Bruno Silva’s Hollywood Ending

For Bruno Silva, the hardships and adversity he’s faced on his way to the Ultimate Fighting Championship are not a source of discouragement. In fact, as he prepares to face Cody Durden in a flyweight showdown this weekend at UFC on ESPN 60, he talks about those difficulties with the demeanor of someone who believes he is still destined to achieve his dreams, and that everything else will just make for a better story once he has done so. “Everything else,” in Silva’s case, means a roller coaster ride including disappearing wins, weight classes being pulled out from underneath him, and even deportation.

“What I had to go through to get into the UFC – that's worthy of being in a movie,” the 34-year-old Brazilian told Sherdog. “I was on a five-win streak before I joined ‘The Ultimate Fighter Brazil’ 4. It was actually six wins, but one win somehow got recorded as a draw later [against Zury Valenzuela]. By that time, I had already come to Arizona to train with Henry Cejudo. I had taken part in many of his training camps. Then I was deported. I had taken a fight while on a tourist visa. I traveled to Mexico to help Cejudo get ready for Demetrious Johnson [at UFC 197]. We went there for interviews. Coming back [to the U.S.], they noticed I had fought with a tourist visa. I got deported [back to Brazil]. I took a fight in the Aspera promotion [against Adalto Prado]. Since I had been on a long winning streak, I was ready to get into any major promotion. In that fight, I got knocked out in seven seconds. It was the worst phase of my career. By that time, I was already in my late 20s, and had no money. My mother asked if I wanted to continue. She knew I liked it, but I was always broke. After I came back to the U.S., I fought Casey Kenney [at LFA] to a draw. Then I started winning again. I won a belt [against Ralph Acosta at WFF 40]. I finally got into the UFC in 2019. I had been in ‘TUF’ back in 2015, and I was hoping I’d get picked up soon thereafter. It took another four years. Then [after losing my UFC debut] it took three or four months to find out that Khalid Taha had failed his doping tests. That fight was at 135 pounds because we were told flyweight was going to be phased out.”

Silva took those problems as lessons and believes that they helped prepare him for his run in the UFC, which has included setbacks of its own. “After I got into the UFC, I figured my dream had come true, and all fights would be wins going forward,” he admitted. “The opposite happened. Things went from bad to worse. I lost to Tagir Ulanbekov, who trains with Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. I felt I won, but he was awarded the unanimous decision. If you watch the fight, you’ll see who won. It was close, though. I only had one fight left on my contract after that. I believed that even if I won, they’d let me go. I just had my faith. I decided that on my last fight, I’d give everything I had. I needed a miracle to keep my job. The miracle happened. I fought J.P. Buys. I beat him in the second round. I broke a record in the weight class [flyweight] – three knockdowns in one round. I won a bonus and signed a new contract. It was all due to the training system we developed with Cejudo and my own fight experience. It was several things.”

Despite his philosophical approach to his past problems, Silva confesses to frustration at his 15-month layoff between fights, some of which was due to him, but mostly attributable to outside factors. “Durden wasn’t permitted to fight [in September of 2023], and I ended up getting hurt around the same time. But I’d been asking for another fight for at least seven months. I wasn’t getting booked. I don’t know why. I was going to fight in May but my opponent dropped out with weeks to go. I’m not sure why. Then things finally worked out with Durden now.”

His expectation, now that the fight is finally here, is that he will finish things inside the distance. “I will knock him out,” Silva said. “It can be on the feet or via ground-and-pound. It will be a full MMA fight. We’ll have takedowns, scrambles – everything. But I see myself winning by knockout.”

One thing that has changed for Silva is his training. After several years with the Pitbull Brothers and Fight Ready, he relocated to American Top Team, where he benefits from training partners including another former top fighter in the world in his weight class. “I did my camp at American Top Team. I moved here some four months ago. I’m getting a lot of help from Jussier Formiga and Danny Sabatello. American Top Team has a great bunch of people I train with.”

While the road has had a few unexpected bumps and detours, the end goal for remains the same. “My plan is to be the UFC champ. I’ve been working on this goal for years. Right now I’m in my prime as an athlete. I’m more experienced. I plan on getting my fourth win in a row, and my fourth bonus in a row. It’s only happiness now. You can expect an intelligent, gritty ‘Bulldog,’ chasing victory and the belt.”