Joaquim Silva’s third round finish of Jared Gordon helped earn the duo Fight of the Night honors at UFC Milwaukee. But if you thought that stoppage was nasty, he suggests you check out his earlier fights.
Milwaukee, WI — Those watching UFC Milwaukee’s preliminary card scrap between Joaquim Silva and Jared Gordon quickly saw it as a lock for Fight of the Night. It wasn’t long before the back-and-forth battle between the two lightweights had fans enrapt with their performance. When Silva motioned in the third that he wanted to stand and bang, the move embodied the gritty battlefield tone of the fight. Spare no quarter.
After the fight, Silva was certainly hoping to cash in off the performance. “I think until now it had to be the best of the night,” he said via translator back stage at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. “We really put on a show for the fans, and I think up until now, it’s the best fight.”
The fight was the kind of war that makes stars in the UFC. Silva told reporters including Cageside Press Saturday that he “trained for that kind of a fight. I’m really glad he accepted that kind of a game. I was ready for that, I trained three months for that.” But if you think that finish was rough, you should check out his early career highlight reel. “Before the UFC, I had some still nastier ones,” he proclaimed. Fun fact, all of Silva’s wins prior to the UFC ended in stoppages.
Ultimately, the win left him feeling “very happy. Very, very happy,” especially given the sate he was in after his first career loss at UFC Charlotte nearly a year ago. That unanimous decision defeat came at the hands of Vinc Pichel. “Only I know how I suffered for the month after the fight. I was really bad,” Silva admitted.
All that is in the past now. There was even a chance he might cash in on a second bonus, though ultimately he would simply share Fight of the Night honors with Gordon. “I help a lot of people, I help a lot of social projects, and the money would really come in handy,” he explained when asked about the potential windfall.
$50,000 is a good start.
Watch the full UFC Milwaukee post-fight press scrum with Joaquim Silva above!
