MMA veteran Bruno Silva finally made his walk to the UFC octagon off the back of four straight KOs. The heavy-hitting Brazilian has bounced around promotions and entered the UFC as a former M-1 Global middleweight champion. He was tasked with facing Wellington Turman in his debut and will be keen to put on a clinic on the main card.

Turman is a dangerous grappler who has found tremendous success on the feet. However, Bruno Silva is no stranger to facing adversity and believes he’s stared down the worst yet in his career. Silva faced a two-year suspension after testing for banned substances, however, USADA later found certain inconsistencies with the findings.

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Bruno Silva: On the path to redemption

Bruno Silva revealed that his desire to even train was virtually dissipated from the get-go. Additionally, ‘Blindado’ said that former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum served as the primary motivation that brought him back.

“The first three months, man, I went from heaven to hell,” Silva told MMA Fighting. “I went through a lot of bad stuff the first three months. I had no desire to train, I was bad, but then good things happened.”

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“When I saw him fighting Adesanya, I thought, ‘Man, [Adesanya] is human. He thinks he’s an untouchable god, but he’s flesh and bone,’” Silva said. “I went to the gym and spoke with Dida and said, ‘I’ve seen them fight, man, and they are humans. I’ll evolve until I return and I’ll come back way better to do what I love and get that belt.’ Dida sat down and said, ‘I believe in you. You’ve done the impossible in Russia, why wouldn’t you do it in the UFC?”

After watching fighters like Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum, Bruno Silva believes that Israel Adesanya is “beatable”. ‘The Last Stylebender’ has been nothing short of sensational at middleweight, however, Silva believes he has what it takes.

Silva has already made the first move in the right direction as he earned a sensational knockout in his debut. The former M-1 Global middleweight champion finished Turman via a ground-and-pound KO and extended his KO streak.

Heading into the contest, Silva had won 16 of 19 pro fights via KO, and he’s now improved on that metric. With his USADA troubles seemingly in the rearview mirror, he’ll want to join the divisional elites like Whittaker and Gastelum on his way to the top.

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