UFC lightweight veteran Drew Dober will get the chance to fight close to home after one recent victor stepped in on extremely short-notice to meet him on July 13.
Dober, who trains out of Denver, Colorado, was originally added to the lineup for next weekend’s UFC Fight Night in the ”Mile-High City” against the in-form Mike Davis. Last month, however “Beast Boy” suffered a nasty torn bicep in training.
Since then, the 155-pound fan favorite has been awaiting news of a replacement to keep him on the card, which is set to be headlined by former two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas inside the Ball Arena.
That came this week, with Brazilian outlet Ag. Fight reporting that Jean Silva will be moving up from featherweight to share the cage with Dober on less than two weeks’ notice.
Silva was in action just this past weekend at UFC 303, where he got the better of Charles Jourdain in brutal fashion. The Brazilian did miss weight, however, so the decision to subsequently accept a lightweight showdown was perhaps to be expected.
Silva Targets Two Wins In Two Weeks At Dober’s Expense
Having already had a strong start to life on MMA’s biggest stage, the July 13 event presents the chance for Silva to significantly increase his stock by recording two victories in just 14 days.
Silva (13-2) followed his success on Dana White’s Contender Series with a first-round knockout off Westin Wilson in his UFC debut. In Jourdain on June 29, “Lord Assassin” thrived against better competition, dropping the Canadian early on before finishing him in round two with a vicious uppercut.
While the weight miss for that contest added an asterisk next to the result, the Brazilian 27-year-old has the chance to go someway toward erasing any memory of his indiscretion on the scale in one of the more high-profile bouts slated to go down in Denver next Saturday night.
Dober (27-13) has long been one of the lightweight division’s perennial entertainers. That was on full display in 2022 when he sat in the rankings off the back of three straight stoppage wins over Terrance McKinney, Rafael Alves, and Bobby Green. Since sleeping “King,” though, Dober has gone 1-2, with a quick finish of Rick Glenn sandwiched between setbacks at the hands of Matt Frevola and Renato Moicano.
With this addition, the current fights expected to take place at the UFC Fight Night in Denver on July 13 are as follows:
Main Card:
- Rose Namajunas vs. Tracy Cortez (women’s flyweight main event)
- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Muslim Salikhov (welterweight co-main event)
- Drew Dober vs. Jean Silva (lightweight)
- Gabriel Bonfim vs. Ange Loosa (welterweight)
- Julian Erosa vs. Christian Rodriguez (featherweight)
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cody Brundage (middleweight)
Preliminary Card:
- Viviane Araújo vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius (women’s flyweight)
- Joshua Van vs. Charles Johnson (flyweight)
- Luana Santos vs. Mariya Agapova (women’s flyweight)
- Montel Jackson vs. Da’Mon Blackshear (bantamweight)
- Josh Fremd vs. Andre Petroski (middleweight)
