Matt Brown is looking to add his name to the growing list of contenders in the UFC’s welterweight division, but Erick Silva stands in his way.
The two men headline UFC Fight Night 40 at U.S. Bank Arena Saturday in Cincinnati and they made things official at the weigh-ins Friday.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch UFC Fight Night: Brown vs Silva live Saturday on Sportsnet 360 with prelims starting at 8 p.m. EST and the main card at 10 p.m. EST
Brown (18–11) is riding a six-fight win streak, which is currently the longest active streak in the UFC’s 170-pound division — Georges St-Pierre was on a 12-fight streak prior to vacating his title in December. Brown was scheduled to fight Carlos Condit in December, but a back injury forced him off that card. During his recent run of success, Brown has knocked out Mike Pyle, Jordan Mein, Mike Swick, Luis Ramos, Chris Cope and won a decision over rising star Stephen Thompson.
Silva (16-4, 1 NC) knocked out Takenori Sato in a mere 52 seconds on Feb. 15 in his last bout. The 29-year-old Brazilian has alternated wins and losses since making his UFC debut in August 2011. With a victory, the talented Brazilian will vault himself into the upper echelon of the welterweight division.
The event also features a slew of veterans like Eddie Wineland, Ed Herman, Manny Gamburyan and Nik Lentz, plus rising contenders Erik Koch, Louis Smolka and Kyoji Horiguchi.
Anthony Lapsley missed weight on his first attempt, coming in at 174 pounds — the limit for non-title welterweight bouts is 171 pounds. Lapsley had two hours to shed an addition three pounds, which he did. Had he missed weight on his second attempt he would have been fined 20 percent of his purse.
All other fighters on the card made weight.
Here are the full results from the weigh-ins:
MAIN CARD (Sportsnet 360 at 10 p.m. EST)
— Matt Brown (170.5) vs. Erick Silva (170.5)
— Lorenz Larkin (185.5) vs. Costas Philippou (185)
— Daron Cruickshank (156) vs. Erik Koch (155)
— Neil Magny (170.5) vs. Tim Means (170)
— Soa Palelei (263) vs. Ruan Potts (244)
— Chris Cariaso (125.5) vs. Louis Smolka (126)
TELEVISED PRELIMS (Sportsnet 360 at 8 p.m. ET)
— Ed Herman (185) vs. Rafael Natal (185.5)
— Kyoji Horiguchi (126) vs. Darrell Montague (125)
— Yan Cabral (170.5) vs. Zak Cummings (169.5)
— Johnny Eduardo (136) vs. Eddie Wineland (136)
ONLINE PRELIMS (UFC Fight pass at 6:30 p.m. ET)
— Manny Gamburyan (145.5) vs. Nik Lentz (145)
— Justin Salas (155.5) vs. Ben Wall (155)
— Anthony Lapsley (171) vs. Albert Tumenov (170.5)
