Dricus du Plessis couldn’t get much going against Khamzat Chimaev, and one surging contender thinks he knows why.

Entering UFC 319, du Plessis was looking for his third successful UFC Middleweight Championship defense. It was apparent early on that Chimaev’s takedowns and control would be the story of the night. “Borz” had a methodical game plan that allowed him to preserve energy all the way until the final horn.

Chimaev took home a unanimous decision and the 185-pound gold. Anthony Hernandez could very well be Chimaev’s first challenger if he nabs an impressive performance over Reinier de Ridder on Oct. 18. Speaking to Mike Heck of MMAFighting.com, Hernandez said du Plessis did himself no favors in his title-losing effort against Chimaev.

“I was [surprised], until I started watching what DDP was doing,” Hernandez said. “It’s like, bro, you’re doing all big explosive strong guy shit. That shit doesn’t work against good wrestlers, like they can flow off of that shit. So like DDP just kind of f*cked himself on that, and then Khazmat did a really good job of keeping the pressure on him, keeping him on his hands, keeping it so he couldn’t get up, and I mean, it’s very high level on Khazmat’s end.”

Hernandez didn’t exactly find the title bout to be enjoyable to watch.

“But to watch as a fan and watch to enjoy blood and shit, like people cracking the f*ck out of each other and like mixing it up. It was kind of boring, but like, that’s just my opinion.”

Hernandez has a big opportunity to plant his flag in the middleweight contender race. Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho will collide on Saturday to make their case for a title fight against Chimaev. If the fight ends up being a letdown, it opens the door for Hernandez and de Ridder to make a statement in their middleweight clash.