Daniel “Chucky” Barrera is home. It’s not that the unbeaten flyweight has abandoned Upland, California, but for a month before every fight he needs to leave to get everything right and remove any, and all, distractions.

Pretty mature, but, according to Barrera, also necessary.

“Regardless of whether we're in California or in Arizona, I would say I'm very disciplined in that I kind of lock myself up in my room every day after training; the only time I come out is to go run and eat,” said Barrera, who makes the three-and-a-half hour trip to Fort Mohave, Arizona, to prepare for fights. “I just think it's very important that you stay really focused and act like you're not at home, where you're able to see your friends and your family, because it's just a different mentality that it puts you in. I feel like it's great for fighters, and all fighters should do it, and if they get used to it now at an early stage in their career, they'll be used to it when the big title fights come and when it's really important that you stay locked away and focused and away from people that are going to get you in trouble.” 

A 22-year-old with distractions? Nah, never.

“You never know,” he laughs. But, all kidding aside, being a prizefighter isn’t the typical job, and if you want to make it to a certain level, you can’t be a typical young man. So Barrera learned early on, before he even began a pro career in 2022, that he had to avoid the usual things attached to being in your late teens or early 20s.

“In the amateurs, I was the same way,” he said. “I wouldn’t go to school dances and stuff because I was like, ‘Oh no, I have a fight next week, I have to stay home’. So I think from the amateurs I already had it in me to lock myself away. And definitely when I turned pro it became more serious, like a month out – maybe a month-and-a-half out. I won't see any of my family members, besides my mom and dad, or my friends.”

It's worked, to the tune of a 4-0-1 (3 KOs) record that he hopes to improve to 5-0-1 when he meets Jonathan Almacen this Friday at Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California. At 7-9-3, the Philippines’ Almacen won’t be favored to upset the local hero, but their bout will likely keep Barrera’s fans in the venue and watching on UFC Fight Pass happy, because he’s quickly become a ticket seller in the area – a development Barrera takes pride in as he makes his way up the ranks.

“It's pretty cool,” he said. “It's something I would've never expected starting off as a pro. I had a lot of people that always supported me in the amateurs, but once you turn pro, that's where things really matter, and you can lose fans, or you can gain fans, and I feel like I've gained a lot of fans and they've been very supportive of me. So, I'm just super excited to see how it's going right now.”

In other words, as he approaches his two-year pro anniversary this summer, everything has largely gone according to plan. 

“The only thing I would change is making sure I never got injured in any way,” said Barrera. “That would be the only thing I’d change, but those were minor setbacks. Other than that, I'm very grateful for the opportunities I've been given and I'm very blessed, so I'm very excited to continue and start off this year strong, and hopefully we end this year strong, as well.”

In a perfect world, Barrera says that he’d like to get six fights secured in 2024, which, if he keeps winning, would put him at 10-0-1 heading into next year. And then his peers need to start watching their back, because “Chucky” is coming.

“There's a lot of guys that I see fighting in my weight division that I keep an eye on,” Barrera said. “I know they're going to be potential opponents. Every time they fight, I definitely tune in and watch them and see what they do. So there's a possibility that next year, or maybe this year, there's a fight, regardless of what pace we move at. I mean, we're going to fight eventually.”