UFC star Alexander Hernandez has revealed his "d*** didn't work" when making the big weight cut down to featherweight.
Hernandez, 30, moves back up to lightweight to face UFC veteran Jim Miller in Las Vegas this Saturday after a failed stint at 145lb. 'The Great' started his UFC career at lightweight, impressively knocking out top contender Beneil Dariush in a huge upset to put the division on notice. After failing to put together a winning streak, Hernandez moved down to featherweight but has now moved back up to 155lb after having some problems with his private parts.
“I’ve got some of the best nutritionists in the world, Perfecting Athletes is the group I go with. It’s not like I wasn’t eating it was just small man,” Hernandez told reporters. “It was rough, it was the roughest. It wasn’t like I was moaning every day, I was locked in, but my d*** didn’t even work in the morning. I was Gender X, just moving through for three months. Just a straightforward path.”
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“Doing that for enough time probably weighs on the brain a little bit. It was tough, everything was low. Everything was depleted. I felt strong though. I felt fast, I felt faster than I’ve ever felt. The conditioning was fantastic, but I just needed to keep the mental game right. I just needed to remember why I was doing all this pain and struggling for.”
Hernandez was knocked out by Billy Quarantillo in his sole featherweight fight last December, marking his third loss in his past four fights. He stepped up on less than two weeks notice to face Miller this Saturday after the promotional veteran's original opponent Gabriel Benitez withdrew from the bout.
Miller is one of the longest-serving fighters on the UFC roster having made his debut for the organisation 15 years ago. The 39-year-old is unbeaten in three fights, winning a decision against fellow veteran Donald Cerrone in his last fight. Hernandez thinks his recent losses are because of a mental battle, but insists that he is in a good space going into his fight this weekend.
"After my last fight, I was telling my manager and coach that I don't want to do another 14-week camp. It's never become more evident to me that [my losses] are a physical issue, it's a mental issue. I'm really enthusiastic and I'm angry at myself as I want to get redemption. The weight cut is now simple," he added.
