A Day with UFC Fighter Priscila 'Pedrita' Cachoeira

NITEROI, BRAZIL - DECEMBER 29: Brazilian UFC flyweight fighter Priscila "Pedrita" Cachoeira prepares to train at School of Lutas Niteroi on December 29, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The trajectory of the carioca in the sport life began early. At age of 10 she started playing volleyball, stayed for six years until leaving the sport because of a great disappointment. Priscilla's father was absent and addicted to drugs and her mother having to work to support the house, was on the street that Priscilla found what she considered to be her comfort. An ex-boyfriend took her to the funk dances on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Shortly thereafter, drug use, marijuana, cocaine and even the crack that was part of Priscila's life from 19 to 23 began. Drug user Priscila went to a kind of crackland in Bangu, a neighbourhood in the eastern zone of Rio de Janeiro. Three days without the strength to return home. Her salvation was a contact with a Church pastor who helped the chemists in the area and took her mother to meet her. The motivation to escape from the drug addiction was her mother and the discovery that she was pregnant. In that period, martial arts got into her routine thanks to a neighbour who invited her to a free muay thai class at a gym near where she lived. There the athlete was born again. Today Priscila "Pedrita" Cachoeira, 29, is hired by the UFC, drugs free, trains and lives in the back of the academy School of Lutas Niteroi, one of the headquarters of Team Paran Vale Tudo - PRVT of her coach, Gilliard Parana. On February 3, "Pedrita" will face Valentina Schevchenko of Russia at UFC Fight Night 125 in Belem. 'One of my dreams is to be able to build an institution where I can help drug users', she quotes. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)