Overview
- UFC officials announced during the UFC 323 broadcast that the middleweights will top the Fight Night card at the Toyota Center in Houston.
- The bout features No. 3-ranked Sean Strickland (29-7) against No. 4-ranked Anthony Hernandez (15-2, 1 NC).
- Strickland returns after a six-month Nevada Athletic Commission ban for entering a regional cage and attempting an attack while cornering.
- The former titleholder is 1–2 in his last three fights, with a win over Paulo Costa sandwiched between two losses to Dricus Du Plessis.
- Hernandez arrives on eight consecutive wins after withdrawing from an October headliner against Reinier de Ridder because of injury.