Brunno Ferreira was 4 years outdated when Wanderlei Silva made a reputation for himself in a massacre with Artur Mariano at IVC in Brazil in 1997. Quick ahead to 2025 and “Hulk”—now a protégé of Silva’s longtime coach Andre Dida—has lastly realized his dream of sparring with “The Axe Assassin” days earlier than flying to Las Vegas for UFC 313.
“That was an epic second for my profession as a fighter and an individual,” Ferreira informed MMA Preventing forward of his UFC 313 conflict with Armen Petrosyan. “I’ve Wanderlei as a private buddy. We’ve an awesome relationship of going out, sitting down and having conversations, however I got here to the workforce when grasp [Dida] was coaching him for the [Chael] Sonnen combat, so he was already retiring, he wasn’t coaching that a lot, so I by no means had the chance to coach with him. And man, final week I had the chance to spar with him.”
Silva hasn’t fought since 2018, when he returned from the Chael Sonnen defeat to face longtime rival Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for a fourth time at Bellator 206, and that was earlier than Ferreira made his skilled MMA debut. Ferreira received eight in a row within the Brazilian circuit earlier than competing on Dana White’s Contender Sequence, the place he knocked out Leon Aliu. Hulk then caught the eye of the UFC on a short-notice debut, scoring an enormous upset with a first-round knockout of Gregory Rodrigues.
“No matter age, man, it was a dream for me,” Ferreira mentioned of coaching with the legendary fighter. “To see him on the mats is an inspiration already, to see him combating there. However man, it’s like he has this chip that rotates in a distinct pace, brother. I feel he left me cornered for a minute, Wanderlei Silva-style. I used to be in shock of being there, going by means of that adversity. It’s a surreal vitality, man. He’s one of many OGs, proper? He’s an inspiration.”
“Not solely as a fighter however as a buddy, he’s A+,” he continued. “He has such an vitality, man. They bought it carried out again when MMA was nonetheless beginning and issues have been arduous and no one knew if it will turn out to be one thing, and thank God all of us have jobs now due to them. Wanderlei, ‘Shogun’ [Rua], [Fabricio] Werdum, ‘Minotauro’ [Nogueira], all of them planted the seeds so we’d bear the fruits. It’s legend stuff, man.”
Ferreira enters his sixth UFC bout having scored three wins by first-round knockout contained in the octagon. In the meantime, Petrosyan has a .500 UFC file that additionally features a win over “Robocop” Rodrigues, however he has misplaced his previous two to Rodolfo Vieira and Shara Magomedov.
“I feel the load of my hand has earned me a ton of respect within the middleweight division,” Ferreira mentioned. “I feel my placing is healthier than his. I’ve seen holes in his recreation. He’s OK as a striker. He comes from a kickboxing background however we haven’t seen something that stunning as a result of he’s placed on common performances. I’ve watched the Shara combat many instances and it’s no huge deal. After which we noticed Shara combat Michael ‘Venom’ Web page and also you see he’s not a superb striker like others within the UFC.
“He has many holes. I’ll stand with him, no drawback. I’m not afraid. I’m fearless as a result of I do know my potential on the ft, however I’m going after alternatives. I can’t be irrational as a fighter. I’ll comply with the gameplan and be comfy. I haven’t been capable of present my grappling but, however that’s the place I really feel secure. I had a loss [to Magomedov] that shocked me. It made me rethink, replan and restructure all my recreation and arsenal, and now I’m again to combat a kickboxer. I’ve the kickboxer versus grappler mindset, however I do know the combat begins on the ft and I’m comfy there.”
