Dricus Du Plessis broke down a pivotal middleweight clash at UFC Fight Night 267.

Former middleweight champion Sean Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) meets the streaking Anthony Hernandez (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in the Feb. 21 headliner (Paramount+) at Toyota Center in Houston.

Hernandez has been on a tear having won eight-straight fights, most recently a Performance of the Night submission of Roman Dolidze at UFC on ESPN 72. Hernandez has a knack for wearing his opponents down and overwhelming them, but Du Plessis isn’t sure if he’ll able to do that to Strickland.

“I’m so excited for that fight,” Du Plessis said on Fight Forecast. “Hernandez was one of the guys I saw come up. We actually were scheduled to fight, but circumstances with the fight didn’t happen. As of late and always, his fight style is crazy. He just goes and goes and goes, and his gas tank is crazy, especially with the way he fights. He strikes, he gets in there, he makes it ugly and he just breaks his opponents.

“He breaks them mentally, physically, just with the pure pace. His last fight against Roman Dolidze, it was insane because Dolidze is a high, high-level grappler, and Hernandez made him look like a beginner. It was a one-way ticket. Hernandez didn’t even look like he struggled once. Then you have Strickland, I speak from experience, keeping that guy on the ground, that is another task, and then breaking him physically and mentally, that is not an easy task.”

Du Plessis struggled to make a prediction for the fight, but ultimately sided with his former foe, whom he beat twice in title fights.

“I don’t see a finish in this one,” Du Plessis said. “I can almost guarantee that this fight is not going to a finish. You have two guys with great gas tanks. Strickland, he’s tough. You’re not just going to knock him out. I mean you can, but Hernandez doesn’t really have that power, and that’s not his style. So, he’s going to need to control, and controlling a guy like Strickland who’s so good at getting back up is going to be very hard.

“Strickland you’ve seen, if things don’t work, he just fights his style. He’s going to throw that jab, throw the teep and get ahead on points. This can go either way, but if I have to put money on it, I’m probably going to go with Strickland. Just in terms of his style. If you fight Strickland and you’re going head-to-head, you need really good striking to beat a guy like Strickland.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Houston: Du Plessis predicts Sean Strickland vs. Anthony Hernandez