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Edgar Chairez looks back at the UFC’s inaugural event celebrating Mexican Independence Day.
In just his second UFC fight, [autotag]Edgar Chairez[/autotag] was able to partake in a historical moment for his country of Mexico.
The UFC flyweight competed at Noche UFC on Sept. 16, the UFC’s inaugural event celebrating Mexican Independence Day. Unfortunately for Chairez (10-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC), a mistake by the referee led to a no contest in his bout against Daniel Lacerda.
Either way, despite not getting the desired result, Chairez is grateful to have competed in such an important event for his country. It was an experience he won’t forget.
“It was a beautiful event, it was all Mexican; the show, the flags, the public,” Chairez told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “It was a great night, and you can tell it was for the Mexicans. I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way, but whenever you usually look around you see people that look from the U.S., white people. For this one, you looked around, and it was all Mexa, Mexa, Mexa, Mexa everywhere.
“The energy, how they would chant, everyone doing Mexican chants, it was incredible. I love that Dana White liked it and now plans on doing this event every Mexican Independence Day. I’m delighted. Hopefully, I can fight next year, too.”
Chairez got a quick turnaround, as the UFC rebooked the bout against Lacerda for the upcoming UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 14. He’s hoping to set the record straight and get a definitive win.
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The 27-year-old strongly believes this first Noche UFC is the start of a boom of Mexican MMA. Chairez also thinks this effort could’ve been done sooner.
“I think they were a bit late to it,” Chairez said. “They’re working on the P.I. in Mexico, but it’s taken them a bit. I think they also said that they didn’t do too well in ticket sales for a few Mexican cards, but I think they should look into an audience and market study, because in Mexico, there are a ton of people that support it.
“I mean, you saw how it (Noche UFC) broke records of viewership, and I think they will continue to break records the more of these events they do. Keep in mind, there were several Mexican stars missing from this event too. I think this is going to continue to grow rapidly.”
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Edgar Chairez left the octagon at Noche UFC feeling like he got a raw deal in his fight with Daniel Lacerda.
[autotag]Edgar Chairez[/autotag] came as close as one can get to getting a win inside the octagon without actually getting one.
For a few seconds, the UFC flyweight was victorious in his own eyes, as well as to many fans and the referee. At Noche UFC on Sept. 16, Chairez (10-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) caught his opponent Daniel Lacerda in a tight standing guillotine choke and had the referee pull them apart, signaling Chairez has won. Chairez celebrated with his team and then seconds after came the controversy.
Lacerda never tapped out, but his arm did appear to go limp, getting referee Chris Tognoni to think that he was unconscious. However, Lacerda almost immediately protested the stoppage and claimed he was not out. Chairez disagrees.
“I felt he went to sleep,” Chairez told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “His body went completely limp, I was even carrying him. And even before that, I knew it was over. If the fight hadn’t been stopped there, it was just a matter of seconds till he would’ve collapsed completely. I also had the advantage on him on the feet. I could’ve knocked him out. There was so much time left.”
After replay review from Nevada Athletic Commission officials, it was deemed that referee Tognoni intervened too soon and the fight was ruled a no contest. Chairez, who was in an advantageous position and had the guillotine locked for a good 20 seconds, feels he was robbed of a win.
“They took that win away from me,” Chairez said. “Everything was in my favor. I finished him. I posted a few videos caught ring side, and you can clearly see how he went limp. He also was on the verge of doing the tap several times. So yeah, I’m very frustrated that they took the victory away from me that night. This was a tough preparation. You know that these training camps are three months of my life, but whatever. The next day I got rebooked with him, and we’re going to make things clear this time. There’s no other way.”
Chairez and Lacerda are scheduled to run it back Oct. 14 at a UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas. The 27-year-old is happy the UFC re-booked the fight, as he left T-Mobile Arena feeling like he got a raw deal.
He believes he beat Lacerda the first time and wants to prove he can do that again.
