Two weeks after the knockout victory in UFC 303, Jean Silva will step back into the octagon in Denver to face Drew Good.
The fight, valid for the lightweight division, will make up the main card of Fight Night scheduled for next Saturday (13) with the main fight between Rose Namajunas and Tracy Cortez.
In an interview with UmDois Esportes, the Paraná native explained why he accepted a new fight so quickly and how his “lightning fast” preparation to face Dober has been.
“A fight was dropped and they said it jokingly, but I said ‘I want it’. They (UFC) accepted it, we accepted it. Street creators are always ready,” he said. The fight that was dropped was between Brazilian Viviane Araújo, who was supposed to be on the preliminary card.
For Lord, this negotiation was only possible because after two knockouts, he ended up catching the attention of UFC executives. And the short preparation time was no problem for him.
“Actually, I’ve been preparing for 12 years. It’s 12 years of trouble for Drew Dober. If he thinks it’s only two weeks, he’d better not fight, because it’s going to be bad.“, said the athlete.
Jean Silva met Drew in person and claims to have a lot of respect for him, but again, promised a knockout victory — just like what happened in his first and only two UFC fights so far.
“He’s a guy who scares people because he has a heavy hand. And I want him to play his best hand, because I’m going to play mine too, and he’s going to fall,” he promised.
Drew Dober has been in the UFC for 10 years; his last fight was in February, against Renato Moicano. The Brazilian won the unanimous decision of the judges. When analyzing the fight, Jean evaluated the performance of his next opponent as “very bad”.
“He took a guy who has no ground level and couldn’t do anything, couldn’t defend anything,” he said.
In addition to the latest loss, another advantage Silva believes he has is the excitement, as he is still starting his UFC career, while Dober is getting closer and closer to retirement.
“I think he no longer has that desire to grow like he had five years ago. For him, everything is normal now. The biggest advantage of someone who has just arrived at the UFC and is going to fight a veteran is this desire,” he assessed.
Jean Silva’s last opponent couldn’t get over defeat
In his last fight, less than two weeks ago, Jean Silva knocked out Charles Jourdain early in the second round, but the Canadian didn’t take the result very well.
The Brazilian had already promised a knockout before even stepping into the octagon, but he also promised that he would take his opponent out for pizza afterwards. However, the invitation was not accepted.
“He got mad at me! I called him and called him, and he didn’t want to! He’s such a fool. He’s still there talking back to me,” said the man from Paraná.
Silva expects Drew’s reaction to be very different from Jourdain’s if the result is another knockout victory — but this time, Dober himself will be the one paying for the pizza.
“I’m going to beat him up and he’s going to buy me a pizza. His purse is $65,000 (R$355,000), he’s going to earn a lot, he’s going to pay!”joked Jean. “I’m sure I’ll love beating him, he’s a happy guy, he was grateful for me accepting the fight. He has a beautiful family, that’s really cool. I’m a fan of the guy,” declared the Brazilian.