Cody Durden not concerned about fighting teammate Bruno Silva at UFC Vegas 94, eyes Matheus Nicolau with a win

Cody Durden is excited he and Bruno Silva will get to share the Octagon with one another, despite them being teammates.

Durden and Silva were supposed to fight last year, but Durden stepped up on short notice to fight Jake Hadley and wasn’t cleared to fight Silva after that fight went down. After Durden was then booked to fight Carlos Hernandez at UFC 303, he got pulled from the bout due to undisclosed reasons and will now face Silva at UFC Vegas 94 which he says is a better fight for him.

“I can’t say what happened, but it’s probably no secret. There are substances out there that are contained, that may be what it was, or it may not be. it doesn’t matter, I was exonerated and I’m good. I’m an honorable person and have always acted in good faith and I have a better fight that pushes me to the top of the division… This fight is better for me, it’s a harder fight. Bruno Silva is on a three-fight winning streak, three finishes, he’s up there with me, we should be fighting,” Durden said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.

Although Durden and Silva both train at American Top Team, the Georgian says that doesn’t matter. Instead, he says he doesn’t care if Silva has been watching him train as he doubts it will help him.

“I don’t give a f**k. It ain’t going to help him… They separate us at times, but we were on the mats together today. It’s just business, we get to find out who is varsity and who is JV,” Durden said.

Ultimately, Cody Durden is confident he will be able to control where his UFC Vegas 94 fight against Bruno Silva goes to get a win to return to the win column.

“I’m going to go in there and close the distance, be a magnet, and do what I want. Take him down if I want, if it goes to the clinch, I’m ready for that. It’s going to be great,” Durden said.

Should Durden beat Silva on Saturday, the 14th-ranked flyweight contender says he plans to call out Matheus Nicolau as he wants a top-10 opponent next.

“Hopefully I get to fight Matheus Nicolau next, I think that is a great fight next,” Durden concluded.