Introduction
UFC Fight Night 40: Brown vs. Silva took place on Saturday, May 10, 2014 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio — broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 for the main card and Fox Sports 2 for the prelims. The event was the second time the UFC visited Cincinnati, after UFC 77 in October 2007. Matt Brown’s TKO of Erick Silva in the main event was among the most talked-about welterweight performances of 2014: Sherdog named their first round the Round of the Year.
Brown entered the fight on a six-fight UFC winning streak and had built a reputation as one of the most relentlessly aggressive welterweights in the division. Erick Silva was a dangerous Brazilian finisher with explosive power. Their opening five minutes produced back-and-forth warfare before Brown ultimately pulled ahead in round three and finished with punches. Brown earned both Fight of the Night (shared with Silva) and Performance of the Night bonuses — $100,000 in total post-fight money. It was his seventh consecutive UFC victory.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, May 10, 2014
📍 Venue: U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (2nd UFC visit; UFC 77 was first in 2007)
📺 Broadcast: Fox Sports 1 (main card) / Fox Sports 2 (prelims)
🏆 Main Event: Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva — Welterweight
✅ Result: Brown def. Silva via TKO (punches) — R3, 2:11 (FotN + PoN; $100k total; 7th straight UFC win)
Main Event: Brown vs. Silva — Round of the Year
Round one between Brown and Silva was the kind of welterweight chaos that defines the weight class at its peak. Silva opened with his signature explosive combinations, rocking Brown early. Brown ate the shots and pressed forward with his own volume striking, absorbing and landing in equal measure. The pace was relentless and neither fighter took a backward step for the entire five minutes. Silva had moments where a finish seemed inevitable; Brown had his own. The round ended with both men still upright and the Cincinnati crowd on their feet. Sherdog named it their Round of the Year for 2014.
Brown took control in rounds two and three, landing his combinations with greater precision and wearing Silva down. In round three, Brown walked him onto a punch combination, dropped him, and followed with ground strikes before the referee intervened at 2:11. Brown earned both Fight of the Night (shared with Silva at $50,000 each) and Performance of the Night ($50,000) — $100,000 total. It was the second time in his career he had swept the double bonus in a single night.
Full Results
Main Card (Fox Sports 1)
Matt Brown def. Erick Silva — TKO (punches) — R3, 2:11 — Welterweight (FotN + PoN $100k; 7-fight streak; Round 1 = Sherdog Round of Year 2014)
Costas Philippou def. Lorenz Larkin — KO (punches) — R1, 3:47 — Middleweight
Daron Cruickshank def. Erik Koch — TKO — R1, 3:21 — Lightweight
Neil Magny def. Tim Means — Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) — Welterweight
Soa Palelei def. Ruan Potts — KO — R1, 2:20 — Heavyweight
Chris Cariaso def. Louis Smolka — Split Decision — Flyweight
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 2)
Ed Herman def. Rafael Natal — Unanimous Decision — Middleweight
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Darrell Montague — Unanimous Decision — Flyweight (Horiguchi’s early UFC career; future Rizin and Bellator FLW champion)
Johnny Eduardo def. Eddie Wineland — Bantamweight (PoN $50k)
Zak Cummings def. Yan Cabral — Welterweight
Nik Lentz def. Manny Gamburyan — Featherweight
Albert Tumenov def. Anthony Lapsley — Welterweight (Lapsley missed weight)
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Matt Brown + Erick Silva — $50,000 each
🥇 Performance of the Night: Matt Brown + Johnny Eduardo — $50,000 each (Brown earns $100k total)
Records & Milestones
• Matt Brown’s seventh consecutive UFC win — placing him firmly in the welterweight title contention picture.
• Sherdog Round of the Year 2014: Brown vs. Silva, Round 1 — one of the most celebrated opening rounds in Fight Night history.
• Kyoji Horiguchi’s early UFC career — the future Rizin flyweight champion and Bellator bantamweight champion making his mark at 125 lbs.
Legacy & Impact
Matt Brown’s 2013–2014 run was one of the sport’s most impressive welterweight streaks outside of title competition. Seven consecutive wins, every one by finish, against competitive UFC opposition. The Silva win positioned him for a UFC welterweight title shot against Johny Hendricks at UFC 185 in March 2015 — a fight he lost by TKO in round two. Kyoji Horiguchi’s Cincinnati prelim was part of an early UFC run that saw him challenge Demetrious Johnson for the UFC flyweight title at UFC 186 before eventually leaving the UFC and becoming the most decorated fighter in Rizin history. His Fight Night 40 appearance showed the technical precision that would define his career.
FAQ
What made Matt Brown’s 7-fight UFC win streak so remarkable?
Brown won all seven fights in the streak by TKO or KO. His opponents included fighters like Stephen Thompson (Fight Night 27: Condit vs. Kampmann 2), Mike Pyle (Fight Night 26), Erick Silva, and others in the UFC’s welterweight top fifteen. He consistently earned Fight Night bonuses throughout the run and had a finishing rate of 100% across the streak. At 185 lbs he had the kind of pressure-forward aggression combined with durable chin that made him exciting in every fight but difficult to defend against. The streak made him the most compelling welterweight outside of the title picture in 2013–2014.
What happened to Kyoji Horiguchi after his UFC career?
Horiguchi went 6-1 in the UFC before leaving for Rizin in 2017. In Japan, he became the Rizin flyweight champion (125 lbs) and then won the Bellator bantamweight title (135 lbs) in a cross-promotional fight — becoming the first fighter to simultaneously hold Rizin and Bellator titles. His UFC stint provided the early platform for what became one of the most decorated careers in Japanese MMA history. The Darrell Montague win at Fight Night 40 in Cincinnati was one of his first major US showcases.