The incredible underdog story of Bellator MMA’s Pedro Carvalho
Nothing is going to come easy for Featherweight World Title contender Pedro Carvalho when he faces the legendary Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire. Then again, nothing ever has.
The 24-year-old Portugese fighter moved to Ireland in 2017 with little more than a dream to become a World Champion and a near 50–50 record. He quickly began working with some of the country’s top talents in the sport, and turned his two-loss streak into two wins and a Cage Legacy Lightweight championship.
Carvalho’s big break came in 2018 when SBG supremo John Kavanagh got the call to offer a tune-up fight to then 10–1 ex-BAMMA Lightweight champ Daniel Crawford. The Brit was making his promotional debut at Bellator 200 in London, and was expected to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Paul Daley and Michael ‘Venom’ Page in becoming their next big breakout star. Kavanagh recalls, “Mike Kogan [Bellator matchmaker] said to me the other day ‘did you ever tell Pedro that he was brought in to lose?’ and Pedro did know that.
“He wasn’t supposed to go in there and win because it was supposed to be the BAMMA world champion’s coming out party and he went in and ruined it. He’s done that a few times so this fight is nothing new for him.
“It’s hard to know how this one is going to go and I can’t tell you exactly what is going to happen but I can 100% tell you it’s going to be exciting. Pedro’s tactic is not to stand off and wait for the perfect opportunity it’s to march forward and punch, kick, knee, elbow, grapple and just do that for 25 minutes... Very few people are giving Pedro a chance which makes this interesting.”
But before his fight career could take him to London, Birmingham, California and now New York, the Portugese brawler was struggling to make ends meet.
After working in a factory to save for his move to Ireland, Carvalho took a janitorial position at Tallaght Hospital to pay his bills and support his girlfriend and new-born son in Portugal. He would train with world class athletes in the morning, clean toilets in a hospital during the day, and return to training in the evening.
It’s a far cry from the panoramic views of Times Square we share as he discusses the stresses of his early career. “My whole life I’ve been the underdog,” he explains as we stand overlooking New York’s crown jewel from the Viacom CBS Headquarters. He is currently priced as a +475 underdog against his opponent, who boasts during a heated press conference exchange that he has more knockouts to his name than Carvalho has had fights.
“People have underestimated me and thought that I can never be what I am and the only thing I said in response was ‘you’ll see’. And here I am, I’m fighting for a world belt, I haven’t been wrong yet and I’m not wrong now. Trust me when I tell you that I am going to beat Patricio like has never been beat before. I did it to all the other guys because I am just different, it’s not about fancy techniques or anything, I’m just different and they all know that once the cage door closes and they look me in the eyes.
“Before I went to Ireland, I was 5–3, and I wanted to be the best but my record didn’t match with that. I knew that if I wanted to reach that level I needed to do something so me and my girlfriend decided that I would move to Ireland because working with John was the thing to do and SBG was the place to be.
“Once I decided that Ireland was the location, I needed money for the move and I started working in a factory, which was probably the worst time of my life. I was breathing in all this smoke and acid from the fabrics and during Winter when outside it was 1 or 2 degrees, inside it was 30 or 40. In the Summer it was like 60, 70 and even 80. It was awful.
“But I knew I was taking one step back to leap four steps forward. Then I moved to Ireland with zero, I had nobody and I didn’t know anyone before I eventually got my job at Tallaght Hospital. I was training in the morning, cleaning toilets in the afternoon and then going back to finish training at night. Normally I would eat dinner at half past midnight, go to bed and start all over again.
“This was until John texted me about the fight at Bellator 200 and I knew that was the beginning of my road to greatness. Next Friday isn’t the finish line, it will be just another step.”
Meanwhile, back in Portugal his girlfriend was raising their son alone while he began his ascent up the Bellator ranks. “I lost the first 18 months of my son’s life so I can give him the kind of future I could never have dreamed for myself. I am fighting for something else, all these other guys think they’re fighting for something but they don’t know what it means to me. When I think about it even now I get goosebumps because I want it so bad and it’s almost touchable.”
Should Carvalho win at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on Friday, he will become the Bellator Featherweight Champion and progress to the semi-finals of the Featherweight Grand Prix. Winning the tournament means gold, in more ways than just competitively, as the overall victor earns $1,000,000.
It’s an unprecedented sum of money for John Kavanagh’s man. He most recently earned $40,000 for his first round victory over Sam Sicilia. “Winning this tournament will change everything for my family, but afterwards I won’t have time to celebrate because I will still be a good distance away from being known as the best in the world. I won’t even be in those talks! I’m just razor focused on my goals and nothing is going to distract me from those goals.”
But, blocking his path to greatness is the great Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire. After conquering two of the most competitive divisions that MMA has to offer in picking up Bellator’s Featherweight and Lightweight belts, the Brazilian is contemplating a drop down to Bantamweight to make history as a major promotion’s first ever three-weight World Champion.
“Pedro talks a lot of s***,” Pitbull tells me, standing alongside his right-hand man and renowned coach Eric Albarracin. The charismatic trainer is the only man to train two different fighters to ‘champ champ’ status in major promotions; Henry Cejudo completed the feat at Flyweight and Bantamweight in 2019. This fight will be the first shot across the bows in the rivalry between Pitbull Brothers and Straight Blast Gym.
“I’ve been fighting for titles in five-round fights since 2013, and I am still the champion. He talks s*** but we’re going to fight on Friday, and he’s got nothing to lose. He is the underdog and a lot of people think he doesn’t have a shot but he has good kickboxing and jiu-jitsu and he is going to come forward, but I’m okay with that.”
In his woolly leather jacket and flat cap, you can tell Pedro Carvalho is channeling Hollywood’s greatest fighting underdog story; Rocky Balboa. The most exciting part is that we’re just kicking into gear with the first film.
