Jean Silva hopes now ex-UFC champ Ilia Topuria has picked lightweight as his lane

SEATTLE – Before he knew Ilia Topuria vacated his featherweight title, Jean Silva was hopeful a divisional tie-up wasn’t in the future.

As it is, Topuria decided to surrender his 145-pound title, and when the main event at UFC 314 starts, he’ll be a former champion who is moving up to lightweight.

Jean Silva (16-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) has fought at both 145 and 155 in the UFC. Saturday, he takes on Melsik Baghdasaryan (8-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) on the UFC Fight Night 252 (ESPN+) main card at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. He’ll do it at featherweight just one fight after a win at lightweight.

Topuria won’t have a title to hold up at featherweight with a move to lightweight to pursue champ Islam Makhachev, which has been the case with other two-title pursuits in the past.

“People moving between divisions, I have a different view on things, and it goes back to a Brazilian saying that pretty much translates into ‘Stay in your lane,'” Silva said Wednesday at media day for the event.

“I understand that every fan in the UFC would love. That would be a great fight. I’d Love to watch that fight between Ilia and Islam. But he made his name at featherweight. That’s where he does it.”

Well, as it stands now, that’s where Topuria USED TO do it. His plan is to be at lightweight. If he wanted a featherweight return soon after, Silva doesn’t think it’d be a great idea.

“Is it going to be that easy for him to come back to featherweight if he (wanted to)? I think he should (stay at lightweight).”

Former featherweight champion Alexandre Volkanovski will fight Diego Lopes for the soon-to-be-vacant belt at UFC 314, and that will make the field wide open again.

Silva goes into his fight against Baghdasaryan as the second biggest favorite on the card. His winning streak stands at 11, including his first three in the UFC. One of those, though, was marred by a weight miss, and it happens to be the last time he fought at featherweight.

After that, he fought Drew Dober at 155 pounds this past July and picked up a bonus-winning finish. But back at featherweight, he’s confident the weight issues are in the past.

Check out Silva’s full media day interview above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 252.