Last year, Silva had the first headlining event of his UFC career when he took on Diego Lopes at Noche UFC. Unfortunately for Silva, things didn't go his way as he got brutally finished in a Fight of the Year contender.

This past Saturday, Silva got some form of redemption, stopping Jose Miguel Delgado in the main event of Noche UFC in Glendale, Arizona. It was an important win for Silva, not just because of where it puts him in the featherweight division, but also because he had no recollection of his first UFC main event.

“Now I can open up and tell you what happened, because throughout this year, and throughout camp, and throughout fight week, even before the fight, as fight week progressed, I couldn't find myself to say this to my teammate,†Silva said through the translator at the Noche UFC post-fight press conference. “I actually pulled them aside in a corner before the fight tonight and told them, I don't have any memories of what happened at Noche UFC last year. It did take something away from me, and those were the memories.

“I told to people that it's sad, because I wanted the have the memory of my first main event, and I do not have any of that. I know that in world history, the books are going to say this was my second main event, but to me, it was the first. So I'm very happy that tonight I was able to make good memories, and I will remember.

“I know that we do things for the reward, for the victory, for history, but we also want to be able to tell stories. We want to be able to tell our kids, we want to be able to tell our friends, to share the experience, to say, first-person perspective, ‘I was there, and I did this, and I was part of that.' And unfortunately on that night I did not have that, and I have no memories of that day.â€

Silva certainly has much to remember from this Noche UFC. Not only did “Lord†win another Performance of the Night bonus, but the win put him right back in the title mix at 145 pounds, and could lead to another big fight, possibly a title eliminator bout against former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, who called for just that after Silva's win at UFC 334 in Madison Square Garden in November.

“As we like to say in Brazil, it's talk me up, talk me down, talk shit, hype me up, but talk about me,†Silva said about Sterling's comments. “Go ahead.â€

Now almost two years later, Tsarukyan is still the No. 1 contender at 155 pounds but instead of competing for gold at UFC 331, he's taking on Mauricio Ruffy in a fight that could potentially earn him that title fight opportunity. By all accounts, Tsarukyan has accepted his punishment for the injury that forced a last-minute change to a major card but he also believes it's win or go home on Sept. 19 if he ever hopes to compete for UFC gold.

“I'm taking Mauricio Ruffy as an opponent for my title fight,†Tsarukyan said on his YouTube channel. “Every fight for me is important. I give all of myself in [my] training camp.

“If I lose this fight, I'm never going to see a title fight. That's why I'm super motivated for this fight, super hungry. I've been working so hard for that moment.â€

Heading into UFC 331, Tsarukyan is heavily favored to win thanks to his dominant grappling game and suffocating wrestling attacks while going up against a fighter like Ruffy, who almost exclusively prefers to stand and strike with his opponents.

But Tsarukyan is no fool and he won't get drawn into a game where he's so determined to drag this fight to the ground and Ruffy suddenly finds an opening for one of his knockout strikes.

“I never underestimate him, especially his striking,†Tsarukyan said. “I've got to be so smart during the fight because he has a good punch, so he's knocked out a lot of people.

“Now it's my time. I have a good game plan. It's going to work very well. I'm not saying it's going to be an easy fight. It's going to be a hard fight but I get the victory.â€

Tsarukyan vs. Ruffy serves as the co-main event at UFC 331 on Sept. 19 with flyweight champion Joshua Van defending his belt agains former champion Alexandre Pantoja in the five-round main event.