10 UFC Fighters Whose Walkout Songs Bring Latin Music to the Octagon

As Noche UFC nears, these athletes use songs rooted in Latin American culture to signal heritage, identity and crowd energy. 7/22/2026 UFC heavyweight fighter Alex Pereira poses during the ceremonial weigh-in during the UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest on The Ellipse ahead of the upcoming UFC Freedom 250 fight on the South Lawn of the White House on June 13, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump is hosting a series of Ultimate Fighting Championship matches on his 80th birthday on June 14, which the White House is calling "a once-in-a-generation celebration of the American fighting spirit." Al Drago/Getty Images) Español The UFC walkout has become one of the clearest places where fighters show people who they are before a punch is even thrown. That has always been true in some form, but it feels especially visible right now, as the promotion gears up for Noche UFC on Sept. 12 in Glendale, Arizona. The card — which UFC announced on Monday (July 20) for Desert Diamond Arena — is the latest installment of a Mexican Independence Day tradition the promotion launched in 2023. Before the cage door closes, there is a short window where a fighter can set the tone, claim a flag, salute a hometown, nod to family or turn an arena into a party. The song choice does a lot of that work. In a 2020 feature on the promotion’s best walkout songs, UFC.com noted that fighters often choose music that reflects their “personality, culture, or motivations” — not just something loud enough to shake the building. That idea is especially useful here. A walkout song can tell the crowd where a fighter is from, what kind of mood they want to create and which audience they want to bring with them on the way to the Octagon. That’s what links the 10 fighters below. Some lean on mariachi standards, some on salsa or dembow. The styles vary, but the intent is easy to spot: these songs do cultural work. They can project pride, familiarity, bravado or hometown feeling in a matter of seconds. In a promotion that increasingly knows the value of identity-driven spectacle, Latin music has become one of the most effective sounds in the room. With that, here are 10 UFC fighters with Latin walkout songs — listed alphabetically by the fighter’s first name. It’s not a definitive ranking, but it’s a strong place to start. Alexa Grasso: Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, “El Son de la Negra” For Grasso, “El Son de la Negra” is an instantly legible choice: a mariachi standard that carries cultural weight the second it hits the arena speakers. MMA Junkie logged the song for her title-winning walkout against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 285 in March 2023, and again for Noche UFC later that year, which makes clear this was not a one-off flourish for a single big moment. It fits Grasso because it does exactly what a strong walkout song should do — tell the crowd something before the fight even starts. Diego Lopes: Los Tucanes, “La Chona” (Steve Aoki Remix) Lopes went in a different direction, with a high-energy Steve Aoki remix of “La Chona” by Los Tucanes de Tijuana, turning his walkout into something closer to a crowd ignition point than a standard entrance. The choice works in part because the norteña song already has a life beyond any one genre label; it is a party record, a communal sing-along and a guaranteed reaction-starter all at once. For a Brazilian fighter whose style is built on pace, offense and chaos, that kind of entrance makes sense. It also speaks to a broader point in this list: not every Latin walkout song has to be solemn, patriotic or rooted in folklore. Edgar Chairez, “Soy Un Mexicano, Lo Que Hay” by Carlos Blanco With “Soy Un Mexicano, Lo Que Hay,” Edgar “Puro Chicali” Chairez leaves very little ambiguity about the message he wants to send on the way to the cage. MMA Junkie logged the song for his Noche UFC walkout in September 2023, and the title alone tells you why it belongs here. This is not coded symbolism or a deep-cut reference — it is a direct declaration. That clarity is part of what makes it effective. In a setting like Noche UFC, where the event itself is built around Mexican Independence Day weekend and Mexican representation in the promotion, a song like this does exactly