Main event: Diego Lopes turns the tide with a spinning back elbow
A single strike changed the night. Diego Lopes ended Jean Silva’s surge with a clean spinning back elbow, then swarmed with punches until the referee stepped in. It was a violent, precise finish, and it came at the perfect moment for Lopes, who needed a statement win to restart his climb at featherweight.
Staged at San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center on September 13, 2025, the card carried the energy of Mexican Independence Day weekend. The UFC leaned into that theme with a largely Latin lineup and a timing window meant to serve both U.S. and Mexico audiences. The promotion also slotted the event to wrap before the Canelo vs Crawford boxing broadcast on Netflix, creating a rare, wall‑to‑wall Saturday for fight fans.
Officially branded as Fight Night 259, Noche UFC 3 lived up to the name with a celebratory tone and a hungry crowd. Lopes and Silva had all the ingredients for a headliner: speed, power, and enough defensive gaps to guarantee chaos. Silva came in hot—confident on the feet, accurate in exchanges—while Lopes mixed pressure with angles and feints, trying to draw out Silva’s counters. When Lopes spun and landed the elbow, you could feel the momentum flip. The follow-up punches were the formality.
For Lopes, this was more than a highlight. It read like a course correction. After a setback earlier in the year, he reminded the division that he’s dangerous in the pocket and creative in transition. Lopes has built a reputation for fight IQ—switching speeds, disguising entries, using the cage to set traps—and this finish fit the pattern. He didn’t need volume; he needed the right read at the right time.
Silva still showed why he’d been on a tear. He jabbed well, threaded right hands through early, and punished the body when Lopes gave him the look. But Lopes didn’t break in the pocket. He baited, spun, and closed. That’s the thin line at featherweight: one misread and the night ends. Expect Silva to rebound, because the tools are there. Expect Lopes to get a ranked name next, because that’s the kind of exclamation mark matchmakers notice.
The atmosphere helped. San Antonio knows combat sports, and the Independence Day weekend always brings color, flags, and pressure for fighters who embrace Mexican and Latin roots. The UFC launched the “Noche” concept to meet that moment a few years back, and this third installment felt settled—a tradition now, not just a theme.
Full results, replays, and what the night means
The card delivered a mix of stoppages and tight scorecards, with a couple of surprising turns along the way.
- Featherweight main event: Diego Lopes def. Jean Silva via TKO (spinning back elbow, punches), referee stoppage.
- Lightweight: Rafa Garcia def. Jared Gordon via TKO after dropping him with a right hand and finishing on the canvas.
- Flyweight: Alden Coria def. Alessandro Costa via TKO in the third round.
- Women’s bantamweight: Montserrat Rendon def. Alice Pereira via split decision.
- Welterweight: Rodrigo Sezinando def. Daniil Donchenko via KO/TKO in the first round.
- Middleweight: Zachary Reese vs Sedriques Dumas ruled a no contest.
The lineup also featured recognizable names such as Rob Font, Kelvin Gastelum, and Tatiana Suarez, adding experience and name value to a night built around emerging talent. Their presence gave the broadcast a pay-per-view feel even as the format stayed squarely in Fight Night territory.
Garcia-Gordon turned fast. Garcia’s right hand landed clean, Gordon fell hard, and the finishing sequence left no doubt. That result matters at lightweight, where one emphatic win can erase months of frustration. Coria’s late TKO at flyweight was the opposite story: steady work, pressure in the scrambles, and a measured push that paid off in the third. Rendon-Pereira was tight all the way, the kind of fight where controlling the center and stealing moments in the clinch can swing scorecards. Sezinando’s quick finish at welterweight hinted at a power problem for anyone standing across from him.
The no contest between Reese and Dumas halted what looked like a tense style clash. The commission’s call ended it early. No one loves that outcome, but it’s part of the sport, and it keeps the door open to run it back with cleaner edges and a final result.
As a showcase, Fight Night 259 did what it was designed to do: elevate a surging name at the top, test a few prospects in the middle, and give the matchmakers enough data to set meaningful fights for winter. Lopes now sits at a natural crossroads for the division. Hand him a veteran gatekeeper and you get a measuring stick. Hand him a top-10 striker and you get fireworks. Either way, he’s earned the push.
For fans who missed the broadcast, the viewing plan was straightforward. The main card streamed on ESPN+, while prelims and replays landed on UFC Fight Pass. Both services ran clean across mobile, tablet, smart TV, and Fire TV devices. The schedule also worked for multi-sport viewers: Noche wrapped in time for the Canelo vs Crawford event, so you didn’t have to choose between codes.
Here’s how to watch the replay:
- If you want the full show: open ESPN+ for the main card replay; open UFC Fight Pass for prelims and archives.
- On mobile: use the ESPN or UFC app, search “Noche UFC 3” or “Fight Night 259,” and hit play on the full replay or condensed highlight cuts.
- On smart TV or Fire TV: install the ESPN or UFC app, sign in with your active subscription, and select the event from the recent events row.
- For highlights: Fight Pass typically posts individual fight cuts and a 10–20 minute recap package shortly after the event. Those are easy to binge if you’re short on time.
One note on quality: both platforms usually offer adaptive streaming, so your connection dictates resolution. If you’re seeing drops, lock your device to a stable network and close background apps. And if you’re bouncing between boxing and MMA replays, the timing window makes it painless—watch the UFC first, then the boxing main card.
Beyond the logistics, the event underlined why this weekend matters to the UFC. The San Antonio market turns up, Mexican and Latin fighters get a stage built for them, and the broadcast tone is celebratory without feeling forced. It’s a smart calendar play and a talent-development tool. You can sell a theme, but you need real fights to make it stick. Lopes provided that anchor moment with a finish you’ll see on year-end reels.
So where does it go from here? Lopes will wake up with leverage. Silva, even in defeat, showed enough to stay in meaningful matchups. Garcia and Coria both picked up wins that translate. Rendon added a tight, gritty victory at 135. Sezinando announced real danger at 170. And the UFC leaves Texas with another Noche entry that actually feels like a night.
Fight Night 259 wasn’t about belts. It was about movement—up the rankings, across markets, through styles that don’t always match on paper. The elbow that ended the main event said the quiet part out loud: one risk can break a fight open. On this card, the payoff was worth it.
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