WHAT A RAUSH
MMA star Raush Manfio almost retired to work as a cleaner and coach before winning PFL’s $1m winner-take-all season
MMA champion Raush Manfio almost retired to become a coach and work as a cleaner before entering the PFL 2021 season.
And after rolling the dice one final time, Manfio won big as he upset the odds to claim the $1million cash prize.
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The Brazilian won four fights on the spin to take home the lightweight belt and life-changing cheque.
But it could have been so different for Manfio - who at one point was ready to call to walk away from his fighting career.
He told “I called my manager Brian Butler and I was quitting my career.
“I was preparing to try to stop finding fights for me. I was doing private classes with some students.
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"I was doing really good and I had another job cleaning offices at night.
“I thought God didn’t want this from my career because I got nine fights canceled and three or four I got the contract signed and the other fights I replaced their guys who got hurt.
"But when the opponents saw me, they don’t want to fight me.
"So it was like three years of opponents that didn’t want to fight me and I was ready to quit.”
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Manfio, 30, only entered the PFL season - which consists of a knockout format - after Olivier Aubin Mercier, 33, pulled out injured.
But he took the opportunity with both hands - quite literally - and the rest is history.
Manfio said: “As a Christian, I always think, ‘What does God want from me?’
"And because of the difficulties I thought God didn’t want this for my life. I need to pay my bills and provide to my family.
"After that call to my manager, he asked me for one more month, and within that one month, he got me in the PFL because the Canadian guy Olivier Aubin Mercier got hurt and they needed someone to replace.
“My manager was in the right time and the right place to talk to Ray Sefo (PFL president of fighter operations) because I was already thinking I can’t do this anymore.
"He told Ray I really needed the opportunity and I was good, but non one wanted to fight me in the small leagues.
"So he gave me the chance and now you know the rest of the story. I was quitting and now look where I am.”
The PFL is MMA's only league format, spanning over a regular season and playoffs.
Fighters in eight different weight classes enter the two-fight regular season where they compete to advance to the play-offs.
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That consists of a two-round quarter-final and three-round semi-final in one night, where the winner advances to the championship finale.
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Last year, Manfio beat Anthony Pettis, Clay Collard, and Loik Radzhabov to win the 2021 PFL lightweight season.
This year he returns to attempt the double and kicks off his season by fighting South African Don Madge tomorrow night in Texas.
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