Last night (Sat., Sept. 13, 2025), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. The card itself was better than the average “Fight Night” affair, but we have to admit that the 2025 Noche offering didn’t exactly live up to past years. Once the card could no longer be held in Mexico, the promotion stopped building towards such a top-notch standard. Still, how could any red-blooded fight fan possibly argue with the all-action main event of Diego Lopes
vs. Jean Silva? Lopes vs. Yair Rodriguez would’ve been a better narrative bout, but it doesn’t get much more exciting than “Lord Assassin.”
Let’s take a look back over the best performances and techniques of the evening:
My Favorite Fight Of 2025
Diego Lopes vs. Jean Silva was glorious.
Right away, Lopes made it clear that he was a step up in competition from Bryce Mitchell and the rest. He attacked Silva’s wide stance with calf kicks and then masterfully sidestepped a spin kick into an easy takedown. Clearly, Lopes and his team did their homework, and the reward was a full couple minutes in mount dropping hammers and nearly finishing the fight right away.
Silva eventually returned to his feet and reminded us why there’s so much hype around that barking weirdo. He smashed Lopes with a front kick to the chin and started unloading punches too. There were a couple minutes in round two where Silva looked like an MMA striking savant, tying together wild strikes and elbows with absolute ease. He was hammering Lopes with brutal power shots, and even Lopes’ concrete skull was feeling the impact.
Lopes kept to his game plan, however, landing the occasional stiff counter shot and timing another takedown to survive the onslaught. When the duo returned to their feet, Silva charged forward and unleashed a savage attack. His aggression turned out to be his undoing, as Lopes spun into an elbow that clubbed Silva upside the head and put him on the canvas in the closing seconds of round two.
For a fight that didn’t last 10 full minutes, Lopes vs. Silva featured an incredible number of momentum shifts and good tactical choices. Both men were simultaneously flawed but brilliant, and the combination resulted in an outstanding fight.
If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it. If you have, watch it again!
The Best Win Of Rafa Garcia’s Career
Garcia vs. Jared Gordon was both a mirror match and a very fun fight.
Both of these wrestle-boxers like to press their way into the pocket and trade combinations. Against a like-minded foe of similar stature, there was no need to close distance. They could simply stand their ground, move their head, and fire power punches in combination. It’s a rare MMA fight where both men are content to stand still rather than dart in-and-out, and the fans definitely appreciated the close range chaos.
The entire fight was competitive, but for most of the first eight or so minutes, Gordon’s comfort in the pocket was just slightly edging Garcia’s quickness. When the Mexican athlete switched to elbows, however, he started to really hurt Gordon, cutting him open and stealing some of the wind from his sails. Garcia’s elbows bought him some time to work, allowing him to time a beautiful right hand in round three that knocked down the recently resurgent veteran. The finish sequence, which featured a deep rear naked choke, lots of blood, and hammering elbows, was absurdly violent.
Garcia has now won four of his last five and looks to still be getting better.
Talent Doesn’t Work Hard, Still Beats Hard Work
Kelvin Gastelum scraped past an eternally game but athletically outmatched Dustin Stoltzfus. It didn’t seem easy for Gastelum, who was taken down several times, kicked hard dozens of times, and even walloped by power punches on a few occasions. His brick chin and natural speed remain, however, and he was able to drop that signature left hand on Stoltzfus repeatedly.
I’ve written about Kelvin Gastelum’s absurd wasted potential a half-dozen times now. I cannot do it again, as there’s nothing new to be said: he continues to disappoint.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether a bloody scrap with Stoltzfus is enough to save his career after yet another disastrous weight miss, because his career could still go the way of Bryan Battle if Dana White happens to be in a bad mood.
Hernandez 2.0?
Alex Hernandez has quietly won four straight Lightweight bouts in the last 12 months.
Prior to that streak, Hernandez had lost four of his last five, jumping between weight classes in hopes of finding his path forward. Instead, he continually slowed down and was beaten up late. His recent adjustment to fix the gassing has been less activity and more footwork, and I’m a little surprised to say it’s working quite well. I’ll posit that the hidden extra ingredient is confidence — Hernandez generally looks less flustered and anxious in the cage, and that mental shift is worth an extra 50 miles of roadwork.
Carlos Diego Ferreira isn’t at the top of his game anymore, but he’s still a damn good Lightweight with excellent recent wins. The Texan by way of Brazil has never been an easy fight, and Hernandez just smoked him with a vicious right hand while hardly taking a glove to the chin. His game of baiting Ferreira into overcommitment and then capitalizing brutally wasn’t fun to watch until the very last moment, but it was undeniably effective.
At 32 years of age, Hernandez is in his prime and just picked up the best win of his career since the initial surge that saw him knock off Beneil Dariush way back in 2018. Suddenly, a spot in the UFC Lightweight rankings doesn’t feel like such an outrageous goal?
The Next Mexican Star?
Santiago Luna is still very young in his professional career, but there’s something special about “Borderboy.”
At 21 years of age, Luna looks to be an incredible athlete. He got touched early by the accurate power punches of Quang Le, who was undoubtedly a major step up in competition for the relatively inexperienced athlete from Tijuana, Mexico. After getting stunned, Luna turned to the takedown, trying to wrestle to clear his head. On the reset, Luna seemed to have settled into the fight.
Suddenly, Luna was finding the target first, unleashing punches with a nasty quickness. Le went from controlling the early exchanges to getting floored twice in short span, forcing the referee to save him. The crowd didn’t just pop at the knockout, it exploded!
Obviously, his career is still very early, but Santiago Luna looks to have the It Factor. He’s definitely one to watch moving forward.
Additional Thoughts
- Dusko Todorovic defeated Jose Medina via first-round rear naked choke (highlights): How did Medina make it to the UFC? By getting beaten up in entertaining fashion on Contenders Series. Todorovic isn’t a top-flight Middleweight, but Medina certainly made him look the part last night. Todorovic hardly missed a punch, bloodying up Medina almost immediately then easily dumping him to the canvas with a double leg on the fence. Once on the mat, Medina couldn’t even keep his chin tucked, giving up a strangle in short fashion. Now 0-3 inside the Octagon … are we done here?
- Alden Coria defeated Alessandro Costa via third-round knockout (highlights): This was a really fun fight until it suddenly wasn’t. UFC newcomer Coria stepped up on short notice and took it to Costa, who has generally proven himself a very solid Flyweight. The two traded power punches and wrestling scrambles at a high rate, and neither man was really able to take control … until Costa suffered some sort of injury near the end of the second. He was sent out to the third anyway and was quickly put out of his misery. Despite the damper at the end, Coria looks to be a strong pickup and is still early in his professional career.
- Daniil Donchenko defeated Rodrigo Sezinando via first-round knockout (highlights): A much delayed Ultimate Fighter (TUF) finale went down early on the “Prelims” here. Though Sezinando was able to land a few shots early, Donchenko was never put off his own offense. Before long, he had closed distance and landed several hard elbows, putting Sezinando on the back foot. Once momentum was in his corner, Donchenko only attacked hard, flooring Sezinando with an aggressive right hand toward the end of the opening round. At 24 years of age, the young Kazakh looks like a future problem for the Middleweight ranks.
For complete Noche UFC 3 results and play-by-play, click here.
