I worked in a factory and missed 18 months of my son’s life for MMA dream… now I train with McGregor for $1m prize

MMA star Pedro Carvalho hopes the price of missing 18 months of his son’s life will pay off with a world title and $1million cash prize.

The featherweight left Portugal with his partner in 2016 for John Kavanagh’s Straight Blast Gym in Dublin, home to Conor McGregor.

Pedro Carvalho is in this year’s PFL season

Carvalho trains with Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh

Carvalho has a son and daughter with his wife

But after two years, his wife Carla fell pregnant with their son, so she returned home while Carvalho stayed in Ireland.

And for a painful year and a half, the fighter was without his baby boy and instead remained home alone as a man on a mission.

Carvalho, 28, told SunSport: “It was a mix of feelings because it was very hard, I won’t deny it.

“There were times I found myself crying because I missed my family so much.

“But at the same time every single day I had this huge boost on me to just keep going because I had to bring them closer to me.

“Going into fights, I was ready to kill. I was ready to kill in that cage because no one will make me wait more time to be away from my family. So that was like do or die kind of situation.”

Before Carvalho was signed for Bellator – which has since merged with the Professional Fighters League – he fought on the local Irish scene.

But to make ends meet, he worked as a hospital cleaner between his morning and evening training sessions.

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Carvalho revealed: “I would wake up around 7am, get my breakfast, get my bag, go and train and finish at 11.30.

“I’d go back home, do my lunch, at 1pm I was getting in to work and 5pm I was getting out. The hospital I worked at was just besides where I was living.

“I’d then run to the gym, around 6pm I was in the gym and everyday I was closing the gym around 9/10pm and arriving home at 11pm.

“I’d be having dinner at midnight and the next day, I’d repeat it all over again.”

After signing for Bellator, Carvalho earned enough to fight full time and move his family back to Ireland, since welcoming a baby daughter.

He now alternates between Portugal and Ireland alongside his wife and son Benjamin, five, and daughter Carolina, three.

Carvalho is in this year’s PFL featherweight season, where stars are four bouts away from a title and $1m prize cheque.

Fighters in each weight have two qualifying bouts, where points are earned per method of victory.

The top four in each division then progress to the semis and final stage, culminating in a series of finale bouts with $1m on the line.

Carvalho faces Britain’s 2022 winner Brendan Loughnane, 34, in his season opener on Friday in Chicago with his kids’ future on his mind.

And the father-of-two said: “It will change a lot because their futures pretty much gets guaranteed and it will be life-changing.

“But I don’t waste too much time wasting thinking about the $1m, I’m thinking about being the best possible fighter and becoming world champion.

“Because I know if I do those two things, I get the $1m. If I waste my time thinking about money, I’m not getting better.”

Helping Carvalho in the winner-take-all season is McGregor, 35, who makes his UFC return on June 29 against Michael Chandler, 37.

And Carvalho revealed: “It’s always great to have Conor around for the sport because he brings so many eyeballs and even for us in the gym.

“Just to have him and watch him, to learn from him it’s great. We’re talking about the first-ever champ-champ.

“Every time he’s in there we can learn something from him.”

Conor McGregor makes his UFC return on June 29