Bruno Silva set to make octagon debut against Wellington Turman at June 19 UFC event

Bruno Silva will finally make his UFC debut, battling Brazilian middleweight Wellington Turman at the June 19 Fight Night show, multiple people with knowledge of the booking told MMA Fighting.

The UFC has yet to officially announce the event and its location.

A former M-1 middleweight champion, Silva (19-6) agreed to face Deron Winn in 2019, but tested positive for boldenone and its metabolite. “Blindado” vowed to prove his innocence, but an independent arbitrator upheld the two-year suspension after ruling its levels “inconsistent” with meat contamination.

Silva signed with the UFC after winning four in a row, three of those in Russian soil. The ex-Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3 contestant earned a shot at the M-1 middleweight belt by finishing ex-Bellator titleholder Alexander Shlemenko in under three minutes, and stopped then-champion Artem Frolov in the fourth round.

Turman (16-4), a UFC fighter since July 2019, looks to get back on track after losing to Andrew Sanchez via first-round knockout this past August. It will be Turman’s first bout since being in “really bad shape” due to COVID-19 in September and then being hospitalized with pneumonia in January, forcing the cancelation of fights with Sean Strickland and Aliaskhab Khizriev.