Noche UFC Headliner Trolls Ex-UFC Champion After Withdrawal from Main Event Fight

"Lord" finally decided to acknowledge his opponent change for Noche UFC.

(Zuffa LLC)

Less than two weeks out from this year’s Noche UFC, one of the card’s headliners doesn’t want fans to forget that he was originally supposed to face a former UFC titleholder.

Scheduled to take place at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ, this year’s edition of Noche UFC currently has 13 scheduled fights and is headlined by a huge featherweight clash between Jean Silva and Jose Delgado.

Silva represents a major step up for Delgado, who accepted the fight on less than a month’s notice after former Interim UFC Featherweight Champion Yair Rodriguez withdrew from the card with an injury.

Jean Silva Poses With Cutout of Yair Rodriguez After Noche UFC Withdrawal

The opponent change initially didn’t generate much of a response from Silva, but “Lord” recently shared a photo of himself hugging a cardboard cutout of Rodriguez on his Instagram account.

Although he’s one of the biggest Mexican stars on the UFC roster, Rodriguez’s withdrawal from the September 12 card means that he still hasn’t competed on a Noche UFC event since the UFC started holding dedicated cards to celebrate Mexican Independence Day starting in 2023.

Yair Rodriguez Won Interim UFC Featherweight Belt in 2023

The featherweight winner of the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter Latin America, Rodriguez’ UFC career began with six-straight victories before he was stopped by UFC Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar at UFC 211.

Yair Rodriguez (red gloves) fights against Patricio Pitbull (blue gloves) during UFC 314 at Kaseya Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“El Pantera” rebounded with wins over Chang Sung Jung and Jeremy Stephens before falling to former UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway following a layoff of more than two years, but a victory over Brian Ortega set Rodriguez up for an interim featherweight title bout at UFC 284.

Yair Rodriguez (red gloves) celebrates after defeating Josh Emmett (not pictured) to win the interim featherweight championship during UFC 284 at RAC Arena. | USA TODAY Sports

The 33-year-old submitted Josh Emmett to win the interim featherweight belt but came up short in his title unification bid against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 290, and those two fights represent the last time fans have seen Rodriguez compete twice in the same calendar year.

Jean Silva Could Move Closer to Title Shot With Noche UFC Victory

Rodriguez was submitted in a rematch with Ortega before he defeated Patricio Pitbull at UFC 314, and the originally-scheduled Noche UFC fight with Silva represented a massive chance for “El Pantera” to vault back into the featherweight title mix.

Silva was on the cusp of a title shot himself following a 5-0 start to his UFC career that saw the Brazilian finish all five opponents he faced, but that winning run came to an end at last year’s Noche UFC event when he was stopped by Diego Lopes.

Arnold Allen (red gloves) fights Jean Silva (blue gloves) during UFC 324 at T-Mobile Arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Lopes went on to rematch Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title in a losing effort at UFC 324, while Silva returned to the win column at UFC 324 when he defeated Arnold Allen.

Jean Silva during UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Silva will try to continue building his case for a title shot when he meets Delgado on September 12, and even after losing Rodriguez this year’s Noche UFC card still features two former Mexican UFC champions in Brandon Moreno and Alexa Grasso.