Preview: UFC 303 Prelims

Featherweights

Charles Jourdain (15-7-1, 6-6-1 UFC) vs. Jean Silva (12-2, 1-0 UFC)

ODDS: Jourdain (-120), Silva (+100)

Once again, it’s unclear what to expect from Jourdain coming into a fight, as he could either eventually find the consistency to break through to championship contention or just wind up as a consistently inconsistent fighter. Jourdain came to the UFC in 2019 as one of Canada’s top prospects, even though he obviously had a lot to clean up. His approach was mostly built around hunting for the highlight-reel finish and figuring out the rest later, and he managed to chain together enough dynamic offense to keep his head above water at the UFC level. Jourdain eventually showed some flashes of a more technical and intelligent approach, and a win over Kron Gracie in May 2023 was a positive sign. It was an ugly fight against a one-dimensional fighter, but avoiding his opponent’s most dangerous skills for three rounds was a clear indication of progress for Jourdain. Then came his last two fights, a win over Ricardo Ramos that saw him repeatedly hunt for guillotine chokes until one somehow worked and a shockingly flat effort in a decision loss to Sean Woodson. At this point, anything seems possible with Jourdain, which makes for a hard fight to parse against Silva, who’s still fairly unproven at this level. A stocky ball of muscle with some obvious power, Silva earned a contract with a workmanlike decision win on the Contender Series in 2023, then followed it up with a knockout win over Westin Wilson in his UFC debut in January. When Silva springs into action, he can cause some serious damage. However, that Contender Series win did raise some concerns that the Brazilian is overly content to pick his spots, and this might be the level where that tendency starts to cause some issues. Given that Jourdain has never been knocked out and is usually content to pump out the type of volume that should be enough to outwork Silva, the Canadian gets the benefit of the doubt. Again, though, it seems to be hard to predict at this point exactly what a Jourdain fight will look like. The pick is Jourdain via decision.

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