Taking to Instagram yesterday, UFC CEO Dana White announced a small handful of exciting bouts, including a blockbuster addition to the main card of UFC 314 in April. Joining the event is an entertaining pairing between Brazilian fan-favorite Jean Silva and the always-controversial Bryce Mitchell. The fight comes not even a week after Silva recently scored another eye-opening stoppage at UFC Seattle last Saturday night from Climate Pledge Arena.
Jean Silva Throws Down in Second Contest in Two Months at UFC 314
Determined to keep active in 2025, Silva will make his sophomore UFC outing of the year at what is gearing up to be a blockbuster show at UFC 314 against his first ranked featherweight opponent. The matchup will mark “Lord”’s second trip to the cage in the span of almost two months, as he just recently competed this past weekend at UFC Seattle. There, Silva compiled another impressive knockout victory, brutally stopping Armenian striking specialist Melsik Baghdasaryan in the first round.
Only a couple of days after his triumph, the Brazilian was swift to call his next shot, doing so against the aforementioned Mitchell. Speaking with MMA Fighting, Jean Silva believes getting the knockout over “Thug Nasty” will be just the victory he needs to progress further up the 145-lb rankings.
“If you look at where I’m going, beating Bryce Mitchell is something nice, and knocking him out puts me in a different position,” Jean Silva began. “Why? The champion Ilia Topuria, who just moved up in weight, he didn’t knock Bryce Mitchell out. He beat him for three rounds, but couldn’t knock him out. Bryce Mitchell gave Topuria a fight, so Topuria had to submit him. So going there and knocking Bryce Mitchell out like I did to Melsik will make Dana and Hunter look at me with different eyes.”
He then predicted a possible scrap between him and the hard-hitting Josh Emmett, who was last seen at UFC 296, finishing Mitchell with a vicious first-round knockout. With a win in the hypothetical contest, Jean Silva believes he would be next in line for a title shot.
“It’s one thing to knock Mitchell out like Josh Emmett did,” he said. “Josh Emmett threw an overhand and it landed. He didn’t build a knockout. He just threw, and everyone that sees me fight knows I build it step by step. When I knock Bryce Mitchell out, they’ll see me build it. And then I can fight Josh Emmett and go straight for the belt, or maybe one more after that, a similar path to what Topuria did.”
Mitchell Out For Considerable Time, Returned to Fanfare, Infamy Ahead of Jean Silva Contest
Following the previously mentioned loss to Emmett in 2023, Bryce Mitchell sat out for the majority of 2024, finally returning to action at UFC 310. Going toe-to-toe with Kron Gracie, Mitchell nearly saw himself being submitted in the second round via a tight armbar, though he did manage to survive until the horn sounded. He would then violently stop the Brazilian 39 seconds into the third with a slam and subsequent elbows.
In recent weeks, Mitchell has garnered a staggering level of controversy over his recent statements on his ArkanSanity podcast regarding the Holocaust and German tyrant Adolf Hitler. The show and Mitchell received heavy backlash from fans and fighters alike, along with Dana White publicly denouncing the fighter’s claims.
