Jean Silva proclaims himself 'the people's hero' after finishing Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314
MIAMI – If the people need a hero, Jean Silva says he’s their guy.
In a highly anticipated UFC 314 showdown with Bryce Mitchell, not only did Silva (16-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) win, he dominated. Midway through Round 2, he beat Mitchell (17-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) at his own game with a ninja choke submission.
“Now, I’m pretty sure I’m the people’s hero,” Silva told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. “If they needed one, Jean ‘The Lord’ Silva is here.”
There was much attention on the three-round featherweight bout because of comments made by Bryce Mitchell on his podcast in which he praised Adolf Hitler. Silva, like most who heard the comments, took issue with them.
But the nature in which Silva won seemed to surprise even some of his biggest supporters. Mitchell is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black-belt who had only been submitted once prior.
“Listen, me winning by submission? Whoever bet me, it’s time to share. If you bet on me, put it in my pocket. I want to make some money, as well. Do you bet on me? … I really didn’t know that. People really think I’m apparently not good at jiu-jitsu or grappling. It’s crazy because I’m Brazilian.”
With his victory, Silva kept the momentum going for a surging Fighting Nerds team that also includes Caio Borralho, Carlos Prates and Mauricio Ruffy. Despite turning heads on a near monthly basis, Silva said the best is yet to come.
“We’ve had a lot of different paths to victory,” Silva said. “We’ve had some that involved knockouts. We’ve had others that involved submissions. Some of them actually involved taking some damage. But it wasn’t interesting because we had all these different pathways to victory. We were very happy to actually be able to put them all together and make it happen and get it that way. If you look at it, it’s me now. You had me, and then you have Ruffy, and then you have Prates, and Prates and me again, and Prates is coming up. So get used to this. Get used to this. This is happening.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 314.