“I like it because I want to beat him again,” Chairez said. “Now this is kind of personal, and I want to fight him. I want to finish it and leave no doubt, so why not? And like I’ve said, I came here to the UFC to fight. I want to fight and come out clean and fight again in December or January. I want to fight as many times as I can now that I’m young.”
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Valentina Shevchenko expects to be fully healed for a trilogy bout against Alexa Grasso in early 2024.
[autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] doesn’t expect to be out for long.
The former UFC women’s flyweight champion suffered a fracture on her right hand in her championship rematch against Alexa Grasso in the main event of last Saturday’s Noche UFC at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Shevchenko expects to get surgery next week in Las Vegas or Los Angeles and wants to get going with her recovery.
“Right now we’re speaking about scheduling it next week and I hope to have it the sooner, the better for me because the sooner I have the surgery, the sooner the recovery will start and the sooner I come back to the action,” Shevchenko told MiddleEasy.
Shevchenko (23-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC) and Grasso (17-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) fought to a split draw at Noche UFC. Prior to that, they fought in March where Grasso submitted Shevchenko, ending her historic reign at 125 pounds. UFC CEO Dana White recently said a trilogy bout can be expected next for both fighters.
Shevchenko says the hand will take less than a couple of months to recover from surgery, and she should be fully fit to fight Grasso again sometime in the early part of 2024.
“My understanding is like two or six weeks, something like that, in a cast, but I still can do exercise and maintain my shape just no hand,” Shevchenko said. “After that, it’s going to be recovery and as I’m told, three or four months in full action, so it doesn’t sound that scary.”
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Although Shevchenko is confident she’ll be back fully fit soon enough, there’s always a possibility of complications with a recovery from surgery along the way.
The 35-year-old is staying positive, but if something does lengthen her recovery, she would be fine with Grasso fighting against another challenger as she recovers.
“My understanding that no matter what happens, my next fight is going to be for the title, definitely,” Shevchenko said. “It’s what it has to be and what it should be. But if something happens and (my recovery) is longer, I don’t want to hold the division.
“I don’t want to say, ‘No, you have to wait for me.’ If I were in that position, it would be backwards. I wouldn’t want to feel that. I wouldn’t want to stay and sit when I could fight, and I could use my time as a fighter. We as fighters could have a long time or a short time in fighting life. Me being on the other side, I wouldn’t want to be in that situation. That’s why I don’t want her to feel in the position that she can move, but she has to stay and sit and do nothing. Let’s hope I heal up very quickly, and we do the trilogy fight next.”
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Valentina Shevchenko is happy to see the MMA community’s reaction to the scoring of her split draw with Alexa Grasso.
Referee Mike Bell’s already infamous 10-8 round has been the biggest talking point in MMA for the past few days.
Although there’s been a wide range of opinions on the scoring of the championship rematch between Alexa Grasso and [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag], it’s been pretty much consensus in the MMA community that a 10-8 score in the fifth round of the fight wasn’t warranted.
That makes Shevchenko (23-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC), who was unable to re-claim the belt at Noche UFC after fighting to a split draw, feel a little better about the result of the fight. “Bullet” is confident she did enough to beat Grasso (17-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and feels the public does too.
“I’m happy that all the professionals around the world, all the people, they see the truth, they know what the result should be,” Shevchenko told MiddleEasy. “Yeah, I still had my hand raised up, but she had the same, too, so kind of not the way it should be. It should be just one hand raised for me. Everyone knows the truth. Even though it wasn’t the decision I was hoping for, I still had my hand raised up and professionals who know this sport who watched the fight, they know who the winner is of this fight. I’m also happy about my performance.”
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One of those critics of the 10-8 score was UFC CEO Dana White, who blasted Bell’s scoring and said a trilogy bout between Grasso and Shevchenko likely is next.
That also was music to Shevchenko’s ears. She said she is determined to get the women’s flyweight title back once she heals up from her hand fracture.
“Hearing Dana say it’s going to be a trilogy, it’s going to be a third fight, that’s kind of like, ‘OK, it’s going to happen. It’s meant to be.’ That’s what people want. We have to put a clear period on this case and continue. (I’ll do) my recuperation first, getting in the best shape, and do what I love to do: fight.”
