Bellator 270: Pedro Carvalho crowns Dublin 'the best pound-for-pound crowd in the world'

Nothing has ever come easy for featherweight contender Pedro Carvalho.

From working in a factory to working as a toilet cleaner, the 26-year-old fighter moved to Ireland from Portugal in 2017 with little more than a dream to become world champion.

Carvalho (11-5) fell short of that dream at Bellator 252 where was knocked out by then featherweight champion Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire.

Now, he has his sight set on bouncing back and becoming the "best in the world" before his fight against former title challenger Daniel Weichel at Bellator 270.

"I'm here to be the best in the world. I truly believe I can beat anyone in the division. This is a fight I've wanted for a while. It's going to be a great fight for sure," Carvalho told BBC Sport.

"I want to be world champion but the main thing that drives me is to be the best. I want to become immortal and get my name in the MMA history books. I want to be recognised as the best."

Bellator 270 will take place in Dublin where Carvalho has resided for more than five years, and the Portuguese fighter has a special bond with the Irish fans.

"This is my hometown," he said. "This is my crowd. Not only [is Dublin] the best pound-for-pound crowd in the world, they are a crowd that'll be there to support me.

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"I've been in Ireland for five years now and it's been such a great journey with such amazing support from the Irish people. Now, I have the chance to perform in front of them and it's one of the things I'm most looking forward to."

Carvalho is 6-2 in his last eight fights but he suffered those defeats in his last two outings in the cage, following up his stoppage loss to Freire with another against Jay-Jay Wilson last April.

"I made several mistakes, which led to my two losses, but I've really learnt from it," he insisted.

"With the Patricio fight, I was doing interviews every day and it was fuelling my ego. I thought I was untouchable but I underestimated him. He's one of the best and I was reckless and immature.

"The loss was really devastating because it sucks to lose. With Wilson, I was too eager to get back in there and that was a mistake."

Carvalho will now look to bounce back and has praised his team-mates and head coach John Kavanagh from Straight Blast Gym (SBG).

"[Working with John] was game changing," he said. "It was life changing. He's the best coach in the world. I have a wonderful team around me and we are only getting started."

At the SBG gym, Carvalho trains with a host of big stars including Bellator Dublin's headliners Peter Queally and James Gallagher.

The gym is overseen by coach Kavanagh and became famous with the emergence of UFC two-weight champion Conor McGregor.

McGregor is recovering from a broken leg after consecutive defeats to Dustin Poirier, but Carvalho is convinced his team-mate can bounce back and become champion again.

"You can see that he really wants it," he said.

"He has all the tools but he has nothing to prove. He's done everything in a really short space of time. He's a superstar.

"He's the biggest name that MMA has ever had. He changed the game. I believe he can get back to where he was but it will always be up to him."