The MMA world turned its eyes toward San Antonio, Texas, on September 13, as the UFC held its third annual Noche UFC event, with this year’s card taking place at the Frost Bank Center.
Since 2023, the UFC has annually held a card on Mexican Independence Day weekend, promoting Mexican heritage and celebrating the legacy of Mexican athletes who have competed in combat sports. After the inaugural event was a Fight Night card at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, last year saw the UFC hold the event (Noche UFC 2: UFC 306) at The Sphere in Las Vegas. Plans for this year’s card were initially for it to take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, but a new arena was unable to be constructed in time.
The main event saw a battle of featherweight contenders as Diego Lopes took on Jean Silva. This was Lopes’ first fight since a loss in a featherweight title bout with Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 314. Silva, meanwhile, had been on a 13-fight win streak, coming into this bout off a submission of Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314.
The co-main event saw Rob Font took on David Martinez, who filled in for an injured Raul Rosas Jr. Font had won back-to-back fights, most recently scoring a decision over Jean Matsumoto at UFC Seattle in February. Martinez made his UFC debut in March, scoring a knockout of Saimon Oliveira.
Who impressed? Who fell short of expectation? Let’s get into it with the Hits and Misses for Noche UFC!
Hit: Danill Donchenko Is TUF Enough
The Ultimate Fighter may not mean as much to people as it did years ago, but Danill Donchenko caught some attention the way he scored a first-round finish of Rodrigo Sezinando to claim the TUF welterweight title.
Sezinando started strong with a takedown, looking to use his grappling to get a strong start. Donchenko not only made his way back to his feet, however, but he landed short flurries, which included an elbow that busted Sezinando open. Donchenko’s striking would end up being too much, as Donchenko scored the first-round finish to win the competition.
Donchenko entered TUF 11-2, having served as Naiza FC lightweight champion on once occasion. He appeared to be one of the wiser participants in terms of fight strategy and analysis during the show. And after the way he performed throughout the tournament, hopefully for him this is the start to a successful run in the Octagon.
Miss: Tatiana Suarez’s Win Was Dominating But Dragging
With Weili Zhang moving up to flyweight to challenge Valentina Shevchenko, Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern will be squaring off next month to determine the new champion. This presented a strong opportunity for former title challengers Tatiana Suarez and Amanda Lemos, who faced off at Noche UFC in a pivotal strawweight contenders’ matchup. Unfortunately, neither woman came out of it looking convincing of another title opportunity.
Suarez used her wrestling and grappling throughout the fight, keeping Lemos pinned against the fence and taking her down to the ground. Lemos had a late scare with her striking, but it was far too late as Suarez took a decision win — to the boos of many in San Antonio.
This was a dominant showing that allows Suarez to rebound from her unsuccessful challenge of Zhang earlier this year. While she clearly won the fight, it wasn’t anything that screamed she had to have the next title shot. She’ll have to hope no one else around her makes a more convincing case for the rest of this year.
Hit: Santiago Luna’s Star-Making Showing
Five Mexican-born fighters competed on the Noche UFC card this year, and perhaps none had as impressive of a showing than Santiago Luna. Luna pulled off a come-from-behind, first-round finish of Quang Le to open the main card.
Luna looked to be in trouble early on after Le dropped him with a jab in the fight’s first minute. Le attacked, looking to pour on pressure and score a quick finish. That finish came, but it was Le who was the victim of it. Luna survived the barrage and wobbled Le with a hook, laying in a flurry of ground-and-pound before the referee stopped the fight.
Luna has been an impressive finisher during his time on the regional circuit, and now he’s already gained momentum in his UFC debut. Hopefully for his case, the UFC can use this to build up another new Mexican star for their roster.
Hit: Alexander Hernandez Great For Second Time In Month’s Span
It was just last year when things didn’t look so great (pun intended) for Alexander Hernandez. But now he has newfound momentum, an exclamation point stamped on it after a hard-hitting finish of Carlos Diego Ferreira.
Ferreira controlled the action early on with his kicks, but Hernandez’s patience ended up paying off with a powerful right hand in the second that put Ferreira down and out.
Hernandez has now won four straight, all coming within the last 12 months. It’ll be worth seeing if they give Hernandez another unranked opponent or if they put him up against someone in the lower portion of the lightweight rankings next.
Hit: Kelvin Gastelum And Dustin Stoltzfus Bring Spirit-Filled Outing
It’s unfortunate that Kelvin Gastelum’s five-pound weight miss leaves a bit of a black eye in his fight. And that’s because he and Dustin Stoltzfus had a fight that pretty much tore the house down.
Stoltzfus focused on attacking the body of Gastelum during the opening round, and he did so effectively. Gastelum, however, stormed back in the second round, which proved to be a wild, back-and-forth affair where Gastelum rocked Stoltzfus a couple of times. He then controlled the third round with his boxing to seal the victory.
After a long losing streak, Gastelum has now scored three wins in his last five. The question is if he’ll be allowed to continue at middleweight after a weight miss like this (and after he’s already been forced to move up to middleweight previously after weight misses at 170).
Hit: David Martinez With Upset Of The Year Nominee
David Martinez was all that was left to get all Mexican fighters to score wins at Noche UFC. But he had a tall task, coming in on short notice to take on all of the best bantamweights in the world — Rob Font.
Fortunately, Martinez was up for the task. Martinez came out firing with speed in the opening round, getting through Font’s decision to seemingly start slow and load up for power shots. Font did land some powerful strikes, and Martinez slowed down during the second, but Martinez’s volume came back in the third, taking the decision on all three judges’ cards.
This is massive for “The Black Spartan.” Just two fights into his UFC run, and he’s now beaten one of the best 135ers in the world — and doing so in a fight he wasn’t even originally supposed to be in. He should have a strong number next to his name come Tuesday, and opportunities for him have more than opened up.
Hit: Diego Lopes Lights Up The Night
Even in a loss to Alexander Volkanovski this past April, Diego Lopes has had a lot of stock placed in him since his UFC debut a little over two years ago. And his popularity may have reached bigger levels with the way he performed in a finish of Jean Silva.
Lopes was dominant ealry on, stopping a takedown attempt and working his way into mount, landing a barrage of ground strikes that could have stopped the fight. Silva, however, survived and rocked Lopes early in the second round, with the two trading blow for blow in an outing that had the San Antonio crowd on its feet. Lopes would end things with a sudden spinning back elbow that floored Silva in a highlight-reel fashion.
Consider that Lopes’ only losses in the UFC are a controversial one against Movsar Evloev and the fight against Volkanovski, he’s really made a name for himself in this division. If he gets another win, perhaps he could be in line to challenge Volkanovski again — or challenge Evloev in a rematch for the title.
Miss: Fighting Nerds Eating Ls
It’s one thing for me to trash on Silva giving a blow to the back of Lopes’ head post-fight. That was completely unprofessional, but it was also in the heat of the moment.
What can’t be argued against, however, is that the Fighting Nerds have reached a low point.
It wasn’t long ago when some of us, yours truly included, said it wouldn’t be long — maybe in 2026 — when one of the Fighting Nerds would be a UFC champion. But now all of the Fighting Nerds present in the UFC have lost their unbeaten records — and this one comes just one week after Caio Borralho lost his UFC 0 in Paris.
This is a pivotal point for this team — either they’re going to take lessons from their losses and come out a stronger camp, or all of the momentum is going to crash out and they will just be a blip on the UFC radar. For their sake, I hope it’s the former.
