Jean Silva confident he’ll knock out every featherweight after UFC Denver win, even Max Holloway
Jean Silva | Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Jean Silva joined the exclusive club of UFC fighters to win twice in a span of 14 days and 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, ultimately opening a gruesome cut over Dober’s eye and 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 challenge,s 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, but 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, but still 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 to beat [me]. The featherweights who just got to the UFC won’t take this fight. They’re smart. Even if they say they will, in their hearts they know they won’t take it.
“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, but I’d knock him out. If he stops in the middle and calls me like he called Justin Gaethje, he’s screwed, brother. I’ll knock him out.”
