UFC welterweight prospect Erick Silva is looking to return to his winning ways when he faces Jay Hieron at UFC 156 in Las Vegas. He was most recently in a FOTN thriller with Jon Fitch at UFC 153 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but Silva lost by unanimous decision. It marked Silva’s second loss in the UFC, with his first coming against Carlo Prater via DQ. He was unable to cope with Fitch’s relentless attack and pace and he was exhausted by the end of the 3rd round to the point where he was nearing a TKO loss.
One of the things Silva is focusing on in preparation for his next fight is the weight cut. In an interview with Fighters Only Magazine, Silva discussed his 15 lbs drop the day before the weigh-ins.
Silva, who represents X-Gym, doesn’t want to make the same mistakes he made prior to the fight with Jon Fitch and so he is paying special attention to his weight cut for his next fight. Against Fitch he dropped 7 kilos the day before the weigh-in and he says that spoiled his performance badly by affecting his conditioning and cardio.
“I won’t permit it to happen again. I will be attentive to the weight, I will work it well. I won’t have much on me by the end of the year. In the last fight, I thought that it would be better to get heavier in the final stages of training but afterwards I realized that it ended up making me more slow and tired. Now this is going to be a whole new ball game,” he says.
As much as the weight cut could be a big reason for Silva’s tiring in the Fitch fight, it should be noted that Jon Fitch has an elite gas tank and he’s worn out many a fighter en route to his decision wins. That said, Erick will likely need to demonstrate improved cardio and conditioning as Hieron has only been stopped twice (and a third time on cuts).