This is the live blog for Jean Silva vs. Jose Miguel Delgado, the featherweight main event for Saturday’s Noche UFC card at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Joining the UFC from Contender Series in 2024, Silva entered the promotion with a lot of hype and immediately showed why, scoring five finishes in his first five fights in the promotion and taking home three Performance bonuses for his troubles. Heading into last year’s Noche UFC main event against Diego Lopes, “Lord” appeared to be on the cusp of a featherweight title shot, but a TKO loss to Lopes upended those plans. Silva rebounded with a win over Arnold Allen in January, and now the Fighting Nerds contender hopes to get some redemption in his second Noche attempt.
Silva was originally supposed to fight former interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez this Saturday, but after Rodriguez withdrew from the event, Arizona native Delgado stepped in on short notice to fill the void. Also a product of Contender Series, Delgado has gone 4-1 in the UFC over the past two years and now hopes to score the biggest win of his career.
Check out the Silva vs. Delgado live blog below.
Been a pretty good night of fights so far. Really fun stuff for the most part. And now the main event, which I cannot imagine will be boring.
Delgado out to a mariachi song, and he looks so happy and comfortable, smiling ear to ear.
I have no idea what Silva is walking out to. Honestly, kinda sounds like Hispanic Christian rock, and he’s walking in a way that makes me think it is. Very spiritually happy, if that makes sense. And he really is taking a long time to get into the cage. Also, he looked on the verge of tears at one point.
Silva is an odd duck, man.
Delgado is 4 inches taller and has a 4-inch reach advantage. But he’s a +325 dog to Silva, who is -425.
Buffer gets things going. Dan Miragliotta is the ref. Delgado paces back and forth; Silva stands stone still, staring at him. Delgado gets a big cheer as he’s announced. Silva gets the boos. I guess his “I’m Mexican in my heart” thing didn’t resonate with the fans.
They meet in the middle for final instructions, touch gloves, and it’s go time.
Delgado is clearly the bigger man in there, as the numbers show. Both men are out in orthodox, but both switch stances a lot. Silva holding the center, Delgado moving around outside. Both men feeling things out early. Delgado probing with very light attacks, Silva doing nothing. The first minute goes by like this with Delgado feinting and tapping. Silva has not moved his hands at all.
Delgado keeps tapping away with kicks and Silva has done nothing as we approach the two-minute mark. Silva is pressuring more though, moving Delgado to the fence. Delgado feinting and waiting. And Silva still does nothing.
OH! Delgado got tired of waiting around and blitzed forward and dropped Silva! Right hand across the jaw clean as Silva tried to roll it. Delgado pounces but Silva rolls up on him and gets to his feet. CLinch and then space. But once in space, Silva still not doing anything. This is not a way to win a fight.
Delgado comes forward, and Silva ducks under and swims to the back. He drags Delgado down but barely, and they pop up and break to space with just over a minute left. Silva finally throws a strike, a powerful body kic, but also eats a punch from Delgado. Silva is backing Delgado up with ease, but almost no offense. He’s waiting far too much.
Silva finally throws but misses and Delgado cracks him back. Then Delgado goes with high kicks and Silva sways out of the way. Silva clearly feels very confident for a man who just lost the first round by a clear margin.
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 Delgado.
Silva’s corner is upset with his weirdo first-round. They tell him to start doing stuff. And he comes out and lands a right hand early. But Delgado is brimming with confidence now and he’s upping his output.
Silva goes to the body. Delgado comes with a flurry as Silva covers up. Silva tries for a back elbow and it glances off, but he ate like 6 shots for his one elbow. Silva is in full bozo behavior and losing because of it. The dichotomy of Jean Silva.
Now silva is advancing behind offense. Delgado throwing enough back at him to keep Silva from gaining a head full of steam. But they have a big exchange that Silva gets the better of and then gets a takedown off it. Delgado has butterfly guard, switches to full guard, and Silva isn’t doing anything. Ref warns thim and Silva throws a few elbows before standing up.
Ali-Inoki position and Silva lands a few big shots before going back on top. Delgado rolls under and gets to his feet though. And Silva is back on the pressure. He’s worked his way into this fight and Delgado doesn’t love the pressure. He’s reacting to Silva’s feints. Silva lands to the body. He’s found that drop level shot there several times, and then he goes high. Delgado finding his most success when they get tight and Delgado can flurry. But Silva is mostly sniping him, in and out, from range now. And Silva lands big. Then gets wild with some spins. They both start jumping and collide! Fun weird stuff to end the round.
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 Silva, 19-19 overall.
Silva’s left eye is swelling up from the shot in round one. We’ll see if that makes a difference.
Silva is right back to pressure, but low on action early. Delgado moving away, looking for his spots. But he’s coming up with air more than he was earlier. Silva seems to have made some good reads. Silva explodes in but can’t get anything major off it. Still, he keeps coming forward, and this is starting to pay dividends. Delgado looks uncomfortable.
Delgado is doing a good job os slipping Silva’s first punches coming in, but the body shots are starting to pile up and his offense has dropped off.
OH! Silva drops Delgado with a sharp right hand! Caught him between exchanges! Silva let’s Delgado up but Delgado shoots! And Silva sprawls and moves right to the back! One-arm choke under the chin! This is gonna be it!!!
And there’s the tap! Out of nowhere, Jean Silva club-and-sub win!
Silva jumps over the cage and goes to Hunter Campbell, taking off his gloves to give to Hunter and he’s barking at him. What a weird guy.
Jean Silva def. Jose Miguel Delgado via submission (rear-naked choke) — 2:57, Round 3
Jean Silva gives Daniel Cormier his Fighting Nerds glasses, dubbing him an honorary Fighting Nerd.
Silva then tells the crowd “this is for you,” talking about the whole show for Noche UFC, saying it’s an important day for Mexicans. He then also says the one-arm choke is something they work at the gym, and he’ll put out a video about practicing it beforehand.
Silva then sends a message to the Volk-Movsar fight, telling them he’s the next champion for whoever leaves with that belt.
