3 Fighters Who Stood Out on Saturday’s UFC Noche Card

Mexican Independence Day is the synonym for an elite fight night, and Saturday Night proved no different as we gathered some elite moments that are now engrained in our minds for years to come.

Jean Silva defeats Jose Manuel Delgado by R3 SUB

After a salty taste after last year Noche’s UFC loss to Diego Lopes in an electrifying two round war, Jean Silva had the opportunity to become victorious during this year’s edition. The first round had a weird nuance to it for the Brazilian, who seemingly was frozen for the majority of the round, simply walking forward with a high guard, studying his opponent. A thundering right landed by the Mexican dropped Jean briefly, who survived and was seemingly woken up by the strike.

The volume in Round 2 began to show as both men were fearless with their attacks. Delgado, confident he could hurt Jean, opened up more and wasn’t afraid of the fire. Meanwhile, Jean found more success on the feet, showcasing his known versatility with elbows, kicks and strikes.

Ultimately, Round 3 was when Jean found the lethal play to finish Delgado, closing the distance, landing a thundering right against the fence, bringing Delgado to the center of the octagon and securing an adapted rear naked choke. Once more, Jean Silva proved to be one of the most versatile fighters on the roster, collecting his second submission victory inside the UFC while at the same time proving to have one of the oddest approaches in the first round.

Brandon Moreno Defeats Joseph Morales by Split Decision

After two consecutive losses Brandon Moreno took a slight step back in the rankings as he fought Joseph Morales in the co-main event. A contested back and forth over three rounds marked primarily by Moreno’s volume and experience summed up the contest.

Over the three rounds it seemed Moreno would slightly throw a bit more, land a few more damaging shots and overall was more active. Not a demoralizing loss for Morales who now sees his 8 Fight Win Streak come to a halt, but a valiant effort as he aims on regrouping for his next opportunity.

Tommy McMillen Defeats Marwan Rahiki by Unanimous Decision

A lot of fight week trash talk, anticipation and two perfectly clean undefeated records on the line promised to deliver. Fortunately, as fight fans, we were not disappointed. Tommy McMillen and Marwan Rahiki delivered an all out show, showcasing heart, skill and grit over three rounds.

Whenever it seemed one of the men was about to get finished, they would survive to see another minute of war. A contested first round, a second round highlighted by Rahiki dropping McMillen and the third seeing the same thing the other way around. This fight was pure non-stop action and we got shown once again how durable McMillen is. The cardio played a definite factor into this fight as we now wonder how his five round performances will look like.

The future of the Featherweight Division now looks brighter than ever with names like Losene Keita, Luke Riley, Kevin Vallejos join Tommy McMillen in the growing list of prospects to soon cause shock waves inside the rankings.