Jean Silva, after winning two UFC fights in 14 days and showcasing his striking skills, plans to remain active in the featherweight division despite a brief stint at lightweight and aims for a dominant 2024 to be named Rookie of the Year.
Jean Silva joined the exclusive club of UFC fighters to win twice in a span of 14 days. He wants to stay active following his back-to-back finishes of Charles Jourdain and Drew Dober.
Silva displayed his striking against the latter in an exciting battle at UFC Denver. He ultimately opened a gruesome cut over Dober’s eye, forcing the doctor to stop the bout, which earned both athletes Fight of the Night bonuses.
Despite the finish coming at lightweight, and Silva previously missing weight two weeks earlier for a featherweight fight, the 27-year-old prospect rules out staying at 155 pounds.
“I’m a featherweight and all these featherweights are going to get beat up,” Silva told MMA Fighting. “My team and I know [Silva] likes challenges, and as soon as they heard Dober needed an opponent, they called my manager and suggested volunteering because they knew Dober is a knockout artist.”
“We knew this was the best opportunity to send a message to my division because there’s no one knocking people out like Dober in my weight class.”
“I mean, there is now — me.”
Silva explained that he missed weight for the Jourdain bout on June 29 at UFC 303 after falling down the stairs during fight week and hurting his shoulder. He vows to work on his weight cut to ensure there are no more hiccups on the scale going forward.
A talent out of the Fighting Nerds gym, Silva said he only took the Dober fight on such short notice because it was at lightweight. Still, he plans to fight three more times in 2024 to be crowned MMA Fighting’s Rookie of the Year with a 6-0 run this year in the promotion.
“I’ll knock out a lot of people in the UFC,” Silva said. “Let’s be honest, based on that fight [with Dober], there’s no featherweight who can beat [me].”
“The featherweights who just got to the UFC won’t take this fight. They’re smart. Even if they say they will, deep down they know they won’t.”
“Veterans might take this fight. Josh Emmett would easily take this fight.”
“All I know is that [my manager] Ivan Jatoba and Sean Shelby will have a hard time finding people to fight me.”
“I feel like featherweights are in shock right now.”
“Maybe down the line Max Holloway would be one that accepts to fight me because he’s tough,” Silva continued with confidence. “But I’d knock him out.”
“If he stops in the middle and calls me like he called Justin Gaethje,” Silva added with a smirk, “he’s screwed, brother. I’ll knock him out.”