Jean Silva called out Bryce Mitchell following his knockout win at UFC Seattle and now he’ll get his wish.
The Brazilian is slated to fight the controversial featherweight at UFC 314, which is scheduled to take place on April 12 from the Kayesa Center in Miami.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the news on Wednesday via Instagram.
The fight comes together after Silva immediately called out Mitchell following his fourth consecutive knockout in a row with a brutal finish over Melsik Baghdasaryan on Feb. 22. Silva has been tabbed as one of the fastest rising stars in the UFC and he promised to continue his winning ways if the UFC gave him the chance to face Mitchell.
“They probably didn’t give him a way out,” Silva told MMA Fighting just after UFC Seattle. “Like, ‘You have to take this fight.’ And since he’s a hillbilly, he’ll try to act tough. Hillbillies like to walk around with toothpicks on their mouth, and I’ll make him swallow it.”
Of course the matchup gets made after Mitchell made headlines just recently following a podcast where he defended Adolf Hitler and denied the Holocaust happened. In the aftermath of his comments, White slammed Mitchell while saying “I’ve heard a lot of dumb and ignorant shit said over the years, but this is probably the worst.”
While he condemned the comments, White stood by his vow to protect free speech in the UFC but added for anyone who hates Mitchell “you get to see him hopefully get his ass whooped on global television.”
Now that responsibility falls to Silva when he faces Mitchell as part of the UFC 314 card, which is headlined by a featherweight title fight to crown a new champion when Alexander Volkanovski faces Diego Lopes after Ilia Topuria vacated his belt to move to the lightweight division.
