One million dollars well spent, Emiliano Sordi.
Emiliano Sordi put in a lot of work during the 2019 Professional Fighters League (PFL) season, defeating five fighters en route to becoming the light heavyweight champion and a millionaire. He put in even more work afterwards, using his $1 million prize money to help feed Argentinean people during the coronavirus pandemic.
Months after the season was over, Sordi returned home to Rio Cuarto, Argentina and immediately witnessed how negatively his community had been impacted because of the pandemic. In the province of Cordoba, where Rio Cuarto is located, there has been 110,000 cases of coronavirus infections. Like many countries around the world, lockdowns were put into effect in order to try and curb the spread of the virus, which meant things such as the economy would be greatly affected.
With people out of work and their income slashed, Sordi planned to help those struggling during this unprecedented time and put forth his own money to provide meals for thousands of people. He explained the situation on a recent episode of Hablemos MMA hosted by Danny Segura of MMA Junkie.
“During the quarantine, a few times we were allowed to leave during the week. I would go out and try to help people with my friends. We got special permits that the municipality gave us and we would go out twice or three times a week, sometimes one, and we would give out food.
“We started giving food to about 300 people and we got to a point where we gave food to 3,000. So economically, I didn’t enjoy any of (the $1 million prize). I didn’t buy anything. I didn’t go on vacation. I mean, I was locked at home. But I used those resources to help people who were going through a rough time.” (via MMA Junkie)
Between the months of March and August, Sordi and his friends continued the measure of cooking the food, preparing it and delivering it all around the city until his funds depleted. Although he was able to feed as many people as possible, Sordi says there are still people in need of help at this time.
As far as his fighting career, Sordi is gearing up to return to the United States to train for the upcoming PFL season in 2021.