Bruno Silva, a four-time winner in a row in the UFC with a 100 percent finish rate and four performance bonuses paid, sees his UFC Tampa duel with Manel Kape this Saturday as the final step before the fight for the flyweight championship.

“Bulldog,” who now lives in Florida and trains with UFC champion Alexandre Pantoja at American Top Team, said in an interview with MMA Fighting that he has already discussed with his friend the possibility of perhaps one day fighting each other in the octagon.

“Everyone has this dream,” Silva said. “We never want to fight a friend, I don’t want to fight Pantoja, but if it’s for the belt we will fight. And he said exactly that: “I hope you fight (for the belt) because that’s the dream.” “We’re friends, we fight here (at the gym) for free every day so we can make some money there.” Fighting for the belt of the largest organization in the world is everything we have always dreamed of. We’re better off fighting for the belt with a friend than with someone we don’t even know.”

Silva stopped JP Buys, Victor Rodriguez, Tyson Nam and Cody Durden to earn additional bonuses of $200,000 in his most recent fights, while Kape recently ended his four-fight winning streak with a decision loss to Muhammad Mokaev.

“Mokaev is No. 9 (in the rankings) and would have taken the belt if he had beaten Mokaev, but he lost, so I firmly believe this fight will decide who fights for the belt next “said Silva. “There’s no flyweight with four performance (bonuses) in a row like me, so I’m definitely one of the big names in the division. With a win I will earn the next chance. I live for it. With this win, another knockout and another performance (bonus), the belt is up.”

The Brazilian flyweight said he was “super excited” to face Kape and got some advice from his teammate ahead of UFC Tampa. Pantoja won a decision over the Angolan fighter in 2021, spoiling the Octagon debut of Kape, the then RIZIN bantamweight champion.

“Another knockout for ‘Bulldog,’” Silva said of his official prediction for Saturday. “‘Bulldog’ is going to land a hand, Kape is going to go down and I’m going to finish it on the floor and hammer it, just like last time.” That’s what I’m envisioning here. He likes to be very technical and take his time in fights. I can be very technical too, but let’s try and put on another show.”