Jean Silva Looks Like A World Champion After UFC 314 Win

The Fighting Nerds are one of the hottest teams in MMA, racking up a combined 24-0 record under the UFC banner, with 16 of those victories coming by stoppage. One of the team’s fighters, Jean Silva, drew high praise from UFC commentator Joe Rogan following Silva’s submission win over Bryce Mitchell on the UFC 314 pay-per-view card.

Joe Rogan On Jean Silva

“The fight I really wanted to see was Bryce Mitchell vs. Jean Silva. Because Jean Silva is a (expletive) dude. That guy looks like a world champion,” Rogan said. “To just beat [Bryce Mitchell] from pillar to post the entire fight, was smiling and laughing, looked like he was never threatened and never in danger. Just like he was on another level, way above Bryce, looked like a world champion.

“Even guys that have beat Bryce Mitchell before, except Josh Emmett who just KO’d him with one punch, but even Ilia Topuria had to get a hold of him first, Jean Silva looked like it was never a fight, he was just having fun… and then finally just put him to sleep. He’s an animal, man.

“That whole team, the Fighting Nerds, I was talking to Jon Anik about this, he said they have data scientists that work for the team. Data scientists who analyze techniques, and they break things down… They find patterns, patterns of opponents.”

“That’s a team of savages,” Rogan added.

Jean Silva Vs. Bryce Mitchell

I wrote about Silva’s win following UFC 314, “Jean Silva was confident and comfortable throughout his fight against Bryce Mitchell. No one can say that the man does not love his job.

“Silva, known for his striking, used those skills to set up the submission that ended the fight against Mitchell.

“Silva is working his way up the featherweight rankings and having a good time doing so. He is now 5-0 in the UFC with four knockouts and now a submission.”

Jean Silva Enters The UFC Rankings

Despite having a 4-0 UFC record with four knockouts and two fight-night bonus awards, Silva entered UFC 314 without a ranking. Meanwhile, Mitchell was ranked inside the top 15, but he had a tenuous grasp on that ranking, having alternated wins and losses over his five previous contests. Mitchell lost his ranking when Silva choked him out in the second round for his first submission win under the UFC banner and his third-straight bonus.

Today, Silva is ranked at No. 11 in the official UFC featherweight rankings.

Jean Silva UFC Career

Silva (16-2) joined the UFC in September 2023 when he scored a UFC contract thanks to a decision win over Kevin Vallejos on a Dana White’s Contender Series card. Silva extended his winning streak to eight straight with his win over Vallejos.

Vallejos, who signed with the UFC following a 2024 DWCS win, is the last fighter to go the distance with Silva. Since his DWCS win, Silva has picked up four knockout victories and two fight-night bonus awards.

Silva was coming off a February first-round knockout win over Melsik Baghdasaryan before he faced Mitchell.

Silva is now 5-0 since he joined the UFC with all his wins coming by stoppage (four knockouts and one submission. He has earned fight-night bonuses for each of his three most recent wins.

Jean Silva On Bryce Mitchell Win

“Now, I’m pretty sure I’m the people’s hero,” Silva said at the UFC 314 post-fight press conference via MMA Junkie. “If they needed one, Jean ‘The Lord’ Silva is here.”

“I have to thank Bryce Mitchell for all this fame that I have,” Silva said via a translator Monday. “He was the one that kept saying my name in the media, and I’m really just reaping the benefits of being spoken about all the time. So people, because they didn’t agree with what he was saying, all of the sudden, they just started supporting me.”

“We actually trained this submission a lot,” Silva added. “We trained for about two months to do this submission exactly like that. We trained because we needed to have this submission with Bryce Mitchell, and I wanted to show my jiu-jitsu, my grappling. I wanted to show that all my skills are above all those other levels. So this is exactly the way I wanted the submission to be.”

Jean Silva Calls For Title Shot

“I believe that between me and (Alexander) Volkanovski, [we] would have a fantastic fight. I like him very, very much, but I think this would be a good fight for me, and I could probably go for a knockout in the first or second round.”

Volkanovski, a former UFC featherweight champ, regained the vacant 145-pound belt in the main event of UFC 314, beating Diego Lopes via decision.

“If we would take maybe two months to remove his belt, I’m totally in favor of that,” Silva continued on the topic of Volkanovski. “I think this would be a fabulous fight, and the people would love it.

“I completely understand if UFC doesn’t find it the right moment to do it right now, but in two months, I would find it very important or very adequate for me to remove his belt. And once I defend this belt, I’m the type of fighter who likes to fight three or four times if [UFC CEO] Dana [White] agrees with this.”

Another member of The Fighting Nerds, Carlos Prates fights in the main event of this weekend’s UFC Kansas City Fight Card.