Diego Ferreira: Noche UFC fight with Alexander Hernandez determines ‘king of Texas’ at lightweight

Diego Ferreira has called Texas home for over a decade now, and he feels that his Noche UFC clash with Alexander Hernandez will be for the lightweight crown among Texans.

Ferreira and Hernandez will collide this Saturday at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, and the Brazilian fighter says he has some sort of a beef with “The Great Ape” since they’re both lightweights competing in Texas way before they were in the UFC.

“I have nothing against him, but I think there’s this competition between him and I,” Ferreira told MMA Fighting. “[This fight] determines who’s the king of Texas at 155 [laughs]. It’s pretty much that.”

Ferreira was originally scheduled to face King Green at UFC 319, last month in Chicago, but Green was forced off the card with an injury days before the weigh-ins. Almost on weight already when the fight got cancelled, Ferreira was devastated because he needed the money after moving to Dallas with his wife and five kids and buying a new house, but UFC gave him another fight relatively soon.

“Hernandez is more dangerous, is coming off three victories in a row so he’s confident to fight me on the feet and on the ground,” Ferreira said. “He’s got good wrestling. I’ve had a… I wouldn’t say beef, but I don’t know, we didn’t get along. Outside of that, I think it’s a good one because we’re both from Texas so we bring a good audience, and that helps the event. I know he’s a dangerous guy and I think it’s a good opportunity for me to show I’m here to make a difference.”

Being in Dallas now means Ferreira doesn’t need to travel that much to train. He estimates saving up to 20 hours a week on the road, which means more family time and opportunity to train other aspects of the game, such as swimming — to enhance his cardio — and wrestling.

At age 40, Ferreira knows he’s on the tail end of his athletic career, but won’t give up his dreams just yet. The Brazilian talent lost his most recent bout in January, a decision to Grant Dawson, but defeated Michael Johnson and Mateusz Rebecki with bonus-winning knockouts in 2023 and 2024.

“I want to see my face on a poster one day,” Ferreira said. “That’s something that still pushes me to fight this late in my career. I have three or four fights left in the UFC and that’s my plan, I want to have those three, four wins. It makes me happy that I’m still competing with the young guys in the UFC, it gives me a push to continue going forward. All I think about is those three or four fights, to get ranked, to be on the poster, or one day get to the belt. I’m still focused on that.”

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