UFC fighter Vanessa Demopoulos quit her job as a stripper to focus on landing her first win inside the octagon last night.
The Ohio native was signed to the promotion last year, but lost her debut to JJ Aldrich and was desperate to get back to winning ways quickly.
She had already appeared on Dana White's Contender Series and lost, so knew that opportunities to compete at the top level may be few and far between.
So she left her job of 13 years as an "exotic entertainer" eight weeks ago to go all in for her training camp ahead of fighting Silvana Gomez Juarez.
Demopoulos defeated Juarez within the first half of round 1 to land her first octagon win at UFC 270, earning thousands of fans and a nice bonus in the process.
“I don’t think it’s a secret, I was an exotic entertainer for 13 years,” Demopoulos said in her post-fight press conference.
“And I didn’t actually say it on the mic, but I’d like to say it right now: I walked away from being a stripper to continue this camp.
“I quit dancing about six to eight weeks ago just so I could focus full-time on MMA, take this extremely seriously in the gym every single day."
She also said that her stripping helped her with her dexterity when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu in her MMA career.
"That's my stripper guard right there," she joked with one reporter during the interview.
“That’s where that background comes from, that’s where those splits come from and a lot of my Jiu-Jitsu actually comes from my expertise as a pole-dancer.”
The strawweight competitor emerged as one of the stars of the UFC 270 prelims, jumping into Joe Rogan's arms during their octagon interview for a viral moment.
And she says that she had planned to jump into the arms of Rogan, one of the most famous broadcasters in the world, in the case that she would win.
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“That part I did plan. I wanted to do that so badly. I’m so glad that he was welcoming to it. It was so cool, that was a cool moment.”
Demopoulos had been drawing eyeballs with her antics throughout the fight week, including doing a splits at the ceremonial weigh-ins.
But she had to come from behind in an exciting battle, which earned her a whopping $50,000 performance of the night bonus; more than twice her $24,000 purse for winning.
She was dropped early, and claimed she was knocked out by the shot, waking up on the ground to land a massive submission victory.
And she has declared herself the UFC's new superstar, and says she wants fans to keep a lookout for her upcoming performances.
“I’m glad I look like the new superstar because I am," she continued. "I am definitely the new superstar so they need to keep their eyes peeled on that.
“I didn’t feel the pressure because I wasn’t trying to be anything that I’m not.”
