Elora Dana fights through life traumas in pursuit of PFL gold

June 19, 2025 11:04 pm

When Elora Dana enters a cage to fight, she’s driven by traumas in her life and faith that she will have a better future through the sport.

Before entering the PFL cage in Wichita to compete in her second fight overseas, taking on Liz Carmouche on this Friday in the semifinals of the 2025 flyweight tournament, the undefeated talent, who is a former Jungle Fight flyweight and one of the best prospects out of Brazil, opened up about her many struggles during an interview with MMA Fighting.

Dana became an orphan at age 11, when her mother lost a battle against cancer. She has eight siblings in Tefé, a small town located 300 miles away from Manaus, Brazil but was abandoned by her family.

“My older brother left me by myself on the place we lived with our mom and went to live with our uncle someplace else,” Dana said. “He never really liked me. I had to do everything at home, like do the laundry, clean the house, make breakfast and lunch. I had to do everything. And I still had to take care of my younger brother. And he’d leave me starve when I didn’t do something because I was tired.”

Dana said she was left by herself when she was 12, and “most of the time I had nothing to eat.” There was no electricity where she lived, only one bed and a small cabinet, and that memory still haunts her to this day.

“I still remember going back home at night and being afraid of the dark,” Dana said. “I would talk to God, ‘Please, protect me from everything. Take me from this situation. Help me. Change my life. I don’t know how the future will be, but be in control. Guide me. Protect me. Give me an opportunity to make my dreams come true and change my life so i don’t have to depend on other people.’”

When she was 9 years old — and constantly getting into street fights — her cousin’s husband introduced her to grappling classes in a local gym. Dana was fearless, showing promising talent that led to the coach teaching her for free. Dana felt she was meant to fight, and it would come to save her in the future.

Years have passed, and Dana now lives in Manaus dreaming of replicating her MMA success in the United States. The $500,000 award for winning the PFL flyweight tournament would be a life-changing prize, and Dana has faith it is going to be hers before the year is over. The Brazilian beat Diana Avsaragova in her PFL debut in April to advance in the brackets.

“When I’m in a fight, it’s like I watch a movie inside my head of everything I went through,” Dana said. “God, I don’t want to go back to that place. I want to be champion. I want to win. I want to earn my money. Sadly, this is the only thing I’ve set out to do. I’m in that cage, but I’m praying the whole time, asking for guidance and wisdom. I am nothing, God is everything in my life.”

“It was quite hard. Despite all the difficulties I’ve had in my childhood, I always had a goal in my life,” she continued. “I wanted a good life, a house, and something to eat. [Being in the PFL] has been awesome, it’s extraordinary. Being here is a dream for me. I always believe my time would come, that God would bless me one day. It was a hard road, but thank God we’ve made it. I’m in one of the world’s biggest promotions, and it’s surreal to me. I never expected it to happen, but here I am thanks to my hard work and courage.”