Credit:Getty/UFC
Though he only recently became of person of interest in the UFC’s
middleweight division, Bruno
Silva’s journey with the promotion began some seven years
ago.
“When I look back and see all the challenges I overcame, like
accepting a short-notice invitation to participate in [“The
Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3”] in 2014 and facing the very best
heavyweights we had in Brazil back then with only the experience of
fighting on small northeast [Brazil] regional events, I just think
how it was all worth it,” Silva told Sherdog.com.
Coincidentally, Paulo Costa
also participated on that edition of the reality series, but among
the middleweights. Silva, meanwhile, ended up facing heavyweight
finalist Vitor
Miranda in the first qualifying fight and ended up suffering
the only knockout loss of his career in the second round.
Nonetheless, he impressed his idol, Wanderlei
Silva, and his current trainer, Andre Dida, with his
performance.
“It was such a war. By that time, Vitor Miranda was known as the
Brazilian ‘Cro Cop’ and I was just a brave guy from the northeast
filling the last spot of the division [on the show],” Silva said.
“I lost but impressed Dida and Wanderlei by knocking Miranda down
in the beginning. Thanks to that, Dida invited me to move to
Curitiba to train at Evolucao Thai and my life changed.”
During that stint on “TUF,” Silva also built a friendship Costa,
who later invited him to help with his camp for to prepare for a
bout against Uriah Hall in
2018.
“He called asking if I wanted to help him with the camp to face
Hall, but I refused, simply because I don’t like that camp’s
system,” Silva said. “I like to be part of a team like I am in
Evolucao Thai. I also knew we could end up being future opponents
in UFC. I said no and I think he didn’t like that. The last time we
crossed paths in Sao Paulo, he didn’t talk to me the way he used
to.”
Silva also criticized Costa’s stance following his loss to Israel
Adesanya in a middleweight title bout at UFC 253 in September
2020. After the loss, “Borrachina” claimed that he
drank a bottle of wine the night before because he couldn’t
sleep due to leg cramps. Costa said that was what ultimately
hindered his performance in the cage.
“Costa is a good guy, but I think he should be surrounded by better
people,” Silva said. “I hate those excuses he gives. Nobody wants
to hear your sad stories. We are in the fighting business. It is
very rare for anyone who faces our sparring routine to enter in
that Octagon in perfect conditions. When you step up there you have
to be ready to kill or get killed.”
To better illustrate his point, Silva revealed that he entered his
second UFC appearance against Andrew
Sanchez battling a knee injury.
“I never talked about that, but my knee was totally limited,” he
said. “I just couldn’t bend it. I didn’t train wrestling or
jiu-jitsu, just shadow boxing in that camp. I went up there and
knocked him out in the third round and never talked about that. If
I lost, I would never mention that either, because it would be a
total disrespect to my opponent, who probably had a worse problem
than I and didn’t give any excuses.
“Unfortunately Borrachinha is not the only one, there are a lot of
other fighters doing that. That’s why I truly believe Costa should
be surrounded by better people, a great team and a manager
that talks less and leads him in a better direction.”