Jean Silva showed up and showed out in a short-notice opportunity at UFC Denver, leaving with a victory after opening a gruesome gash over Drew Dober’s eye that only got worse with each strike landed.
The wound that looked like something out of Terrifier 2 was actually inflicted by an elbow that Silva landed repeatedly on Dober throughout the fight. The cut was initially opened in the second round, but a ringside physician allowed the action to continue into the third.
That led to another massive shot from Silva that widened the gash that much more and at that point the doctor had no choice but to stop the fight. The end came at 1:28 in the third round with Silva getting the win by TKO due to a doctor stoppage.
That’s a horror movie cut #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/h0c4hnfeE8
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) July 14, 2024
Here it is “cleaned up” #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/G7jT5bQncg
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) July 14, 2024
“We’re by one of the greatest champions in history — Dominick Cruz said I’m a different guy,” Silva shouted while pointing out Cruz calling the fights cageside. “I am different. The elbows, those hands, everything, we planned, we trained this. I really want to thank Drew Dober. Thank you, Drew Dober.”
Prior to the stoppage, Silva and Dober were going to war with both fighters landing some seriously nasty shots that likely would have put away most lightweights. Dober continuously showed his durability as the faster Silva kept finding a home for his lightning quick strikes from the outside.
Whenever Dober was able to cut off the cage, he unloaded punches in succession with more than a few testing Silva’s chin and body, but the Brazilian just kept coming.
With time ticking away in the second round, Silva uncorked a spectacular spinning back elbow that clubbed Dober and left him on wobbly legs, but time ran out to allow him to recover in the corner. On the restart, Silva came out firing once again and he cracked Dober with another vicious elbow.
That transformed the cut over Dober’s eye into a crater, which led to the stoppage just a few moments later.
“I got these neanderthal eyebrows. They cut open very easily,” Dober said after the loss. “This is what I mean being a warrior. I will fight anybody. This is what fighting’s all about. We throw hands and we make war.”
Despite the loss, Dober’s home crowd in Denver gave him quite an ovation while also applauding Silva on a job well done. It was even more impressive that Silva did all this on short notice after he just knocked out Charles Jourdain at UFC 303 two weeks ago.
The win moves Silva to 14-2 in his career and he maintains a perfect 3-0 record in the UFC.
