As Cody Durden has explained in fight week interviews, his matchup with Bruno Silva at UFC Vegas 94 will be the result of a small rivalry that has been building up for years. Durden claims that the two flyweights have trained together for several years, causing him to be caught off guard when his manager told him that Silva gladly accepted the fight.
Regardless of their tension, Durden and Silva have both broken into the back end of the UFC divisional rankings with recent win streaks, though Silva has since lost his spot in the top 15 due to inactivity. Let’s get down to the breakdown of the upcoming fight.
Cody Durden vs. Bruno Silva Tale of the Tape
| Cody Durden | Bruno Silva | |
| 16-5-1 | Record | 13-5-2 (1 NC) |
| 5-3-1 | UFC Record | 3-2 (1 NC) |
| 33 | Age | 34 |
| 5’7″ | Height | 5’4″ |
| 67 inches | Reach | 65 inches |
| American Top Team Lima | Team | Fight Ready |
| Dhiego Lima | Head Coach | Eddie Cha |
| L1 | Streak | W3 |
Cody Durden vs. Bruno Silva Fight Statistics
View the statistics for each fighter as they appear on UFC Stats ahead of their meeting at UFC Vegas 94:
| Cody Durden | Bruno Silva | |
| 3.16 | Significant Strikes Landed per Minute | 3.05 |
| 51% | Striking Accuracy | 46% |
| 2.89 | Significant Strikes Absorbed per Minute | 3.09 |
| 51% | Striking Defense | 59% |
| 4.84 | Takedown Average | 2.57 |
| 50% | Takedown Accuracy | 30% |
| 66% | Takedown Defense | 64% |
| 0.3 | Submission Average | 0.3 |
| 9:59 | Average Fight Time | 9:43 |
Cody Durden’s Last Fight
Riding a four-fight win streak that vaulted him into the UFC flyweight rankings, Durden faced top Dagestani prospect Tagir Ulanbekov at UFC 296. He was competitive in moments but ultimately found himself tapping out to Ulanbekov’s fifth submission attempt of the fight in the second round.
Before the high-profile matchup with Ulanbekov, Durden’s upset win over Jake Hadley was the biggest of his career and pushed him into the top 15. Since debuting in the UFC on short notice in 2020, Durden has gone 5-3 in the flyweight division with only one loss to a currently unranked fighter.
Bruno Silva’s Last Fight
Silva has not lost a fight since 2020 after losing his first two fights in the Octagon but has been impeded by inactivity during his current win streak. After back-to-back knockout wins in 2021, Silva fought Tyson Nam two years later with a chance to break into the UFC rankings and put together the best performance of his career by following up a front kick with a rear-naked choke submission.
The win made ‘Bulldog’ a ranked fighter but he has not fought again since, making his bout at UFC Vegas 94 his first fight in 16 months. Should Silva pick up the win over Durden on July 20, it would extend his win streak to four but simultaneously be just his fourth win in the last five years.
Friends Turned Foes
As Cody Durden laid out on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, he believes that Bruno Silva has broken an unwritten rule of fighting by requesting a matchup with him with the two being former training partners. Durden claims that the two were never “close friends” but was taken aback when Silva told the UFC matchmakers that he “isn’t boys” with him and intends to enter the fight with animosity.
Durden has engaged in a heated rivalry in the past, exchanging words with Jake Hadley before their bout at UFC Nashville in 2023. The 33-year-old wrestler entered that fight as an underdog but got the last laugh in the matchup and ended the contest by flipping off Hadley after the final horn.
Silva has not spoken on the situation as openly as Durden during fight week, rather intending to use the matchup to put himself back into the promotional rankings. The betting odds suggest that the fight will be a nearly 50-50 matchup with most sportsbooks lining both sides evenly.
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