Anthony Hernandez enjoyed performing in front of a hometown crowd at UFC Sacramento, but there is one aspect of his fight with Gregory Rodrigues that left him sour.

Both middleweight contenders showed incredible heart in Saturday's main event bout, with Rodrigues earning a hard-fought decision win to send Hernandez to his second straight loss. For their efforts, they won the evening's Fight of the Night award and an extra $100,000 for each of them.

As good as Rodrigues was scoring his first-ever five-round decision victory, Hernandez claims his opponent was using underhanded tactics during pivotal grappling exchanges.

"He was cheating and grabbing the inside of my gloves and I told referee Herb Dean that," Hernandez said at the evening's post-fight press conference. "I fight clean, so it is what it is. Maybe I should be more dirty."

No Penalty for Alleged Foul

Hernandez made it clear he did his best to communicate the issue with Dean mid-fight, but other than a warning to Rodrigues, there was no penalty for the alleged foul.

"I told fucking Herb, 'This motherfucker's grabbed my glove, like, four times,'" Hernandez said. "But I mean, whatever. Don't take a point, whatever. I guess people like to cheat, so it is what it is."

Taking Responsibility

Outside of that complaint, Hernandez had mostly positive things to say about Rodrigues, who earned a unanimous decision with a 49-46 score and a pair of 48-47s. Hernandez did plenty of damage of his own, but it was not enough to overcome Rodrigues' potent boxing and leg kicks.

"I'm sure there's a fuck-ton of mistakes I made," Hernandez said. "Gregory's a tough son of a bitch. He hits fucking hard. I was still smiling, I was still coming forward. I love people trying to hurt me. I don't know what it is. I'm a sick fuck in the head, I know that, but I love this shit."