PHOENIX – If life truly does imitate art, it would've been apropos had Eminem's 2002 hit "Lose Yourself" been playing in the background when rising UFC featherweight Jose Delgado received a phone call last month offering a short-notice opportunity with the potential to dramatically alter the timeline of his goals and dreams.
For the record, the rapper's breakthrough anthem wasn't queued up on Delgado's playlist at that exact moment, but one can only wonder if the inspirational lyrics were floating around in his head as he weighed out his options before ultimately accepting a five-round headlining slot opposite the No. 6-ranked "Lord" Jean Silva (17-3) at Saturday's Noche UFC card (5 p.m. ET main card, Paramount+) inside the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
"Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity,
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment,
Would you capture it or just let it slip away?"
Delgado (12-2), a 28-year-old from the Mexican border city of Yuma, Arizona, will return to the Octagon less than two months removed from his July decision win over Austin Bashi and will enter as a near 4-to-1 betting underdog when he steps up in class considerably, on just three weeks' notice, to take on the division's most dangerous finisher for a shot at cutting the line and catapulting himself into instant title contention.
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A late injury to Yair Rodriguez offered Delgado, the youngest of seven children born to hard-working parents who emigrated from Mexico to the United States in search of a better life, an opportunity to see his family name in lights on Mexican Independence Day weekend while fighting in his home state, on the outskirts of his adopted home city of Phoenix.
For a fighter like Delgado, who is 4-1 since making his UFC debut just 19 months ago, and has spent the last 18 years pouring every bit of himself into making this mixed martial arts journey a success, there was a simple refrain that echoed inside of his head when presented with the chance to fight Silva, a brash and maniacal 29-year-old from Brazil, who likely sits one win away from challenging for the UFC title.
"Why not now?" Delgado told CBS Sports during a recent sitdown at the MMA Lab gym. "Why not me?"
The Eminem comparison makes even more sense when you consider Delgado's girlfriend, Leslie Del Rio, whom he met as a classmate in Yuma before the two reunited in Phoenix, often makes the same recurring joke whenever she sees pictures of Delgado from their middle school days adorned in a hoodie and hat with a serious scowl.
"You look like you're having that Eminem moment every time."
According to Delgado, in a way, she was unknowingly right.
"I swear to you, I would think about moments like this and I was prepping for these moments back then," Delgado said. "This is a lifetime of work, this is 18 years of grinding and 18 years since I first stepped foot on the mat and realized that I want to do this for the rest of my life. But I'm not telling you that the road was easy, I'm telling you that the road was hard.
"I'm telling you that the road [included having] to break through so many mental ceilings and so many self-imposed walls. There were so many breakthroughs. This is a spot that elevates me immediately. This is a spot that I would be foolish to say no to. I say yes to the opportunity to be great."
Delgado's fighting journey began at age 10 in a Yuma gym run by former WEC title challenger Chance Farrar. At 18, Delgado enrolled at a local college only to take the road less traveled just one week before the semester started when he acted on a gut feeling to pack up his belongings and move to Phoenix in order to fully commit to his newfound dream.
It was at the MMA Lab where Delgado met one of the gym's co-owners, former WEC and UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, whom he credits for taking Delgado under his wing. In recent years, Degaldo also added another former lightweight king -- and, ironically, Henderson's career rival -- in the form of Anthony "Showtime" Pettis to his managerial team.
"[With Henderson,] It's about the work [and to] love the process," Delgado said. "This is a guy who leads by example, he doesn't talk a whole lot but you just watch him and you just look at the way he moves and you learn everything from that."
Even though Pettis was long one of his favorite fighters, it was an indirect connection he made with the former UFC champion, whose face once adorned the cover of a Wheaties cereal box in 2014, that brought Delgado inspiration.
In 2013, immediately after defeating Henderson by first-round submission in their rematch to win the UFC title in his home city of Milwaukee, Pettis drove directly to the gravesite of his late father, Eugene, who was murdered during a robbery in 2003. Delgado, who was just two years old when his own father died in a car accident on his way to work as a miner, was a 15-year-old UFC fan when he first heard about Pettis' story.
"That was a big moment for me, that was an aha moment," Delgado said. "[I remember saying], 'I want that, that's important to me.' I want those moments and you can start planting those seeds in your head."
Delgado doesn't have any actual memories of his father beyond home movies and stories shared by his six older siblings. But he has long believed his love of fighting provides an unspoken connection to his father that he feels deeply to this day.
"He was a big member of his community and, I can't emphasize this enough, a figurehead to his people," Delgado said. "I've seen him through [my family's] eyes and sometimes there was pain that followed. As a little kid, maybe I bestowed this upon myself, but I felt that it was my role to try to take that pain away, whether it be being silly or being a dancing monkey.
