Hardcore fans may remember Bruno Carvalho (7-2) for a lone appearance in DREAM, where he lost a decision to Eiji Mitsuoka in June 2011.
Otherwise, the Brazilian has been off the radar on the international scene.
UFC lightweight Edson Barboza certainly remembers. Long before he set foot in the octagon, Carvalho beat him in the kickboxing ring.
A contract with DREAM kept Carvalho off the open market for much of 2011, but he has returned to kickstart his MMA career.
“My main goal is to get a chance to fight in the UFC,” he told MMAjunkie.com through a translator.
Carvalho went undefeated as a pro kickboxer, earning 24 wins with 18 by way of knockout. In his last outing, he fought as a welterweight and won a grand prix tournament.
Two of his wins were against Barboza, who suffered his first loss in kickboxing in their initial meeting. The second saw Carvalho take Barboza’s lightweight title in muay Thai.
Barboza, however, would transition into MMA eight months before Carvalho, and their paths would sharply diverge.
“I always wanted to participate in K-1, but I never had the opportunity,” Carvalho said. “Sometimes it is difficult to find opponents, but Brazil is a hotbed of good fighters, and I always fought against the top fighters in the category.”
Now that DREAM is no more and he is untethered to a long-term deal, Carvalho wants to test himself again on the big stage.
“After I went almost a year without a fight because of the contract, it hurt me because I live to fight,” he said. “I have no other aim but to enter the UFC and be the champion of my division.”