Three minutes of nothing, then a finish
Jean Silva did not throw a punch in the first three minutes. Not one. Jose Miguel Delgado had already rocked him with a flurry, and the Brazilian spent that opening round reading the fight instead of swinging back.
Then it turned. Silva pressed forward through the second and into the third, hunting the back, and at 2:57 of the final round he sank a one-handed rear-naked choke. Delgado tapped. The Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona went quiet in an instant.
Silva moves to 18-3. Delgado falls to 12-3, and he had only taken this main event on short notice, stepping in once Yair Rodriguez withdrew. The former interim featherweight champion posted news of his injury on Instagram on 20 August.
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Silva is not talking to the division
He wants the featherweight belt. He would not pick a side for UFC 333 on 24 October in Abu Dhabi, where Australian Alexander Volkanovski defends against Russian Movsar Evloev.
“This message is not for the division,” Silva said through a translator. “It is not for anyone else. It is for the next champion. No matter who holds that belt, the next champion is here.”
It was his second Noche UFC main event. The first one ended nothing like this.
Fiorot bloodied Grasso and still lost
Alexa Grasso took a unanimous decision over Manon Fiorot in a flyweight title eliminator, 29-28 on all three cards. Fiorot did real damage, busting up the Mexican’s face and opening a cut above her eye. The judges went with Grasso’s cleaner boxing anyway. Fiorot sits at 13-3 and has now lost two of her last three. The belt itself, vacated by Valentina Shevchenko this month, goes on the line at UFC 332 on 3 October in Salt Lake City between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong.
Brandon Moreno edged Joseph Morales by split decision in the co-main event. The two-time former flyweight champion already wants a fast turnaround at UFC 335 on 12 December at the T-Mobile Arena.
Curtis Blaydes ground out Waldo Cortes Acosta on the cards, four takedowns landed. First two-fight skid of the Dominican’s career. David Martinez opened the main card with his 15th win in 16 fights, beating Dan Ige.
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