Bryan Caraway’s career blossoming after upsetting Aljamain Sterling

Bryan Caraway’s fight career has served as a microcosm of his life: Down at the start, a few dark moments along the way that were difficult to overcome and now, on a beeline to the top.

And never was that more true than during his split decision victory Sunday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center over previously unbeaten Aljamain Sterling, the UFC’s No. 4-ranked bantamweight.

Sterling won the first round on all three cards in what easily could have been scored 10-8. All three judges gave it 10-9 to Sterling, but Round 1 gave the appearance of big brother beating up on little brother.

Caraway gathered himself after the round and showed the stuff of a title contender, coming back to take the final two frames to score a victory over one of the sport’s hottest young prospects.

For Caraway, 31, it was more evidence he belongs with the elite despite his less-than-fearsome reputation with some of the audience.

He defeated then-No. 6 Eddie Wineland last July and, after battling a series of injuries, returned to, at least temporarily, slow down Sterling’s hype train.

“Bryan has always been an underdog,” said Miesha Tate, the UFC women’s bantamweight champion and Caraway’s long-time girlfriend. “But I see what he does in the gym on a daily basis and I’ve been coached by the guy for nine, 10 years. I know that my ability is a direct representation of his ability. … He took down the No. 4-ranked guy tonight, a guy who is a very strong, tough fighter, and he beat him.

“This fight is symbolic in a lot of ways in how he came through a lot of adversity in the life he’s lived. He had a lot of adversity early on, a lot of struggles. But he came back stronger for it, and he’s risen above.”

He grinned when he recalled the many difficulties he faced throughout his life.

“Like Rocky said, ‘It ain’t all sunshine and rainbows,’ ” Caraway said. “The world will beat you down, but you’ve got to keep getting back up. Those things I’ve been through, living in a tent, then living in an RV with Miesha, you have to learn how to fight back to get what you want.

“My father had a really bad stroke and he couldn’t talk [or] walk any more,” Caraway said. “At that time, a lot of things were going wrong with veterans’ benefits. He got his benefits cut and my mother had to quit her job to take care of him.

After falling behind on bills, the family wound up living in a tent in Montana for about eight months where they cooked their food on an open fire, Caraway said.

“We were really poor. It was a struggle, but we got through it and finally, my father’s benefits were changed and he went on 100 percent disability and I wound up having I guess what I’d say was pretty much a normal high school life.”

But things never were easy for him and his road to the UFC was loaded with obstacles. He became a fighter almost by accident. He and a group of friends were headed to an amateur MMA show, and when they got into the parking lot, his friend told him he was fighting that night.

Caraway had no idea and insisted he had no plans to do so. But his face was on the poster and his friend had sold a lot of tickets to people to see him fight.

Caraway was talked into fighting and said he dominated until he got choked unconscious late in the third round.

But that started a love affair with the sport that exists to this day. He’d planned to go to medical school, but in 2008 was offered a fight on national television on an Elite XC show.

“My thought at the time was, I could go to medical school at any point, when I was 30, 35, 40, whatever,” he said. “But this was my one shot to try to make something of myself as a fighter. I had no hope of being in the UFC or anything at that point. This was kind of it.”

After that fight, his best friend, Sterling Ford, suggested they devote everything to trying to make it in MMA. He gave up his job and his apartment and pretty much everything else to commit himself 100 percent to MMA.

Caraway, Tate and Ford agreed to buy an RV, which they parked outside of then-UFC fighter Dennis Hallman’s gym.

Caraway coached youth wrestling, trained and then lived in the RV with Tate and Ford.

This is why Caraway is where he is today, in the conversation about a UFC bantamweight title shot.

“People have no idea what Bryan has gone through or how much he has sacrificed,” Tate said.

Caraway managed Tate and seemed to push all the right buttons. Tate quickly became a star, won the Strikeforce title and became one of the most popular fighters in the sport.

Caraway was largely ignored, though when he got into a back-and-forth with Ronda Rousey before Tate and Rousey fought for the Strikeforce title, many fans sided with Rousey.

It didn’t win him a lot of fans, nor did his tendency to be quiet and not call anyone out or make a fuss about himself.

“To be honest, my fight career did fall through the cracks quite a bit,” Caraway said. “The more time I put into Miesha, and she blew up and surpassed me, we had to focus on her. I was in the shadows a little bit, but it was OK.

“I know God has my back, most importantly. I know Miesha has my back. And I know my time will come. I was a top-level pro in the Northwest and Miesha didn’t know anything. I gave her a ladder and she skyrocketed past me. Now that she is up there, she’s helping me. She’s getting me connections and pushing me. Our relationship has been a blessing and we’ve always been there for each other. Miesha’s on top now and I honestly believe with her help, my time is coming.”