"Through fighting, I felt like I could do that at the highest level. When I go into that cage, I used to wear his [miner] jacket on that walk [while fighting on the regional scene]. I used to carry him with me and I swear for a moment I could bring him back."
Delgado's father, Guadalupe, who was known as "Lupe" to his family and friends, was a huge fan of boxing, Kung Fu movies and the 1990s television drama "Walker Texas Ranger" starring Chuck Norris. Both Delgado and his siblings believe their patriarch would be beyond proud to see his son -- and the family's surname -- on the marquee for an event this important to both Delgado's fighting career and the UFC calendar.
Launched in 2023 as an annual event meant to commemorate Mexican Independence Day weekend and celebrate both the culture and fighting spirit, the idea of headlining Noche UFC is not something Delgado takes lightly given his roots.
Delgado's mother was raised in humble conditions inside a house with dirt floors while his father was forced to quit school at the age of six in order to help support his parents by working. Delgado's father, who worked three jobs up until the time of his death to provide for his family of nine, passed down that work ethic to his son, who bounced from job to job for years in Phoenix while training with the hope of one day making MMA a full-time profession.
"Nobody cares more about the American dream than the immigrant. That was instilled in us," Delgado said. "I'm from Yuma, Arizona. That city is hard working. That is a desert town, that is an agriculture town, that is a field town. I have seen nothing but sacrifice. I have seen nothing but resilience. I have seen people work for wages far less than they're worth and I have seen them overcome.
"From the moment I was born, nothing about this has been easy. You talk about being an underdog, this is Noche UFC. My parents came to this country with nothing. We have been underdogs. I understand that role very well. I'm dangerous when my back is up against the wall."
Despite all of Delgado's years of hard work and respected wins inside the Octagon against the likes of veteran Andre Fili and tough prospect Austin Bashi, he now finds himself taking a considerable step up in competition against Silva, who has gone to the scorecards just twice in 17 pro victories.
A technical striker with violent explosiveness, slick jiu-jitsu and a creative array of strikes from unorthodox angles, Silva owns UFC wins over Charles Jourdain, Drew Dober, Bryce Mitchell and Arnold Allen. He also brings an intimidating persona and emotional antics that vary between him barking at his opponents or succumbing to tears at the mere sight of the UFC featherweight title.
Delgado, who refuses to refer to Silva by his "Lord" nickname, knows he is in for a dangerous fight but he has come to terms with and welcomes all of the emotions that come with chasing his dream.
"His name is Jean, he's just a man and he bleeds like every other man," Delgado said. "I like that he brings in the antics, I like that he makes it a show. I like that he makes this bigger than what it is. But, at the end of the day, it's two guys going out there and trying to take what they believe is theirs. I'm going out there to take what I believe is mine and that's legacy, that's greatness."
One thing Delgado liked about the short-notice nature of the fight is that he doesn't have much time to focus on fear or anxiety, of which he admits are present. Instead, he has entered what he calls "go mode," referencing former boxing middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler's famous "War" hat that echoed his mentality inside the ring.
"Everything that goes through my mind is war," Delgado said. "Every single thought I have at this point is how to take Jean Silva out in the most spectacular ways and I love it. I see it so damn clearly. I used to have to close my eyes to be able to see these things. I'm telling you, I'm able to keep them open and see right now.
"I love the danger, I love the butterflies. I'm not going to sit here and lie, there's butterflies in my stomach but I promise you Sept. 12 they will be in formation."
Fighting in his adopted home city in the main event of Noche UFC with a shot at title contention at stake, Delgado believes he's simply living a dream and he'll have his mother and all six of his siblings in attendance to watch him carry it out.
Putting his family's name in lights and the hope of one day adding his surname to the list of MMA legends remain the driving force motivating Delgado to take this short-notice chance. But for a kid who remembers so vividly about what it's like to be too scared to even voice his goals out loud out of fear they might come true, Delgado hopes the combined effort of 18 years of blood, sweat and tears can motivate the next generation watching on Saturday night.
"I know what I bring to the cage and I know the spirit I got in me," Delgado said. "I have always been able to rely on that even when the skills were low. [New fans] will see that. But, more than anything, [they will see] that I am from Yuma, Arizona, a city with the second worst unemployment rate in the country. We are a city that has lots of people and we bred a lot of good UFC fighters but there are a lot of limiting beliefs in that city.
"So, if you are somebody watching and you have a dream but have these doubts in your head [saying], 'Why would I be worthy of it?' You are worthy of it because I had those same thoughts, I had a breakthrough and I had to push through. I'm worthy of this greatness. I see it so clearly and I want them to know that."
