Raffael Cerqueira almost quit MMA after a $70 fight offer, but a UFC call brought him back

Raffael Cerqueira considered quitting the sport after receiving ridiculous offers to compete in his home country of Brazil.

Cerqueira, who had three different opponents for the September 10 card Dana White's Contender series Before being added straight to the UFC 308 roster, he said in an interview with MMA Fighting that he decided to hang up his gloves after being offered just $70 for a fight.

“There is a promotion out there, I won't even name names, that the promoter offered me R400 for the fight in Sao Paulo and he would only pay for the food, not for transport and hotel,” Cerqueira said. “And I had to sign a contract with him that he would take part of my money if I fought for an international promotion next. My managers said, 'Are you crazy?' We're not going to fight for your promotion.' It's bizarre. Very bizarre.”

Cerqueira began fighting in 2019 and quickly won the Demo Fight light heavyweight championship, which he defended three times before making a few short-term stints at heavyweight earlier this year. He has been fighting for a shot in the UFC since 2023 and called out Dana White and Mick Maynard after wins in Brazil, but was tired of waiting.

“It's hard to live as an athlete in Brazil because we're not valued,” Cerqueira said. “I have two children and I have to buy them things, health care and everything else. I fought in December and Mick told (my manager Leonardo) Pateira that he wanted me but I would have to wait a bit. In my head I was like, 'Okay, I'm already in the UFC.' I called my mom and dad, 'Shit, I'm in the UFC, I'm going to change our lives now.' January came and no answer. I had to fight, so my team got me another fight.”

Cerqueira replaced a teammate in a heavyweight fight in late January and won by first-round knockout. He called Maynard out in the cage again but was not offered a deal.

“I got to a point where I thought about quitting fighting,” Cerqueira said. “It’s difficult for us financially, isn’t it? “I can't take it anymore, I'm going to give up everything, go back to school and focus on getting a job. “I've started sending my resume to people I've worked with in the past.”

Cerqueira's trainers at Galpão da Luta insisted he should try again, and if another win didn't get him a deal in the UFC, then so be it. Cerqueira's mother was in the hospital and he needed money to put food on the table at home, so he took part in another last-minute heavyweight bout in Salvador.

“I remember warming up in the locker room and feeling completely demotivated and sad,” Cerqueira said. “I think I trained for this fight for a maximum of two weeks. I was so tired of things happening. I told my cousin ten minutes before the fight when I was warming up, 'If I don't get anything out of this fight, I'm done.'” For me, this is my last fight.'”

Cerqueira remembers that he fought poorly considering he barely trained for this match, but still did enough to knock out Rodrigo Araujo in the opening round. He drove home and told his mother he had won, now 11-0 as a pro, and she smiled back. “Well, let’s wait now,” she said to her son.

“A week passed. Two, three, four weeks and still no response (from the UFC),” Cerqueira said. “I went back to the gym and told Mario Piazzon that I had enough. Mario said to me, “Brother, remember when you told me that when life is hard for you, it's because something good is about to happen?” And literally the next day the news came that I had been signed for the Contender Series. I started crying, man, thanking God for everything.”

Cerqueira never had to fight at DWCS, instead matchmakers traded him to UFC 308, joining teammates Jailton Almeida and Eduarda Moura on the UFC roster. He feels the pressure of fighting for a deal would be as tough as an “interview” with Dana White, but feels just as motivated for the UFC. As a pro, Aslan is 13-1 with five straight finishes coming into UFC 308, but Cerqueira is confident.

“When this season of Contender Series started,” Cerqueira said, “Dana White came out and said he wasn't looking for people over 30, and I thought, 'Damn, I'm 34 and the boss says that?' “I have to put on a show and knock this guy out or it'll be a bloody war.” Competing in the UFC doesn't take any pressure off me as the card is much bigger now. I have to fight hard to show why I was signed.”