UFC Fight Night 28's Elias Silverio seeks KO win, change of weight class

Promotional newcomer Elias Silverio has yet to step foot inside the octagon for his first UFC bout, but he’s already thinking about his next major career move.

Not to cause confusion, Silverio (8-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is by no means looking past his UFC Fight Night 28 opponent, Joao Zeferino (13-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC), but he’s certainly thinking about how tonight’s matchup on FOX Sports 1 could be his last at welterweight.

“I’ve been a welterweight thus far, but after winning my next fight, I’d like to drop to lightweight,” Silverio told MMAjunkie.com. “It’s not necessarily because I want to drop in weight, but because everyone else does it. I feel obligated to do the same.”

Silverio has spent the majority of his career at 170 pounds, even winning the welterweight title in Jungle Fight, a highly regarded regional promotion in his native Brazil.

But now that he’s made the switch to the big leagues of the UFC, Silverio is aware of the fact most, if not all, fighters at this level are cutting as much weight as possible in order to gain a competitive advantage.

While he may not be an avid supporter of cutting weight, the 26-year-old knows he must follow the trend set by his fellow athletes, even if it’s a physically taxing process.

“I don’t agree with aggressive weight cuts,” he said. “But I already fought in New Jersey at Ring of Combat, and it was a 160-pound catchweight bout. As I had never cut weight before, it was the first time I did it, and I had no medical supervision. It was hard, and I didn’t feel well. I suffered with that weight cut. But I felt OK during the fight, at least.”

As of now, though, the future is in the back of Silverio’s mind, and Wednesday’s bout with Zeferino is in the forefront.

Having taken the fight on short notice as an injury replacement for Kenny Robertson (12-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC), Silverio knows others may have doubts regarding whether or not he is prepared to compete on the sport’s biggest stage.

Fortunately the Brazilian isn’t worried about that since he was already training for another fight in his home country before getting the call to step in for Robertson.

Already being in the midst of a camp made the change in venue and opponent that much smoother, but even if he hadn’t been training for a fight, Silverio insists he would have taken the opportunity to fight in the UFC no matter what, even if it was against the champion of the weight class.

“When I got the UFC contract, it was an emotional high,” Silverio said. “I didn’t care who I had to face, even if it was Georges St-Pierre. As the training days went on, I became more used to the idea of fighting in the UFC.”

Luckily, instead of St-Pierre, Silverio was matched against an opponent much closer to his skill level in Zeferino, a fighter who has earned a majority of his career wins by submission.

Silverio prefers to keep his fights standing, and while he fully expects his opponent to try to take the fight to the ground, he insists that will be an unsuccessful game plan that will only lead to a knockout loss.

“He trades on the feet but soon seeks to fight on the ground,” he said. “I doubt he’ll want to trade with me. He’ll try to take me down, but I’m not going to let him. And I’ll be putting on a show for the crowd. I am going to keep it on the feet.

“I plan to knock him out. I’ll spend every moment looking to strike with him.”

For the latest on UFC Fight Night 28, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.