The UFC Featherweight division is packed full of killers. This weekend, we have a few Featherweights on the UFC 314 card in Miami, Florida, all culminating with a championship bout in the main event between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes. The card also sees Daren Elkins vs. Julian Erosa, Dan Ige vs. Sean Woodson and Yair Rodriguez vs. Patricio Pitbull. But there’s one featherweight bout that stands out more than the others on this pay-per-view card and that’s Jean Silva vs. Bryce Mitchell.
The Fighting Nerds have taken over the UFC unlike any other gym has in quite a while. The team is producing all killers with the likes of Caio Borralho, Carlos Prates, Mauricio Ruffy and Jean Silva. As of now, all four men are undefeated in their UFC careers and look to be on a clear path to gold in their respective divisions. But, Jean Silva is possibly on the road to that main event picture sooner than later.
As noted before, the Featherweight division has the talent. True killers in the division that can shut your lights out, up and down the top 15. But, there hasn’t really been a character to grab the attention span of fans in this division since the early rise of Conor McGregor. Now, Jean Silva could be taking that torch as the entertainment value of the division.
Jean Silva fights like a dog, but he barks like one, too. He fires up a crowd with barking noises and the crowd barks right back at him. He also calls his shots, and hasn’t missed yet and mentally dissects his opponents along the way. Much like the build up to this weekends fight, where he brought a globe to a press conference to shove in the face of the self proclaimed flat-earther, Bryce Mitchell.
And when it comes to mind games, Bryce has played this game all wrong. He’s done something others normally wouldn’t do in the build up to a fight, he’s been vulnerable. Now, we won’t go too deep into the religious aspects of the fight, as Bryce has claimed that Jean Silva is a devil, while he himself is a man of god, and that’s just a hint of it. But, he has said that the devil has taken over his dreams, which gave Jean Silva ammo to talk his talk and push Bryce’s buttons, such as this not being a dream, and Jean really will be knocking him out Saturday night.
While this is all talk and the fight is what actually matters, mind games do play a factor into the madness that is a combat sport and Jean Silva has shown zero signs of any weak mindedness throughout his UFC career so far. Hell, maybe even his entire career, as we’ve seen this character in an infamous regional scene clip hanging off the side of the cage like a wild animal, barking at his opponent, he’s psycho! But, in the best way.
Though this dog barks, he does have bite. Jean Silva is a 15-2 prospect and is 5-0 in the UFC, including his Dana White’s Contender Series appearance, which earned him his UFC contract back in September of 2023. Since then, he’s rattled off 4 more wins inside the UFC cage and all have come by Knockout/Technical Knockout with two in the first, one in the second and one in the third round.
His most recent win came back in February by way of TKO after he starched his opponent, Melsik Baghdasaryan, in under a minute and stood over him like an anime character admiring his work. Jean immedietly called out Bryce Mitchell following this win, and his wish was granted. But, with epic wins and fast finishes, comes an interesting dynamic coming into UFC 314 Saturday Night.
Jean Silva has yet to really be tested by an elite Jiujitsu player on the ground and Bryce Mitchell is a man that could push him into deep waters. Being one of only three men to get a twister submission inside the UFC, Bryce is no slouch on the ground. With 9 submission wins and only 1 knockout win, it’s pretty clear where Bryce Mitchell will be looking to take this fight. But, after coming off of one of the worst knockouts we’ve seen in years, is the #13 ranked Mitchell fully recovered and ready to take a few on the chin?
Obviously, I’m not a future teller. Only time will tell what happens when both men step into the cage. But, with the rise that Jean Silva is on, having the momentum, the mental warfare he’s won and Bryce coming off a terrible knockout, the final prediction is a Jean Silva victory this Saturday night.
With a win, this would mean that one of the most popular unranked fighters would then have a ranking next to his name at #13. Yet, the competition only gets harder from there. From power punchers like Josh Emmett, to the still undefeated Lerone Murphy who just won last weekend, all the way to Alexander Volkanovski and Deigo Lopes with one of them walking away as champion after Saturday night, it’s safe to say Jean Silva has a tough road to the gold. Still, it feels like easy work for the Fighting Nerds resident dog.
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