The Ascetic Life of Antonio "Pato" Carvalho

I'm behind on posting this, but it's still definitely worth a look. Sherdog caught up with Carvalho in Japan leading up to his GCM 7 bout with Yuji Hoshino. What you notice immediately from the video and Carvalho's own words is an underlying fatigue with his rigid and meager financial circumstances. From all accounts (including Carvalho's), Japan is an extraordinarily expensive place to live. And while the hardcore fight community in Japan knows who he is and he has some notoriety abroad, he's not a major celebrity or even remotely rich. His lifestyle is simple but I'd hesitate to call it comfortable.

It's a demonstration of what most fighters who achieve any level of success struggle through and why the glamor of Chuck Liddell's lifestyle is, in reality, quite illusory. Fighters like Carvalho prove how arduous the path towards financial or career success can be in fight sport. In fact, Carvalho's own status as a top international prospect just reinforces the fact that for most fighters, competing is more about the love of the sport and less about what few financial rewards exist.

The story ending isn't a happy one either. Carvalho dropped a unanimous decision to the somewhat unheralded Hoshino. That's two in a row for him. Tough break.