Carlos Leal Miranda targets dream bout with Rory MacDonald in PFL championship

After winning the Legacy Fighting Alliance grand prix in Brazil in 2021, Carlos Leal Miranda made his way to the Professional Fighters League, where he has gone farther than expected in a short period of time.

Miranda earned a spot on the PFL roster with a pair of victories on the Challenger Series before upsetting two-time champion Ray Cooper III on May 6. Now he finds himself in the PFL playoffs and one fight away from competing for a $1 million prize. In an ideal world, the Brazilian would square off against Rory MacDonald in the PFL finals. Miranda faces Sadibou Sy in one welterweight semifinal, while MacDonald meets Magomed Umalatov in the other half of the bracket on Aug. 13.

“I would like to face MacDonald because he was a guy I always watched fighting,” Miranda told Sherdog.com. “I can say I'm a fan. I always watched his fights, and beating a guy I saw on TV would be a great achievement.”

But the welterweight knows that he will have a tough opponent ahead of him. Sy is coming off a victory over MacDonald himself, and he has a height advantage against most opponents in the division. However, it's not an advantage that worries the Curitiba, Brazil, native. 

“My team and I will outline the correct strategy to neutralize his reach advantage and get in the final,” Miranda said. “He is a very tough opponent, like everyone else who is in the playoffs this season. But I see myself with more weapons to win the fight.”

The prospect of a $1 million championship prize is entrenched in Miranda’s mind, and he is excited about the chance to make a better life for him and his family.

“I don't even know exactly what I'm going to do… But I know one thing: I'm going to give a better life for my family and for those who were part of my story,” he said.