Jean Silva | Lord Knows What’s Going To Happen

Enigmatic Featherweight Jean Silva Believes His Best Work Is Coming In Miami As He Takes On Bryce Mitchell At UFC 314: Volkanovski vs Mitchell

By Zac Pacleb, on X @ZacPacleb • Apr. 11, 2025

If you wanted to place The Fighting Nerds into archetypes, it would probably go as follows:

Caio Borralho is the leader. The one who carried the team’s flag into the Octagon first with a confident, broad smile and mindful style.

Mauricio Ruffy is the uber-gifted golden child whom Borralho calls “one of the most talented guys” on the mat. Through three UFC bouts, he has fascinated and awed with devastating power, no-look punches and a wheel-kick knockout that is the clubhouse leader for the best finish of 2025 so far.

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Carlos Prates is sort of the silent assassin, keeping a lower profile off to the side, smoking cigarettes along the way. Not as loud a personality in or out of the Octagon, he has dismantled all four of his opponents in jarringly clinical fashion.

Then, there is Jean Silva: the wild one.

Jean Silva of Brazil punches Charles Jourdain of Canada in a featherweight fight during the UFC 303 event at T-Mobile Arena on June 29, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

The one who is either barking or crying on his way to the Octagon and sometimes doing both at once. The one who hung off the cage like a bat out of hell during his introduction on a regional show. The one who cannot help but high five his opponent or pump up the crowd every other minute right before uncorking an Earth-shattering strike.

“Lord” brings all of that chaotic, destructive and intoxicating energy to Miami for his fight against Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314: Volkanovski vs Lopes, and he does so with the intention of racking up his fourth UFC win in style.

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“It’s the happiest day of my life,” Silva told UFC.com through a translator. “It’s the fact that I get to do whatever I want. I can go in there, and I can somersault. I can slap a guy in the face. I can do whatever. I got the clear to do whatever. I get to do what I love, and that is the happiest day of my life because I can let the dogs out. I love doing it.”

Silva is the first Fighting Nerd to make multiple appearances in 2025, following his stunning knockout win over Melsik Baghdasaryan in February at UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs Song. After that win, he called out Mitchell, and things have only become more heated since.

Jean Silva Fight Week Interview | UFC 314

The 28-year-old Brazilian took exception to some of Mitchell’s comments outside of the Octagon, and when the two arrived in Las Vegas for the UFC 314 pre-fight press conference a month ago, the tension increased. Silva’s barbs varied in tone and style. At one point, he led the crowd in a “f*** Bryce Mitchell” chant. At another, he flaunted a globe on stage poking fun at Mitchell’s subscription to the “flat earth” theory. Other times, he just kept barking, prompting Mitchell to say he was “barking up the wrong tree.”

In the ensuing month, the two traded jabs over social media, and when UFC.com asked Silva how he really felt about his opponent, he said he “pleads the fifth.” He hopes Mitchell doesn’t mean everything he’s been saying about him ahead of the fight, but he is relishing the shine their matchup is getting.

“If there is a hero, that hero is Jean ‘The Lord’ Silva,” he said. “I am so happy.”

Part of Silva’s enjoyment came from sharing the stage with Prates, who was scheduled to face Geoff Neal in Miami before an injury to Neal scrapped the matchup. Now, his teammate is set to headline the action in Kansas City opposite Ian Machado Garry.

Jean Silva reacts after knocking down Melsik Baghdasaryan in a featherweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Climate Pledge Arena on February 22, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Regardless, Silva hopes he can keep the team’s momentum rolling after a breakout 2024. It seems like the Nerds build off each other’s successes in specular fashion, a sentiment Silva echoes.

“We elevate each other so the next star shines brighter and brightest of them all,” Silva said. You have mine, then Ruffy, then Prates, who was supposed to be here, but now he’s got a main event coming up.

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“Every time someone is about to shine, everyone just propels them and elevates them. Everybody keeps shining brighter and brighter.”

While Silva has shone brightly, Mitchell is undoubtedly his toughest stylistic test so far. Mitchell’s grappling game is one of the trickier bags in the featherweight division, and his experience against the best 145ers in the world, which includes Ilia Topuria and Edson Barboza,far outweighs Silva’s.

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Last time out at UFC 310, Mitchell delivered a devastating slam knockout of Kron Gracie to get himself back in the winner’s circle a year after suffering a scary knockout loss to Josh Emmett at UFC 296. The win solidified Mitchell’s quality and danger, but Silva has the utmost confidence in his ability to replicate the scenes from Mitchell’s December 2023 loss.

He compares life in the UFC to owning a Ferrari — the very act of owning and driving a Ferrari is already a blessing, but he understands the upkeep is as important. Metaphorically speaking, training and fighting is the upkeep, and he is eager to rev the engines in style on April 12.

“I don’t think — (I know) it is going to happen,” he said. “I think people are going to be barking. I got people to bark in all my interviews. It is so surreal that I have people barking, and I hope he doesn’t give in and succumb in the first round because I’d really like to have some fun with this.”

UFC 314: Volkanovski vs Lopes took place live from Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on April 12, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!