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Dana White wants to make Noche UFC an annual tradition, and it’s easy to see why after the success of the inaugural Mexican showcase event.
Noche UFC is here to say. The fight card celebrating Mexican Independence will now be an annual event, according to UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag].
In the main event of this past Saturday’s card, Mexico’s [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] retained her UFC women’s flyweight title after fighting former champion [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] to a split draw in a rematch that was one of the best female title fights in UFC history.
Many other Mexican and Mexican-American talents shinned that night, as [autotag]Raul Rosas Jr.[/autotag] bounced back from his first defeat, [autotag]Tracy Cortez[/autotag] made a successful return after a year-plus layoff, and highly touted prospects [autotag]Loopy Godinez[/autotag] and [autotag]Daniel Zellhuber[/autotag] impressed many with their submission wins.
I was present all week long to cover the historical event. And with the inaugural Noche UFC event now in the books, I’m taking some time to reflect on the execution of celebrating Mexican Independence Day with a themed card.
Below is the good and the bad from fight week, along with an overall grade of Noche UFC:
UFC gold: Noche UFC might’ve felt like a pay-per-view in the end, but it was a Fight Night. Part of that was mainly due to the championship rematch between Grasso and Shevchenko in the main event, which turned out to be excellent from start to finish.
Usually, at least in this latest era of the promotion, championship fights are reserved for pay-per-view events given their importance and pull from the fan base. However, Noche UFC was given a championship fight, and more importantly, the championship fight.
Grasso is the only Mexican champion left in the UFC after Brandon Moreno lost his undisputed flyweight belt and Yair Rodriguez his interim featherweight title in July. Also, Irene Aldana missed the opportunity to add another belt to Mexico in her lopsided loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 289 in June. Grasso’s first title defense was the fight to give Noche UFC.
Mexican presence: Grasso vs. Shevchenko was definitely the biggest piece of the puzzle. However, there needed to be more. Along with Grasso, fans got to see Mexico’s Zellhuber, Godinez, Edgar Chairez, Fernando Padilla, and Mexican-Americans Rosas, Godinez, Cortez, and Alex Reyes.
Eight out of the 11 fights involved Mexico-born fighters or fighters of Mexican descent. On a card built around Mexican Independence Day, it’s obviously crucial to showcase Mexican talent beyond the main event. UFC made sure of that.
The feel: The UFC is always the UFC – for better or worse. The promotion has done a perfect job at being consistent with their branding regardless of who is fighting, and where and when is the event. Although this has created a strong brand for the promotion, it’s also sometimes left fans wanting some fun and creativity.
Noche UFC stood out more than any event in recent memory from a product standpoint. The promotion went above and beyond to make it different, while also keeping their branding. The UFC had an entire new design on its broadcast, reflecting Mexican culture. The graphics and the music, it was all there. They would also show highlights of the Spanish-language broadcast, and they had Mexican star Brandon Moreno come in as a guest color commentator.
And in person there was also work done. The UFC debuted exclusive jerseys to celebrate Mexican Independence, which were seen plenty in the arena. The DJ at the venue played mainly Mexican music with Hispanic hits. And throughout the fight week, there were other things, as well. The UFC had a Q&A panel with Moreno, Marlon Vera and Tatiana Suarez, which was moderated by Spanish-language UFC play-by-play commentator Victor Davila in both English and Spanish. They also had a mariachi band open up the ceremonial weigh-ins.
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Some big names missing: This one is tough to judge because it’s mainly outside the UFC’s control, sort of. Yes, there were a good amount of Mexican and Mexican-American fighters on the card, but several important names were not present.
Moreno, Rodriguez and Aldana are the biggest names to come out of Mexico, along with Grasso. Moreno and Rodriguez had tough title losses in July, making a September return unlikely, and Aldana is recovering from a foot surgery.
