Preview: UFC 314 ‘Volkanovski vs. Lopes’

Featherweights

Jean Silva (15-2, 4-0 UFC) vs. Bryce Mitchell (17-2, 8-2 UFC)

ODDS: Silva (-278), Mitchell (+225)

The matchmaking is fairly solid in terms of trying to give one of the featherweight division’s potential stars a breakthrough win, but the backstory is unavoidable enough that it makes the whole thing a bit odd. Mitchell was a fascinating overachiever for the first few years of his UFC career, a creative grappling ace with an adaptive enough striking game to figure things out and outwork his opponents over time. That also came with “Thug Nasty” being a huge personality, for better or for worse, being outspoken enough about his thoughts on just about everything to the point that it even overshadowed stories like Mitchell ripping his own scrotum open with a power drill. At any rate, when Mitchell eventually hit his ceiling, he hit it hard. Ilia Topuria submitted Mitchell, and Josh Emmett crushed him with one of the most brutal knockouts in UFC history. There still figured to be some interesting matchups on the table for the Arkansas native, like his bizarre fight against Kron Gracie in December that ended with Mitchell landing a knockout slam. Mitchell followed that performance by launching his podcast and immediately engaging in Holocaust denial, which appears to be a bridge too far for the fans but not for the UFC, which instead seems to be cashing on the wave of animosity against him by essentially promising he will get knocked out against Silva.

That’s a solid bet to make from the UFC’s standpoint, as Silva has had a massive breakout over the last year. Coming off his 2023 win on the Contender Series, Silva appeared to be a potent threat with a lot of unnecessary patience in his game, but his last three fights have shown that the Brazilian is gifted enough to make things work. He’s a crushing power puncher that has cracked some historically durable chins, and he appears to have an elite level of vision—with Yoel Romero serving as an obvious level of comparison—in terms of waiting things out and picking his spots to absolutely annihilate the opponent. There are ways Mitchell can make this interesting. Silva’s wrestling and grappling has been fairly untested thus far and Mitchell can throw out some tricks as a striker. However, it seems likelier than not that Silva can do his usual thing and eventually find an opening to lay down the hammer. The pick is Silva via second-round knockout.

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Volkanovski vs. Lopes
Pimblett vs. Chandler
Silva vs. Mitchell
Rodriguez vs. Freire
Krylov vs. Reyes
The Prelims