MIAMI – Jean Silva believes he could send his UFC 314 opponent into an early retirement.
UFC 314 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Kaseya Center, where Silva (15-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) will have the opportunity to settle his differences with Bryce Mitchell. The featherweight main card bout has seen a heated build, and Silva believes if he performs to his expectations, Mitchell (17-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) could call it a career after Saturday’s event.
“He’s an excellent fighter,” Silva told reporters through an interpreter at a pre-fight news conference. “Listen, he’s fought Ilia Topuria, he beat Edson Barboza, Dan Ige – everything was going good until he got knocked out by Josh Emmett. I think that really messed up his brain and his emotions, and everything just kind of went wrong. You can tell he’s not looking at this the same way that he used to look at it before. It just really messed him up.
