Jean Silva fights like he doesn’t care. And by “doesn’t care”, we mean, he makes his opponents look like they don’t belong in there with him while making it look easy. It’s almost as if you could take offense to his brash fighting style inside the Octagon. He’s wild, full of antics, and he’s all smiles inside the Octagon. And then there’s him wearing his emotions on his sleeve, and crying at the drop of a hat in interviews. It makes one wonder—why is the featherweight, nicknamed ‘Lord’, the way he is? What did he witness, growing up? Well, it looks like former middleweight champ Chris Weidman has some answers.

During the UFC 314 Weigh-Ins Show, right after Silva stepped off the scales, Weidman asked Laura Sanko, Dan Hellie, and Daniel Cormier if they knew about the story about the featherweight contender’s mother. Upon confirming that it was indeed Silva’s mother that Weidman was talking about, ‘DC’—not sure if the story was true or not—warned, “Don’t say it. Don’t say it.” But Weidman wasn’t budged. He said, “No, I gotta say it, because it’s a crazy story. I could be wrong.” 

With one more warning from the former heavyweight champion, Weidman revealed, “I don’t know. I think it might be real. His mom killed three dudes that were trying to like assault her and he witnessed it.” Sanko, Cormier, and Hellie were left flabbergasted. DC exclaimed, “Are you serious? This is literally the worst!” But Weidman recollected a time when he had an interaction with Kyle Dimond, one of Silva’s teammates. According to him, Silva had seen quite a bit in his life. 

It is quite an intense and personal story for Weidman to be casually dropping on air, so we understand Cormier’s hesitation. Furthermore, this story can only be confirmed by Jean Silva himself, so this news by the former middleweight champion has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Regardless, while the ‘crazy story’ remains to be confirmed by the Brazilian featherweight contender, we know that he holds his mother pretty close to his heart. How do we know this? Well, he has a tattoo dedicated to his mother. Let’s take a look at it. 

Jean Silva has a tattoo for his mother

There’s a Nordic-styled tattoo of a lock on Silva’s chest, and alongside that, he has his mother’s name inscribed on his body. About the tattoo, the featherweight contender said, “The lock has a diamond with mother’s name right under it, so no one can touch these emotions. Here’s the heart, my happiness. And the lock symbolizes many things. And it’s an old lock, from the Nordic era, before Christ, so maybe it’s a lock that only real emotions can open. It’s basically that. Only real people by my side.”

With his mother’s support, Silva has amassed a professional MMA record of 15 wins and 2 defeats. Out of his wins, the featherweight star has won 12 via KO/TKO, and another 2 by submission. In the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the 28-year-old fighter is yet to be defeated. And his 12-fight win streak has worked well by shrouding him in an aura of intimidation.

Now, Silva gets ready to fight ‘Thug  Nasty’ at UFC 314. After bringing up a globe to counter Mitchell’s Flat-Earth arguments, Silva barked —yes, literally barked—almost every time he saw his opponent. And as the time for their bout at Kaseya Center inches closer, we can expect some interesting drama inside the Octagon. 

What are your thoughts on Weidman’s story about Silva’s mother? Do you think Jean Silva will take issue with him airing such a personal story? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.