what it is supposed to do. Kelvin Gastelum: Vicente Fernández, “El Palenque” Few songs on this list come with as much built-in symbolism as “El Palenque,” the Vicente Fernández classic long associated with Gastelum’s walkout. In a 2013 UFC.com feature, the promotion identified it as his song ahead of The Ultimate Fighter finale and used its imagery to frame the Mexican-American contender’s mindset and self-presentation. That matters because it shows the choice was not incidental. UFC itself treated the song as part of the way Gastelum introduced himself to fans. Loopy Godinez: Marc Anthony, “Vivir Mi Vida” In Godinez’s case, “Vivir Mi Vida” brings a lighter, celebratory energy that still reads clearly as part of her identity. The Marc Anthony hit has followed her across multiple fights: MMA Junkie logged it for her UFC walkouts more than once, and LFA once wrote that the song had become synonymous with her in the fight world. “That song speaks about how I feel, that’s just myself. I’m doing what I like and I’m lucky to be able to walk out to this stadium,” she told press. Godinez’s pick works because it is upbeat, widely recognizable — the longest-running No. 1 tropical song in the history of the Hot Latin Songs chart at 18 consecutive weeks — and rooted in a Latin pop-salsa tradition that fans recognize immediately. Alex Pereira: Sepultura, “Itsári” Pereira’s use of “Itsári” stands apart, because the song itself is unusual for a UFC walkout: an instrumental from Sepultura’s 1996 album Roots built around collaboration with the Indigenous Xavante people of Brazil. Linked to Pereira’s entrance as a nod to his Pataxó roots, it does a different job than the mariachi, ranchera and salsa songs elsewhere on this list. It is not just there to raise the volume in the arena — it places his heritage at the center of the walkout, which is exactly why the martial artist belongs here. Raul Rosas Jr.: Vicente Fernández, “México Lindo y Querido” For a young fighter whose UFC rise has been closely tied to Mexican pride, “México Lindo y Querido” is about as straightforward as it gets. MMA Junkie logged Vicente Fernández’s version for Rosas Jr. in March, while other coverage has tied him to “El Mariachi Loco” as another recurring walkout choice. Either way, the pattern is clear: Rosas has made a habit of leaning into songs that foreground Mexican identity. That makes sense for one of the UFC’s youngest and most heavily promoted Mexican prospects. Ilia Topuria: Antonio Banderas & Los Lobos, “Canción del Mariachi” Ilia “El Matador” Topuria’s choice of “Canción del Mariachi” gives his walkout a cinematic charge, blending bravado with a song many fans recognize immediately from the 1995 film Desperado. MMA Junkie logged it as part of his UFC 298 title-winning entrance in February 2024, paired with AC/DC’s “Hells Bells,” which made for an especially theatrical build. The track works because it carries instant atmosphere: dramatic, familiar and a little larger than life. Tracy Cortez: Selena, “Como la Flor” There’s no mistaking what “Como la Flor” does for a UFC entrance: The Selena classic gives Cortez a walkout that feels personal, familiar and crowd-ready all at once. “There’s so much meaning behind this song — an icon that showed us there’s no such thing as too big of a dream,” Tracy Cortez wrote on Instagram. “My mother that asked me to walk out to this song. [It’s] a humbling reminder of who I am, the roots that I come from, and what I stand for! A strong, Chicana from two immigrant parents coming from poverty and pursuing a dream in the US that I could only imagine at one point […] Everything that I love, that’s the best feeling in the world! I’m sharing my culture to the world all with just one song.” Waldo Cortes-Acosta: Don Miguelo, Mozart La Para & Lapiz Conciente, “Pila de Bandera” Cortes-Acosta brings dembow into the mix with “Pila de Bandera,” a walkout pick that widens the list’s sound beyond mariachi and rancheras. The Dominican heavyweight’s choice matters partly for that reason alone: it shows that Latin music in UFC walkouts is not limited to one national style. Dembow brings a different tempo, a Caribbean identity and a different kind of crowd energy. The song is brash, rhythmic and built to hit hard in an arena, which is exactly what a walkout is supposed to do. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up