UFC Vegas 94’s Dione Barbosa hopes to one day become a full-time fighter

Brazilian flyweight Dione Barbosa makes her second octagon appearance Saturday at UFC Vegas 94, less than three months after a decision win over Ernesta Kareckaite, replacing Tracy Cortez against Miranda Maverick in what could be a life-changing opportunity.

Barbosa lived in California and trained with Rafael Cordeiro at Kings MMA before moving to Las Vegas in June to live closer to UFC headquarters and ultimately save money.

“Living in California is expensive,” Barbosa told MMA Fighting. “I worked a lot there. Besides the structure that Vegas offers you, I’ll have to work less and not teach that many classes. I like to teach, but a fighter only makes money when she’s fighting, and I taught 20 classes a week. That’s a lot. I couldn’t rest, it was too much. I couldn’t do that to my career. The window is too short, five years is a long time, so if I want to do it the right way, maybe coming to Vegas allows me to invest more time in my career.”

Barbosa said she teaches less and rests more since moving to Las Vegas, even though being in camp doesn’t allow her to make extra money as a martial arts instructor.

“There’s no money coming in after a fight, so I had to teach,” Barbosa said. “I stopped teaching two months before the Rio fight to focus on training so that money I made was enough to pay the rent and my car, and the money is gone fast after the fight. You put pen to paper, if you continue on this first [UFC] contract and all my expenses in California, I just couldn’t stop working.

“But there’s a difference in living the life of an athlete, and I had to make a decision. I loved living in California and training at Kings MMA, but I had to think about the future of my career. The numbers didn’t add up. For how long my body is going to take this? I’m not 18 anymore. I had to weigh all that. I had to leave. I was heartbroken, but my main goal is to be a full-time fighter. I knew living in the United States wasn’t easy, but it’s an opportunity.”

Barbosa took the UFC Vegas 94 fight just days after moving to the city and will only decide her next home after this weekend, so her short camp was made at the UFC Performance Institute with coach Matheus Naccache and her usual grappling and wrestling trainers.

“She’s an experienced athlete and has a big name, but I’m here to fight,” Barbosa said of Maverick, who holds a UFC record of 6-3 with wins over the likes of Andrea Lee, Gillian Robertson, and Priscila Cachoeira. “She’s fought a lot of tough athletes but never a specialist like myself. I see myself winning this fight, even though many people don’t believe in me. I loved this matchup and I don’t care where this fight goes, I think I’m better than her.”