Former Ultimate Fighting Championship two-division
champ Alex
Pereira may have a future in the life coaching business.
UFC middleweight Bruno Silva
had fallen on hard times towards the end of 2024, having lost four
consecutive outings with the promotion. The Brazilian had started
his tenure with the UFC off promisingly, knocking out Wellington
Turman, Andrew
Sanchez and Jordan
Wright all within the confines of 2021. After that, he came to
blows with Pereira, and although he remains one of the few to face
“Poatan” without getting knocked out, he had hit a proverbial wall
and things would mostly go downhill from there.
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A call from Pereira after his fourth straight defeat may have
changed the course of Silva’s career. Silva spoke to Sherdog in
Montreal, Canada, ahead of his match with Marc-Andre
Barriault at
UFC 315 on Saturday, where he revealed the life-changing advice
given to him by a man that two years before stood across from him
in the Octagon.
“In addition to losing my last fight, I fought very badly,” an
emotional Silva said to Sherdog. “The following week, I was very
upset, already certain that I would be fired, thinking about what I
was going to do from then on, when ‘Poatan’ sent me a two-minute
audio message encouraging me to speak directly with [UFC
matchmaker] Mick Maynard, reminding him of the great battles I had
fought in the UFC, that I had never declined an opponent, never
chosen a date. And that’s what I did, making it clear to him that I
was sick and needed help, asking him for some time and one more
fight. And ‘Poatan’ was right. Mick responded by saying that he
would give me one more fight.”
Silva was concerned that he was suffering from undiagnosed health
problems that impacted him in the cage, as he believed he was
fighting significantly differently than the man who racked up 20
knockout victories over the years.
“I thought it was heart disease, because my father died of a heart
attack, but after several tests, the psychiatrist diagnosed me with
anxiety and panic attacks,” “Blindado” explained. “So, I focused
100% on my mind. This last camp was different from all the others.
In addition to all the physical and technical training, I worked
hard with my psychologist. Today I feel cured, ready to show my
best version on Saturday.”
The former M-1 champion is not shy about his renewed state of mind,
nor did he mince words on how he approached what could be the final
appearance of his UFC career.
“Barriault likes to strike, he has a good takedown defense,” he
analyzed. “There is nothing better for someone who likes to stand
and bang. I could say that I will fight tactically, but the truth
is that I only know how to fight looking for the knockout since the
first second of the first round, and that is what I will do on
Saturday.”
Together with training partner Brunno
Ferreira and Brazilian TKO team leader Andre Amado
in his corner next Saturday, Silva feels he has a new lease on
life. Part of his camp involved working with new individuals he had
never trained with before, including former champ Fabricio
Werdum and vaunted coach Rafael
Cordeiro. He also prepared alongside Wanderlei
Silva, a man he holds dear.
“I had already done other camps with Wand, who has always been a
reference for me. This time I was able to train with Werdum and
Rafael Cordeiro, who, in addition to adding a lot of technical
value, brought a unique energy to our day-to-day. I hope to show
everything on Saturday, starting a new phase in my career,” the
power-punching middleweight concluded.