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UFC middleweight Antonio Braga Neto missed a flight — and ended up making $4,000 in a poker tournament

When life gives you lemons…

Antonio Braga Neto was planning a trip to Florianopolis, Brazil, to teach a few jiu-jitsu classes and make some money before his UFC Lincoln fight with Andrew Sanchez on Aug. 25. A couple of stupid mistakes later and he missed a flight, and then missed another flight the following day, losing $250 he had paid for the flight tickets.

Pissed off with himself, Neto decided to change plans and drive all the way down from Rio de Janeiro to Florianopolis for a 700-mile road trip. After several hours of driving on the first day, the UFC fighter stopped in Sao Paulo to get some sleep, and found out that a poker company was promoting “Big Chance”, a poker tournament that would pay almost $80,000 in prizes.