UFC star who used to be stripper vows to ‘write new chapter’ and ‘f*** the bulls***’
UFC fighter Vanessa Demopoulos has vowed to write “a new chapter” for herself in 2023.
The 33-year-old, who used to juggle being a stripper alongside her full-time fighting career ditched the former job at the start of 2022 in an effort to focus on the latter.
She has since admitted her decision to try and pull off both jobs was “pure insanity”, telling the Mirror it was “physically taxing”.
READ MORE:Bungling robber runs straight into MMA fighter and is left pleading for help
However, since opting to focus solely upon fighting, her UFC career has gone from strength to strength. In 2022, the American went 3-0, winning her final fight of the year against Maria Oliveira back in November.
What do you make of Demopoulos’ past attempt to juggle stripping with her fighting career? Let us know in the comments section.
(Image: lilmonsterdemo/Instagram)
And it appears as though Demopoulos is ready to attack 2023 in similar fashion to last year if her recent Instagram story is anything to go by.
The MMA fighter recently posted on her Instagram story: “Gonna start getting chopped. Tis the season I choose to be a Boss. No fight in the works yet. Simply reaching for the best version of myself. At a new chapter of a book I get to write. Making this shit a good one. F*** the b******. It’s GO TIME.”
(Image: Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Image: Zuffa LLC)
Before her fight against Silvana Gomez Juarez, which was her first bout of 2022, Demopolous revealed she had quite her 13-year pole dancing job in order to put her MMA career first.
After winning the bout against Juarez, she said: “I don’t think it’s a secret, I was an exotic entertainer for 13 years.
(Image: Instagram: lilmonsterdemoVerified Crystal “Vanessa” Demopoulos Athlete)
(Image: lilmonsterdemo/Instagram)
“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.”
But it’s not as though her time as a stripper has not helped her athletically in her fighting career either.
Demopoulos, who also goes by ‘Lil Monster’ told Combat Press back in 2018 that her pole dancing skills had definitely helped improve her dexterity and flexibility.
(Image: INSTAGRAM/lilmonsterdemo)
“Pole dancing takes a lot of agility, a lot of body awareness, a lot of dexterity and flexibility, and you have to be quick with your reactions.
“It’s similar to what jiu-jitsu feels like, but in jiu-jitsu, you have options of tapping if you have to, or you’re safe if you are on the ground.
“With pole dancing, it’s very death-defying in the sense that you’re literally hanging on with, like, a limb, and one wrong move, you’re done. Like, I’m falling from two stories and that’s it. You only fall once.”
READ NEXT: