The year 2023 marked the beginning of UFC’s annual tradition honoring Mexican combat sports athletes with their special event, ‘Noche UFC.’ Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko headlined the inaugural show, kicking off this powerful tribute series in style. But what truly turned heads was the UFC reportedly spending $20 million to ensure the second edition, UFC 306, made a lasting impact. Dana White wanted to replicate that success this year in Guadalajara. 

A stellar headliner between Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez, set to be a rematch, was originally targeted for the passionate Mexican audience, who would’ve shown up in full force to support their homegrown stars. But soon, bad news began to circulate. Construction issues with the planned arena started making headlines—and as it turned out, they were true. Eventually, the UFC had no choice but to relocate the event from Mexico to San Antonio.

People still thought the event would stick as a PPV, but the real shocker came when it was revealed it had been turned into a Fight Night instead. That’s a pretty big shift—one the UFC’s seen before. For the unversed, UFC 196 was supposed to be a heavyweight title rematch between Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez. But after things fell apart, it ended up being a welterweight Fight Night headlined by Stephen Thompson vs. Johny Hendricks in 2016.

Now, as the same happened in 2025, that raises the question—why change the event from a pay-per-view to a Fight Night in the first place? If the featherweight king was set to headline, fans would’ve shown up regardless. It’s very likely that the move was strategic—to avoid clashing with what might be the biggest boxing card of the year: Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford, scheduled for September 12, 2025, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas—a day before UFC’s scheduled PPV. 

Interestingly, Dana White was actually part of the promotional team for the boxing at first, helping push the event under the TKO banner. But later on, Turki Alalshikh announced that the fight would be promoted by Saudi-based firm Sela instead of TKO Boxing. And with that shift, thanks to the scheduling conflict, White was also pulled from the picture.

Also, it would’ve been a tough ask going head-to-head with one of the biggest boxing fights of the year, especially since Canelo and Crawford are widely seen as bigger entities in combat sports than most UFC fighters. But that also raises another question: how will the Fight Night turn out now?

Possible fights for the UFC Noche Saint Antonio fight card? 

Well, now that the event’s been turned into a Fight Night, it’s hard to imagine Alexander Volkanovski headlining it—he’ll most likely be saved by the promotion for a later PPV. But on the bright side, we might finally get that grudge match between Yair Rodriguez and Diego Lopes. And while that fight would definitely steal the spotlight, chances are, there’ll still be a belt on the line to keep things high stakes.

Brandon Moreno already fought in Mexico earlier this year against Steve Erceg, and after that win, ‘The Assassin Baby’ called out Alexandre Pantoja for a potential title fight. So, that’s another route the UFC could explore—one that would keep the card from feeling completely vanilla. Fans would still tune in for a decider rematch like that. Of course, it all depends on whether ‘The Cannibal’ beats Kai Kara-France and comes out without taking too much damage, so he can make a quick turnaround.

Also, Alexa Grasso could be in the mix for a fight against Manon Fiorot in September. Both women just competed on the same UFC 315 pay-per-view card in Canada, so the timing lines up pretty well. And of course, no Mexican-heritage-based card would feel complete without Raul Rosas Jr. He’ll likely be matched up with a top-15 bantamweight. 

Well, there are still plenty of potential matchups that could end up on this Fight Night card. But what’ll be really interesting is seeing how the UFC pieces it all together, especially since it’s happening in front of a live crowd and not at the Apex. So, what do you think? Which fights should make it to the San Antonio card? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!