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

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

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

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But after two years, his wife Carla became pregnant with their child, so she returned home while Carvalho remained in Ireland.

And for a painful year and a half, the fighter was without his son and instead remained alone at home like a man on a mission.

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

“There were times when I cried because I missed my family so much.

“But at the same time, every day I got a big boost to keep going, because I needed to bring them closer to me.

“Getting into fights, I was ready to kill. I was ready to kill in that cage because no one is going to make me wait any longer to be away from my family.

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

But to survive, he worked as a hospital cleaner between morning and evening training.

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Carvalho revealed: “I woke up around 7am, had my breakfast, grabbed my bag, went to train and finished at 11:30am.

“I would come home, have lunch, at 1pm I would go to work and at 5pm I would leave. The hospital where I worked was close to where I lived.

“I would then run to the gym, at around 6pm I would be at the gym and every day I would close the gym at around 9pm and get home at 11pm.

“I would have dinner at midnight and the next day I would do it all over again.”

After signing with Bellator, Carvalho made enough to fight full-time and move the family back to Ireland since welcoming a 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 the stars are four fights away from the title and the $1 million prize.

Fighters in each weight class have two qualifying fights, where points are earned by method of victory.

Just having him and watching him, learning from him is great. We are talking about the first champion-champion.

Pedro Carvalho on Conor McGregor

The top four in each division advance to the semi-finals and finals, culminating in a series of final fights with US$1 million at stake.

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

And the father-of-two said: “This is going to change a lot because their future is practically guaranteed and it will change their lives.

“But I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about $1 million, I’m thinking about being the best fighter I can be and being world champion.

“Because I know if I do those two things, I’ll get $1 million. If I waste my time thinking about money, I won’t get better.”

Helping Carvalho through the winner-take-all season is McGregor, 35, who returns to the UFC on June 29 against Michael Chandler, 37.

And Carvalho revealed: “It’s always good to have Conor around for the sport because he brings a lot of attention and even to us in the gym.

“Just having him and watching him, learning from him is great. We are talking about the first champion-champion.

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

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