Written by Bruno Silva | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
UFC 315 is do-or-die for Bruno Silva, and past opponent Alex Pereira played a crucial part in getting him that last chance in the octagon.
“Blindado” and Pereira became friends after a 15-minute battle in 2022, a match that snapped Silva’s seven-fight knockout streak and started a disappointing run of six losses in seven appearances. Silva, who faces Canada’s Marc-Andre Barriault this Saturday in Montreal, knows his job job the line.
It’s already a bonus, really, considering that Silva was informed of his release after a poor performance against Ismail Naurdiev this past October.
“I got back home from Abu Dhabi the Monday after the fight and my team and I knew there was a 100 percent chance I was getting cut,” Silva told MMA Fighting. “Four losses. And not only losses, but really bad performances. … I wasn’t fighting to win, I was fighting to survive. And the last fight was the worst. All I thought was, ‘God, get me out of here. I don’t wanna be here. I can’t do this anymore. Not like this.’ I still survived all three rounds. I fought really bad, but still survived.”
Alone with his daughter at home, with wife and mother out in Curitiba, Silva tucked her into bed and picked up his phone to see a message from “Poatan” Pereira. The Brazilian star, still UFC light heavyweight champion at the time, asked Silva if he was alright after his fourth loss in a row.
“I called him to chat and told him what was going on,” Silva said, referring to the mental health issues he had publicly revealed earlier that day. “I feared it was the end of my career. And he was like, ‘I’ll give you an idea: why don’t you talk to [UFC matchmaker] Mick [Maynard]? Why don’t you reach out to the UFC in person and explain what’s going on? I know you, I fought you, and I know you’re fighting way under your abilities.’”
Silva expected to get the release eventually, so there was no harm in trying. He talked to his manager Bernardo Serale and penned a message to Maynard, sent via Instagram. Silva doesn’t speak English and wasn’t used to talking to Maynard directly.
“Bruno, I understand you,” Maynard wrote, according to Silva, “But it’s four losses in a row. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do.”
On Monday, Oct. 28, two days after losing to Naurdiev in Abu Dhabi, Silva was no longer a UFC fighter.
“I went back to my bedroom and started praying,” Silva said. “God, please give me another chance. Don’t let it end like that. I came this far, to the world’s biggest organization, and when I needed my health the most, I have problems. Help me.”
Silva left the room minutes later and decided to give it another try. This time, he would write and translate the message himself.
“Mick, I’ve never said ‘no’ to any fight, and never turned down any opponent,” Silva remembers writing. “I fought everybody you offered. Nobody wanted to fight Poatan and I did it. Nobody wanted to fight Shara [Magomedov] and I did it. There was no one I turned down. You know my performance has dropped, but give me some time, man. Let me get treatment, take care of my head. Let me get a psychiatrist and take medication, let me find balance again.”
Message sent. A reply came a few minutes later.
“Bruno, I’ll give you one more fight,” Maynard wrote, according to Silva. “If you lose, there’s really nothing I can do. It’s in your hands now.”
Silva thanked Maynard and asked for some time to seek help.
“I dove head first into my health because I needed it,” Silva said. “Not only for my career, but also for myself. People thought I was depressed. No, far from that. I love life. I didn’t ask for this shit, but I had to fight it. I asked God for a cure. The psychiatrist said I had to find a way to live with it, and that panicked me. Then I realized I was asking God for the wrong thing. I was asking for a cure, and I wasn’t willing to do my part? ‘God, please help me do my best.’”
The UFC middleweight had visits with a psychologist twice a week, plus a weekly session with a psychiatrist. On top of that, he added videos, books, medication, and spoke to people who have dealt with the same issue. When the crisis began to fade, Serale texted him: “Let’s work?”
Maynard reached out to his team in February offering a match with Barriault for the May 10 card in Montreal, and Silva was confident enough to say yes. Silva’s mother and brothers flew all the way to Curitiba to be by his side during camp, providing emotional support and advice.
The man who once traveled to Russia to beat veterans in enemy territory needed to go back to his element, and UFC 315 might be it.
“When the fight was booked, I watched three of his fights and then told [coach Andre] ‘Dida’ to just tell me what should be done and that’s it,” Silva said. “If you see me covered in blood and my hands raised, that’s peak happiness for me. I wanna go there and break him. I don’t want a nice technical game. I’ll do what I’ve always done: have fun. I want to end the night feeling proud of myself. I want to go back home, for the people that love and cheer for me, and continue my legacy. It would be very unfair for my story to end like that.
“When I beat him, I already have in my head what I’m going to tell Mick, the UFC, and the people that have gone through the same thing. I want my story to be an example for them. It’s not the end of the world. Everything has a cure, everything has an answer, and you can bounce back if you believe in God. I see this fight as my rebirth not only as an athlete, but as a person. It’s another opportunity for my career. I hope it’s all in the past now and I have my hands raised in the end.”