Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputy Luis “The Stache” Hernandez won his first UFC fight on Saturday against Sedriques Dumas, a convicted felon.
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The UFC promoted the fight as cop vs convict.
Hernandez, the first active-duty law enforcement officer to make it to the big leagues of mixed martial arts, was declared the winner by submission after putting Dumas in a standing guillotine chokehold in the first 57 seconds of the first round.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office congratulated Hernandez’s win on Instagram.
“Hey, the bosses called me, a day-and-a-half notice, I’m ready to go. I’m healthy right now,” Hernandez said after the fight.
Prior to the fight, Dumas posted an AI-made video of a uniformed police officer, meant to be Hernandez, and himself, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, dancing together.
After the fight, Hernandez called out online comments going after Dumas.
“I just want to say something,” Hernandez said. “All the hate online on my opponent, listen, the guy has a family, and whatever he did in the past, I’m hoping he changed his life, let’s treat him with respect.”
“You kinda expect a promotion like this, they’re trying to hook you in for a Saturday night fight night,” said Brendan Tobin, sports talk radio host at WQAM.
“Being able to make history and be a role model, that’s the biggest thing to me,” Hernandez told NBC6 a few days ago, before he knew who his first opponent would be.
“It’s really great, it’s an awesome story, especially knowing his journey to get there,” Tobin said.
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Besides his popular job in sports talk radio, Tobin is also an MMA expert. He says Hernandez had the chance to make an instant splash by facing an opponent who has a felony background, including being arrested 14 times on various charges since 2014.
“They call me right now, ‘Hey Luis, you want to fight in Utah next weekend?’ I’m in,” Hernandez said on Tobin’s show last week.
“Usually, when you’re new in the UFC, you gotta be willing to jump at a moment’s notice to go in there and he’s doing it,” Tobin explained.
Dumas had expected to fight another guy but he dropped out because of an injury, so Hernandez jumped at the chance to make his debut.
“Yeah, and I’m sure that’s gotta put a little more pressure on him, you would think at the police station, this is one you can’t lose, don’t lose if you’re him,” Tobin said about facing a convicted felon.
“I’ve had fights that are three days notice, I’ve had fights that are three weeks notice, for me, there’s a saying, if you stay ready, you don’t gotta get ready,” Hernandez said on Tobin’s show.
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Hernandez remains undefeated.