Also, top prospect Yazmin Jauregui recently had surgery. Kelvin Gastelum, who was originally scheduled to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov on the card, suffered an injury and had to pull out. Mexican-American Brian Ortega has also been on the sidelines recovering from injury.
But even though some names weren’t available, others were, at least not booked, that haven’t recently fought and that are uninjured, at least that we know of. Those names include Gabriel Benitez, Jesus Aguilar, Manuel Torres, Cristian Quiñonez, and Melissa Martinez among others.
The UFC had plenty of names to bolster the Mexican power of Noche UFC. A lot of it was out of their control, and some of it was. Either way, the card could have been stronger with the addition of a few Mexican names.
Location: This event was celebrating Mexican Independence, yet it was done on U.S. soil. Well, technically Las Vegas was part of Mexico for a couple of decades after its independence, but that’s a different story.
Either way, this event would’ve best been served in Mexico. After all, it’s celebrating a Mexican holiday. Now, Las Vegas is not a bad Plan B, and that’s where UFC gets a bit of a pass. It’s tradition to see Mexicans, and especially Mexican-Americans, travel to Las Vegas to celebrate Sept. 16. There are many Mexican entertainment shows for those dates. In fact, Noche UFC was sandwiched by Mexican superstar musician Antonio Silis and legendary Mexican band Maná the day before and after at the T-Mobile Arena.
Again, Las Vegas is not a bad home for Noche UFC, but Mexico is the ideal landing spot.
The ‘Official Voice of the Octagon’: I want to be very clear that this is NOT a Bruce Buffer hate section. Buffer is great, and there’s no announcer more synonymous with the UFC than him. Whenever you see Buffer and his flamboyant suits, you know it’s an important night for the promotion.
However, the man built for this job is [autotag]Joe Martinez[/autotag], who was the announcer for WEC and has been announcing UFC events since 2007. He also does a lot of boxing, most famously he announced Canelo vs. GGG in 2018 – one of the biggest fights in recent years.
Martinez is terrific at his job. He’s one of the best announcers out there, and certainly among those of Hispanic heritage. As a Mexican-American, Martinez does a great job pronouncing Hispanic names and adding that extra flavor to the cards. Martinez was a no-brainer for this one and was terribly missed.
Noche UFC gets a 9 out of 10. You can definitely nitpick, but overall it was a success, and the numbers are there to back it.
It was a great gesture for the UFC to finally recognize and further cater to its Mexican audience by celebrating the biggest holiday in the country. Mexico has grown its presence tremendously in the UFC, especially in 2023, and Noche UFC was a landmark event for the growth of Mexican MMA.
What was once exclusive to boxing is now being seen in MMA. The Mexican fighting culture is here to stay in the UFC.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Noche UFC.
Dana White is very high on Raul Rosas Jr. coming out of his Noche UFC victory.
LAS VEGAS – If numbers are any indicator, [autotag]Raul Rosas Jr.[/autotag]’s hype is still alive and well.
Rosas (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) rebounded from his first-career loss to Christian Rodriguez at UFC 287 in April with a lightning quick TKO finish of Terrence Mitchell this past Saturday at Noche UFC.
Rosas was being called overhyped by many after his dominant loss to Rodriguez, but according to UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag], the interest was still there to watch him compete – and the numbers prove it.
“It was incredible,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters following Dana White’s Contender Series 63 at the UFC Apex. “He came out and absolutely dominated a real guy, tough guy, and looked good doing it. He got the pop.
“I don’t know what it was like for you guys, but on my socials – I’ll give you an example: the faceoff between Valentina and Alexa did 1.5 million views in less than 24 hours. He did 3 million views in less than 24 hours. He doubled what the main event did and destroyed the rest of the card as far as views. They love that kid.”
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White doesn’t think 18-year-old Rosas is ready to headline an event just yet but plans on putting him on the UFC’s next Mexico card after seeing Noche UFC’s success.
“After what happened on Saturday night, we’re going to Mexico,” White said. “He won’t be headlining Mexico, but he’ll be there. So, we’re already in the works for a Mexico fight.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 63.
