SAN ANTONIO – Students on the south side of San Antonio had a special visit from UFC fighter Alexander “The Great” Hernandez on Saturday afternoon.

The fighter joined a group of students at Burbank High School for a free two-hour wrestling seminar.

The seminar was held to introduce the sport to the community, as it is the first year for the program.

It was organized by teacher and Coach Jayson Winters, who is a long-time friend and coach of Alexander.

 “Wrestling is super important and super under-utilized in the city of San Antonio and the state of Texas,” Alexander said.

As a product of San Antonio, Alexander expressed how it’s important for him to be active in the community and share the opportunity of wrestling.

“It’s more than just being an athlete or being good at a sport, it’s [about] being a good human,” Alexander said.

“You realize you have a hard time touching the ground, you have a hard time picking your foot up, you have a hard time bending a certain way. These are all facets of being a good human,” he added.

Alexander said he overall wants to spread martial arts throughout the community and enable kids to be confident and strong.

Winters emphasized that wrestling brings a more leveled athletic playing field for students. Burbank High is in an undersized demographic and often does not get to play on regional and state levels in other sports, but bringing wrestling to University Interscholastic League level would make that goal possible.

“I really think it’s something that is needed for these kids and I’m hoping to see it go through and become UIL next year,” Winters said.  

He spent four years trying to start the program.

“[Wresting] is my passion and I’ve being trying to get this for four years, we finally got it, and I’m excited,” Winters said.