best in was Brad Pickett but Pickett was way past his prime and Vera was losing up until a third-round finish. In Vera’s wins to Guido Cannetti, Wuliji Buren, and Guangyou Ning he lost rounds and those are guys you shouldn’t lose rounds to. What I’m saying is Vera is a slow starter and that’s something a guy like Hernandez can take advantage of. Vera would be wise to take this fight to the mat but tends to strike and I don’t think his wrestling is good enough to get Hernandez down. It’s a close fight on the feet as Hernandez is the much cleaner technical striker, but his defense is a bit shaky. With that said, Hernandez has an excellent chin and is tough as hell. On very short notice, I still think Hernandez can get this done with more technical ability and more output.
