Rafael Cerqueira considered stepping away from the sport after receiving ridiculous offers to compete in his native Brazil.
Cerqueira, who had three different opponents for the Sept. 10 card of Dana White’s Contender Series before being pulled directly into the UFC 308 lineup, said in an interview with MMA Fighting that he decided to hang up his gloves after he was offered less than $70 for the fight.
“There is a promotion, and I won’t even mention the names, where the promoter offered me R$400 to fight in Sao Paulo, and he will only pay for the meal, not the transportation and the hotel,” Cerqueira said. “And I had to sign a contract with him that he would take part of my wallet if I fought for international promotion next. My managers were saying: Are you crazy? We won’t fight for your promotion. It’s strange. Very strange.”
Cerqueira began fighting in 2019 and quickly captured the Demo Fight light heavyweight championship, defending it on three occasions before two brief trips up to heavyweight earlier this year. He’s been campaigning for a shot in the UFC since 2023, calling out Dana White and Mick Maynard after wins in Brazil, but he’s tired of waiting.
“It is difficult to survive as athletes in Brazil because we are not appreciated,” Cerqueira said. “I have two kids and I have to buy them stuff and health care and everything else. I fought in December and Mick told me [my manager Leonardo] Patera wanted me, but I had to wait a while. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m in the UFC already.’ I called my mom and dad and said, ‘Damn, I’m in the UFC, and I’m going to change our lives now.’ January came and there was no answer. “I had to fight, so my team offered me another match.”
Cerqueira replaced his fellow heavyweight bout in late January, winning by first-round knockout. Maynard called back into the cage, but no deal was offered.
“I got to a point where I thought I would stop fighting,” Cerqueira said. “It’s tough for us financially, isn’t it? ‘I can’t take it any longer, I’m going to drop everything and go back to school and focus on getting a job.’” I started sending my resume to people I’d worked with in the past.
Cerqueira’s coaches at Galpão da Luta insisted he should try again, and if another win doesn’t land his deal in the UFC, so be it. Cerqueira’s mother was hospitalized, and he needed money to put food on the table at home, so he took another last-minute heavyweight fight in Salvador.
“I remember I was warming up in the locker room, feeling completely frustrated and sad,” Cerqueira said. “I think I trained for two weeks for this fight, at the highest level. I was too tired for things to happen. I told my cousin 10 minutes before the fight, during the warm-up, “If I don’t get anything out of this fight, I’m done.” “For me, this is my last fight.”
Cerqueira remembers that the fight was bad, considering he didn’t train much for that bout, but he still did enough to knock Rodrigo Araujo out in the opening round. He drove home and told his mother he had won, now 11-0 as a pro, and she smiled at him. “Good, let’s wait now,” she said to her son.
“It’s been a week. Two, three, four weeks, and still no answer [from the UFC]“I went back to the gym and told Mario Piazon I had enough,” said Cerqueira. Mario said to me: “Brother, do you remember when you told me that when life is hard for you, it’s because something good is about to happen?” News came literally the next day that I was signing to Contender Series. I started crying, man, and I thank God for everything.”
Cerqueira never had to fight in DWCS, as the matchmakers switched him to UFC 308 instead, joining teammates Jelton Almeida and Eduarda Mora on the UFC roster. He feels the pressure of fighting to get a deal will be as tough as a “job interview” with Dana White, but he feels just as motivated by the UFC. Aslan is 13-1 as a pro with five straight finishes at UFC 308, but Cerqueira is confident in himself.
“When this season of the Contender Series started, Dana White came out and said he wasn’t looking for guys over 30, and I was like, ‘Damn, I’m 34 and the president says that?’ I gotta make a show and fire this guy or go to war,” Cerqueira said. Bloody all-rounder. Being in the UFC doesn’t take any pressure off me, because the card is a lot bigger now and I have to have a big fight to show why I signed.”
