Jean Silva comforted by Noche UFC win after memory loss from last year

Jean Silva needed to get something off his chest, and he waited until minutes before his Noche UFC cage walk to let his team know his secret.

For the second straight year, Silva (18-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) headlined the promotion's Mexican Independence Day celebration. But to him, his main event clash Saturday vs. Jose Delgado (12-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) may well have been his first. He defeated Delgado by third-round submission (with one arm) – the only memory he has of competing on a Noche UFC event.

"Now I can open up and tell what happened," Silva said at a post-fight news conference. "Throughout this year and throughout camp and throughout fight week, even before the fight, as fight week progressed, I couldn't find myself to say this to my team and reveal this to them. I actually pulled them aside in a corner before the fight tonight and I told them, 'I don't have any memories of what happened at Noche UFC last year.'

"It did take something away from me and those were the memories. I've told people that I wanted to have the memory of my first main event and I do not have any of that. I know in world history the books are going to say this is my second main event. But to me, this was my first. I'm very happy that tonight I was able to make good memories and I will remember that."

It's unclear if Silva meant damage was to blame for the omitted memory or if emotional trauma was to blame. Either way, Silva can happily recall how things played out Saturday at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz.

Silva thinks he did enough to line himself up for a title opportunity. His celebration in the moment included scaling the cage and handing his gloves to Hunter Campbell as a promise he'd eventually hold UFC gold.

"It's a clarity that we didn't have tonight," Silva said. "It's a clarity we have every day. Every day, we step into training every time. Every time people come to me for counseling or advice or anything of the sort. That's what we have and I feel we're on the right path and what I'm doing there. I know what we're doing here, we have the clarity that what we're doing is to be a champion. That's the next step and I think for sure I'll be a champion next."

With the win, Silva has won back-to-back bouts. The victory Saturday could align him for a shot at the winner of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev, which headlines UFC 333 on Oct. 24 for the featherweight title.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Jean Silva comforted by Noche UFC win after memory loss from last year