A new (and skinnier) “Joker” is coming to town.
Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight contender Jack Hermansson is making a dramatic career pivot this weekend, dropping to Welterweight for the first time in his 33-fight career. He meets rising prospect Myktybek Orolbai on Sat., Nov. 22, 2025, at UFC Qatar inside ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar.
Hermansson (24-9) has spent his entire UFC tenure at 185 pounds — 18 fights over nearly a decade — but after years of alternating wins and losses,
plus a brutal knockout at the hands of Gregory Rodrigues in his last outing (watch highlights), “The Joker” felt something had to change. Even at 37, he believes a fresh start at 170 pounds might be his last shot at making a real run.
“I misread his punch and got caught, but I still think I prepared well for that fight, and I think if I could have kept that fight going for longer, I would have done well,” Hermansson told reporters during UFC Qatar media day. “But it happened the way it did, and I needed to do something different, which is why the thoughts of going down to the Welterweight division came up…I’ve proven that I can compete with bigger guys at Middleweight, but I’m not happy with the inconsistency: a win, a loss, a win. I don’t want to look back at my career and feel like I didn’t do everything possible to find success.”
So, how is the first cut to 170 lbs going?
“It’s going well now and it’s been a learning process,” Hermansson said. “I’ve never had to restrict calories while training before. I’m used to eating whatever I want. Now I’m suffering … and someone is going to have to pay for it.”
Orolbai, meanwhile, is also changing divisions — but in the opposite direction — moving up from Lightweight after missing weight in two straight fights (though not officially, as both were shifted to catchweights before weigh-ins).
Hermansson enters UFC Qatar as a slight underdog at +165.
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