Featherweights collide in Saturday’s Noche UFC headliner as Diego Lopes looks to rebound from his title bid with a statement win against surging prospect Jean Silva.
Lopes (26-7) slick grappling attack and veteran savvy meet Silva’s knockout power and unbeaten UFC run, setting the stage for a high-stakes clash that could reshape the division.
Silva (16-2) rides his 5-fight unbeaten UFC record into Noche UFC with all five coming by way of finish. Coming off a submission victory over Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314 in front of the current featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, set him up for his first main event bout.
Round 1 – Silva came out methodical with a front kick up top to the face of Lopes. He sent a couple more front kicks by grabbing Lopes’ hands and throwing it. Lopes went with kicks to the legs early.
Silva’s lead leg showed damage early on, but it’s something he’s done before. He never shows that it’s bothering him. A spin kick from Silva opened a window for Lopes to take him down and take his back.
Silva went to his back and got mounted. Silva tried as hard as he could to bump him off, but he was eating some nasty ground and pound with elbows and punches. Silva had to choose between going belly down and going to his back and he paid for it repeatedly.
Silva laughed at Lopes as he was eating uncontested shots repeatedly. Silva powered back to his feet somehow and they went back to striking. Silva landed the up kick to the chin of Lopes. Lopes learned as he began to slide back a bit when he saw it coming. What a start to the fight!
Round 2 – Silva came out firing kicks to the legs. Lopes continued his game plan using the leg kicks. Silva started implementing his game landing heavy shots behind jabs. Lopes wasn’t defenseless returning fire with a right hand.
The two stayed in close and landed heavy shots on each other like they accepted that this was going to be a war for the remaining time.
Silva landed a nasty right hand shot on Lopes. He started to land combinations, but Lopes was not backing up or looking for a way out at all. Silva landed to the body and Lopes fired back with a planned left hook up top and a right hand to the body.
Silva missed a right hand and got dragged down by Lopes. Lopes began to wrap him up by lacing the right leg of Silva and then lifting and dropping him. Silva got to his feet but got dragged right back down.
Lopes ended up on top in side control. Silva continued to just muscle his way to his feet and started throwing nuclear shots! Lopes fired back just as much and as hard.
An elbow dropped Silva and a flurry of strikes ended the fight.
Lopes went over to Silva’s corner and had words with his camp who had been doing a lot of talking leading up to the fight.
Official Result: Diego Lopes def. Jean Silva via R2 TKO, 4:48
