Noche UFC Recap: Jean Silva DELIVERS, Brandon Moreno REBOUNDS & Alexa Grasso WINS AGAIN

And we will start in that short notice main event where John Silva, the sixth ranked featherweight in the world, was taking on Jose Miguel Delgado.

And this was a great back and forth fight for the 12 minutes and 57 seconds that we got to witness it up until the finish would be found by Lord John Silva at the two minute and 57 second mark of round number three, causing me to lose my under two and a half rounds bet by 27 seconds.

That sucked, but the whole night did for me as a betting perspective.

So we'll move on.

There was just this pit in my stomach during fight week especially leading into fight day on Saturday and I felt that Jose Delgado could maybe pull off the upset coming in as the short notice replacement on just a few weeks time but being the much larger man in this one with a significant reach and height advantage and obviously he is very good when it comes to the striking realm.

which is where John Silva looks to keep most of his bouts.

And we saw that threat present early because Jose Delgado nearly finished Silva in the first round, knocking him down, and really throughout the bout looked to be just a step ahead in the striking realm because of that length that he possessed.

But as the fight would continue to play out into rounds two and specifically in round three, Silva was able to scratch and claw his way back into it from a competitiveness perspective.

And he would land a knockdown in the third round and Jose was never really able to recover.

As John Silva would pounce on him and lock in a rear naked choke and finish the fight with just one arm.

He didn't even have his hands locked on the choke, but it was tight enough to force Delgado to tap.

So John Silva did what he was supposed to do and that was come in and win this fight and even finish the fight.

But it wasn't necessarily a performance where I leave thinking that was enough to get the winner of Movzar versus Volkanovski coming up at the end of October.

Instead, I feel like Silva does have to fight and win at least one more bout before he can get his first UFC title shot.

And for Delgado, I leave thinking that this is a man that deserves to be in the top 15 that looked like a top 15 featherweight in the world if you ask me.

Although he is unranked and although he lost here, he is still 4-2 in the UFC overall.

He saved this main event slot on just a few weeks notice.

I think that he should face another top 15 ranked featherweight in his next bout, obviously with a proper fight camp and training regiment behind him.

Specifically for Silva, I think there's two names that could be next for him.

One is the original matchup for this Noche UFC main event, and that is the former interim title holder and fifth ranked Yair Rodriguez.

If Yair wants to remain relevant in the featherweight division and specifically hold his spot in the title contention discussion, then he has to be active.

He has to fight.

Obviously, I know this is MMA.

Injuries happen.

But we're talking about a guy that since February of 2023, the night that he won the interim championship by finishing Josh Emmett, has only fought three times since.