Drew Dober finally has an opponent for UFC on ESPN 59.
Stepping up just days removed from his last fight, Jean Silva will fill the “opponent TBA” void for Dober (27-13 MMA, 13-9 UFC) in a lightweight matchup on July 13 at Ball Arena in Denver. The promotion officially announced the matchup on Wednesday.
Dober was originally set to face Mike Davis at the event, but was left without an opponent when “Beast Boy” became injured. Dober wanted to keep the date and has now secured a new foe who just competed at International Fight Week.
More action coming to the Mile High City 👏
Jean Silva will face @DrewDober at #UFCDenver, just two weeks after his KO victory at UFC 303! pic.twitter.com/frSihwfojH
— UFC (@ufc) July 3, 2024
Silva (13-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is coming off a knockout win against Charles Jourdain at UFC 303, and will make a quick 14-day turnaround to compete again. While the performance was impressive, it was blemished by a 1.5-pound weight miss over the featherweight limit. For the fight against Dober, he will have an extra 10 pounds to work with in his fast return to the cage.
Dober will look to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Renato Moicano in February which halted the momentum of a TKO victory over Ricky Glenn in October.
With the addition, the UFC on ESPN 59 lineup includes:
- Rose Namajunas vs. Tracy Cortez
- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Muslim Salikhov
- Drew Dober vs. Jean Silva
- Viviane Araujo vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
- Gabriel Bonfim vs. Ange Loosa
- Julian Erosa vs. Christian Rodriguez
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cody Brundage
- Mariya Agapova vs. Luana Santos
- Josh Fremd vs. Andre Petroski
- MarQuel Mederos vs. Nazim Sadykhov
- Charles Johnson vs. Joshua Van
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 59.
