Josh Silveira swears he was never “forced” to follow a career in MMA. As for his mother, she had definitely made up her mind about her son not fighting.
“My mother told me, ‘Please, son, don’t do this MMA thing, try something else,’” Silveira, a former LFA middleweight and light heavyweight champion, said on a recent episode of Trocação Franca. “I thought maybe I could try being a doctor in the hospital, but to tell you the truth, I can’t stand blood. During the fight I’m OK with blood, but seeing surgeries and stuff, I’m not good with it.
“There were fights I [won] with kicks to the head, and then saw the other guys’ faces, I’m like, ‘Damn!’ The fight ends and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry.’ It’s part of the sport – I’m not a bad guy [laughs].”
Silveira, the son of American Top Team founder and head coach Conan Silveira, joined PFL in 2022 but failed to make the light heavyweight playoff finals after a decision loss to his teammate, Omari Akhmedov. He kicked off the 2023 season with a first-round submission of Sam Kei and faces Delan Monte at Thursday’s PFL 4 in Atlanta.
A protege of Carlson Gracie in Rio de Janeiro, Conan Silveira fought professionally between 1995 and 2007, amassing a record of 6-4 with 1 no-contest, but he really found success as a head coach in Florida.
“Everybody always asked me, ‘Did your father force you [to fight]?’ Man, my father is such a nice guy,” said the 30-year-old light heavyweight. “He has coached so many athletes before and knows how to be a coach, but I have many brothers and sisters, and only one of them did a little bit of wrestling.
“My father didn’t force anyone; I was the only that wanted to do this since I was a kid. I don’t know why, but I thank God I did, because many people don’t know what they want to do for a living, and I’ve known since I was a kid that I wanted to do vale tudo.”
Born in Miami, Josh Silveira wrestled in school before transitioning to amateur MMA in 2016, winning four straight before turning pro. Since then, he’s built a 10-1 record.
Silveira said he’s treating his athletic career more professionally since his first MMA loss in 2022, and he vows to fight even smarter.
“I don’t have much to change in my fighting style,” he said. “I have to worry about the right hand, high kicks, normal fight stuff, but I think my style is complicated for them. They have to expect takedowns and high kicks, things I like. I’ll stand until it’s time to get them to the ground. That will happen, I’ll get the takedown and put them to work. I’ll try to finish the fight and score six points.”