Pedro Carvalho worked two jobs to support his dream of becoming MMA world champion, and also left his wife and newborn son behind in his home country.
Pedro Carvalho left his newborn son behind to clean hospital toilets to fund his dream of becoming world champion.
Carvalho, 28, will be fighting for a chance to win $1 million this Friday when he takes on Brendan Loughnane at PFL 3 in Chicago, Illinois. Life hasn't been easy for the Portuguese mixed martial artist, who had to leave his pregnant wife and move to Ireland. “I was still living and training in Ireland when my son was born,” he said.
“I knew every time I was fighting to get to my son and wife, to pay to take them to Ireland. I was ready to die in that cage. I remember the motivation I felt. I'm fighting for my son and daughter's future now. Because I was very poor when I was a child. ”
By the time he left Portugal, Carvalho had already amassed a respectable 5-3 record in MMA, but fighting on the local circuit was not enough to support his family. He chose to stay out of the cage for his year to work two jobs, one of which was cleaning toilets at a local hospital.
“I quit training to work full time at a factory. It was the hardest 10 months of my life. I was training and fighting at the same time, working as a janitor cleaning toilets in a hospital. I ran home from the hospital to get my stuff, then went to the train. I came back at midnight and went to training again at 7am.
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“It was a tough time, but I knew I had to get through it. I was a kid with dreams and this year I'm going to make them a reality,” said Carvalho, a former gymnast at SBG Gym in Dublin. He trains with some of the best fighters in the world, including UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor. He believes the Irishman will make some statements in his return fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29th.
“He's on the mat with the team every day,” Carvalho said. “It's great to have him around again. He has a gym at his house so he doesn't have to come all the way! I think it's great for the sport to have Conor around. Yo, because he brings in a lot of eyeballs that aren't usually there for the sport. ”
