Jean
Silva’s stoppage win over Drew Dober at
UFC Denver took a toll on Brazilian.
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Silva stepped up on short notice and moved up a weight class to
replace Mike Davis
in a lightweight bout against Dober at UFC
on ESPN 59 in Denveron Saturday. This also marked a two-week
turnaround from Silva’s brutal knockout win over Charles
Jourdain at UFC
303.
Silva was faster and cleaner on the feet, opening Dober up above
the right eye in the opening round, eventually leading to the
finish. Silva continued landing more damage and despite an immense
display of grit from Dober, his cut kept worsening, forcing referee
Herb
Dean to call in the cageside doctors in the third round. Dober
was deemed unfit to continue and Silva earned a stoppage win in
what was also awarded the “Fight of the Night.”
Silva had missed weight by 1.5 pounds for his featherweight win
over Jourdain, which made him ineligible for a bonus. However, the
Brazilian has no plans of permanently moving up to lightweight
despite his latest win. Silva admitted that the win also left him
aching everywhere.
“I need to watch the fight again to see what the hell happened.
Cause I’m broken man, everything hurts,” Silva told Full Send MMA. “I don’t wan to fight up there at
lightweight anymore.”
Silva’s consecutive stoppage wins in a two-week span is bound to
have attracted the attention of potential opponents.
“I found out that some dudes were watching this fight very
closely,” Silva said. “I’ve arrived, there’s going to be some crazy
stuff going on.”
Silva earned his UFC contract with a unanimous decision win over
Kevin
Vallejos on
Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2023. After earning
three consecutive finishes within a span of seven months, the
Brazilian claims he is open to fighting on the Contender Series
again.
“If not next week, maybe Contender Series… There’s no time,” Silva
said. “[Whether] it’s Contender stage, this stage, we’re just going
out and having bangers man. It’s banger season.”