Joshua Silveira: No Room for Mr. Nice Guy

Growing up as the son of MMA luminary Marcus “Conan” Silveira, Joshua Silveira was always surrounded by professional fighters. He was either going to hate the sport or fully embrace it.

“Having all these crazy Brazilian guys around me in the jiu-jitsu world, I always said to myself that this is what I was supposed to do. This is my calling,” Silveira told Sherdog.com. “As I get older, I love MMA. I love combat. It’s something that I found at an early age that I enjoy.”

Silveira will welcome 2022 Professional Fighters League welterweight champion Sadibou Sy to the 205-pound weight class in a featured PFL 2 clash this Friday inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. While “Coninha” might seem cursed by having to fight people he actually likes, he understands it comes with the territory.

“Sadibou, first off, is an extremely nice guy—awesome character,” Silveira said. “I’m always fighting these nice guys. It sucks. It is what it is.”

Not only does he have to confront Sy inside the cage, but he has spent much of his preparation time alongside American Top Team stablemate Antonio Carlos Jr. The possibility exists that the two training partners and friends could meet one another at some point during the 2024 season.

“I’ve been working with ‘Shoe Face’ on the grappling part,” Silveira said. “We’re both very good friends. “We both fight [on Friday], so why not train with somebody who is going to take care of me as much as I’m going to take care of him? Even though we’re in the tournament together, there’s no reason to kill each other. We have to get to the fights. It’s a long season.”

In addition to Carlos Jr., Silveira has the full power of the American Top Team gym at his disposal.

“I always got my dad. He’s always by my side. We have a great relationship,” Silveira said. “We have Ivan de Olivera, my boxing coach. I’ve been working with coach [Luciano dos Santos]. He’s been helping me a lot with my standup. Steve Mocco is the wrestling coach. I’ve been working a lot with him. A big training partner that kind of mimics Sadibou is my buddy, Monte Morrison. He’s tall. He has a long lanky body type. Markus Perez also helped me out. He is very flashy with spins and great jiu-jitsu. We’re an amazing gym. Whatever corner you look at, whatever partner you grab, ATT is just a great gym, in general.”

A top-notch training facility only goes so far, though.

“Getting punched in the face doesn’t hurt any less just because I’m Conan’s son,” Silveira said. “I’m very, very proud about my Brazilian background and coming from Carlson Gracie and things like that, but I have to be very careful when I go in there. I go in there as Josh—“Coninha.” The best part about it is letting all that stuff dust off your shoulders and just go there and perform to the best of your ability and go win. I don’t have no fairy dust. There’s no Conan fairy dust sprinkled onto me. I’ve got to work hard for every little moment in this sport.”

Silveira has accomplished much in his still young career. Out of 12 wins, 11 have been finishes. Before he goes to war again, only a feeling of peace and familiarity remains.

“I feel good. I feel great,” Silveira said. “I’ve been here before. Let’s get after it.”