Original article can be found here.

Featherweight Jean Silva made good on his second Noche UFC main event opportunity, defeating late-replacement Jose Miguel Delgado at UFC Fight Night at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz., on Saturday, but it wasn’t without adversity.

Delgado (12-3 MMA) stunned Brazil’s Silva in the opening round with a series of strikes before Silva maintained forward pressure in Rounds 2 and 3, finding an opening at 2:57 of the third frame to secure a one-arm rear-naked choke that left the Arizona crowd in stunned silence. Silva (18-3 MMA) didn’t throw a single strike in the first three minutes of the fight.

Silva is eyeing a shot at UFC featherweight gold soon, regardless of who the champion is next year. Silva didn’t offer a prediction for UFC 333’s main event, set for Saturday, Oct. 24, in Abu Dhabi, featuring Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski and Russia’s Movsar Evloev, with Volkanovski defending his title.

“This message is not for the division,” Silva said through a translator. “It’s not for anybody out there. This message is for the next champion. Whoever holds that belt, the next champion is right here. There’s a new champion in town.”

Silva was originally scheduled to fight Mexico’s Yair Rodriguez, a former interim champion, before Rodriguez withdrew because of an injury he disclosed on Instagram Aug. 20.

The co-main event saw former two-time UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno earn a split decision over UFC veteran Joseph Morales. Moreno (24-10-2 MMA) won 30-27 on the scorecards of Mike Bell and Eric Colon. Judge Andrew Topps scored it 29-28 for Morales in an entertaining, all-around fan-friendly bout with dynamic striking and grappling exchanges throughout the 15 minutes.

Moreno called for a quick turnaround in December for his next fight, expressing keen interest in fighting on the UFC’s end-of-year Las Vegas event, UFC 335, set for Saturday, Dec. 12, at T-Mobile Arena.

Morales (14-3 MMA) fell to 2-1 during his current UFC run and 3-3 dating to 2017. Meanwhile, Moreno has won three of his last five fights.

Featherweight Tommy McMillen nearly secured an arm-triangle choke attempt in Round 1, followed by more volume-based striking in Round 2 before nearly securing a TKO in the third round to win a unanimous decision over Morocco’s Marwan Rahiki (29-28, 29-28, 29-27) in a battle of previously unbeaten prospects. McMillen (12-0 MMA) and Rahiki (9-1 MMA) had an intense buildup, which included a shoving incident at the fighter hotel earlier in the week and another tense exchange at Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins.

“I knew I could just out-dog him at the end of the day,” McMillen said in his in-Octagon interview. “And that’s what I did.”

In a women’s flyweight title eliminator, a top-three matchup began when former UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso of Mexico used elusive striking to frustrate France’s Manon Fiorot. After Fiorot bounced back with a productive second round, Round 3 saw much of the same from Fiorot, who opened a cut over Grasso’s eyes, with visible damage to both. The judges favored Grasso’s boxing over Fiorot’s damage, awarding a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) and keeping Grasso in the title picture.

Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan, who is 1-1-1 in head-to-head record against Grasso, was forced to vacate her flyweight title earlier this month. According to her head coach, Pavel Fedotov, Shevchenko may be out for a full year due to shoulder and back injuries, according to MMAFighting. To keep the division moving, UFC 332, set for Saturday, Oct. 3, in Salt Lake City, will feature a vacant title fight between Brazil’s Natalia Silva and China’s Wang Cong to crown a new champion.

Grasso’s victory strengthens her case to challenge the Silva-Wang winner while Shevchenko recovers. Meanwhile, Fiorot (13-3 MMA) lost to Shevchenko in May 2025 in her lone UFC title fight. Fiorot has dropped two of her last three fights, while Grasso (18-5-1 MMA) improved to 2-0 this year.

At heavyweight, four successful takedowns from Curtis Blaydes in the 15-minute contest were enough to outlast Waldo Cortes Acosta of the Dominican Republic and win a unanimous decision, to the audience’s dismay. Blaydes (20-6 MMA) swept the scorecards 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, handing Cortes Acosta (17-4 MMA) his first back-to-back losses in his MMA career.

Blaydes rebounded from his April loss to Josh Hokit at UFC 327 in Miami, where he lost a closely contested decision in a potential fight-of-the-year candidate. Blaydes has won two of his last three, improving his UFC mark to 15-6, 1 NC, since 2016.

Opening the main card, Mexican bantamweight David Martinez ignited the crowd with his 15th win in his last 16 outings, a unanimous decision over Hawaii’s Dan Ige. Martinez (15-1 MMA), who entered as a heavy betting favorite, took the cards 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, as Ige (19-12 MMA) has now lost three in a row.

Noche UFC 4 (also known as UFC Fight Night 288) was part of a busy Saturday in combat sports, with Ryan Garcia defending his WBC welterweight title against Conor Benn later at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

–Field Level Media

Original article