It would be completely accurate to say that last year’s UFC Noche card is almost impossible to top. The first-ever fight card at the iconic ‘Sphere’ in Las Vegas was a special experience. To see the UFC 306 card on The Sphere’s best-in-the-business wraparound, floor-to-ceiling, ultra high-quality LED screens was an MMA fan’s fantasy! To do justice to the venue and make sure the Noche card would go down in history, Dana White and Co. shelled out $20 million in production costs alone, before even a single punch was thrown! So what about this year? Well, to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, the UFC is going to travel to Mexico and hold 2025’s Noche card (UFC 320 on September 13) in the historic Mexican metropolis of Guadalajara.

Or will they? Well, certain recent developments have thrown a potential wrench in the works, as it turns out that the Arena Guadalajara, where UFC 320 is set to be held, has yet to complete its construction. Katy Perry was supposed to hold a concert at the venue in early May, but alas, due to construction delays, that concert has been canceled. Planned concerts of Carlos Rivera and a couple of other Mexican artists have also been forced to cancel for the same reason.

But to be fair, there are still five months to go before the Noche card, so that should mean we don’t have anything to worry about, right? Well, actually no. We do have something to worry about because the UFC brass is worrying about it, according to Mexican sports journalist Rodrigo Del Campo Gonzalez.

“I asked UFC’s David Shaw about the delays in Arena Guadalajara and which assurances they had been given by the promoter. He seemed a little upset at the question, but the arena should’ve opened 8 weeks ago. Today they’re canceling 4 more concerts over delays,” Gonzalez wrote on his social media.

So, if UFC VP for International Operations and Content, Dave Shaw, is getting upset over the delays, there does seem to be cause for at least some mild alarm. Given the long timeline until the Noche card, it is almost guaranteed that the UFC would be able to move the card to another suitable venue if need be, so there isn’t much of a chance the card would be cancelled altogether. But it would still be something of a setback and may ensure the UFC never comes back to the Arena Guadalajara. Either way, at the moment, the card is a go, which may have raised one pertinent question in many people’s minds.

Who will Dana White and Co. choose to headline this year’s UFC Noche card?

At the moment, we have no idea who will be on this year’s Noche card. But we can guess that since the card is in Mexico for Mexican fans on the occasion of Mexican Independence Day, the event would feature a lot of Mexican fighters. For the main event, perhaps Yair Rodriguez could take on Alexander Volkanovski for the latter’s featherweight title.

Rodriguez has already fought and lost to Volkanovski two years ago at UFC 290. But with his methodical demolition of Bellator GOAT, Patricio Pitbull, at UFC 314, the Mexican dynamo has made quite a case to fight for the title next. And since there aren’t many Mexican stars who are in the position to contend for the title in the UFC at this moment, that may well be the last fight on the card.

For the co-main event, our money would be on a long-overdue Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja flyweight title clash. After all, ‘The Assassin Baby’ lost the title to ‘The Cannibal’ in their incredibly close UFC 290 clash, and hasn’t had a chance to run it back. Again, the UFC doesn’t have much choice at the moment.

Mexican former flyweight champion Alexa Grasso has already fought reigning champ Valentina Shevchenko thrice, so it is not likely to feature on the main or co-main event. This is why our money would be on Volkanovski-Rodriguez and Pantoja-Moreno to cap off this year’s Noche card. What do you think about the concerning reports about Arena Guadalajara?