TikTok star with ’roundest bum in UFC’ tells trolls ‘I can combat and take my pants off’
UFC star Alice Ardelean feels her critics need to butt out and are just talking “pants”.
The Birmingham-based strawweight fighter has only just started her journey, losing close decisions in her first two bouts. Despite earning her crack at the big time, detractors claim she has been elevated to MMA’s premier promotion because of her massive social media following, which has earned her the moniker of having “the roundest bum in MMA”.
With three million fans on TikTok, 615k on Instagram and a lucrative OnlyFans modelling side hustle, Ardelean has proved an online entrepreneur. Appropriately, the bottom line for the Romanian is that she will carry on owning all aspects of her life, saying: “People can say whatever, but that’s what I am (TikTok star/OnlyFans model/UFC fighter). I’m everything. I’m multifaceted.
“People say, ‘Oh, you have an OnlyFans, why are you a fighter?’. But I can fight and I can take my f***ing pants off! It’s not a big deal.
“People can be so weird. A lot of articles call me ‘model’ or ‘UFC model’ or ‘OnlyFans model’. I don’t care. Call me whatever you want. I have fulfilled my dream in life, I’m happy with where I am in life. As long as people are talking about me, I don’t care.”
(Image: Alice Ardelean)
Ardelean, 32, who made her UFC debut in Manchester in July, losing a split decision to Shauna Bannon, before a points loss to Melissa Martinez last month in Las Vegas, revealed she initially kept her social media presence separate from her fighting career.
Her quirky videos on TikTok quickly caught on, but many followers were shocked that her main dream remained inside the cage. She said: “My social media wasn’t about fighting to start with. When I started, and when I started to go viral, it was me doing funny skits and reactions (to other videos).
(Image: Getty Images)
“I was still training on the side and I had a fight coming up so I decided to promote it (on social media). All my followers were like, ‘Oh my God, are you a fighter?’, as I never really posted anything about fighting on TikTok.
“In fact, TikTok used to take my videos down, even just training, because they said it was ‘graphic violence’. But everybody was a bit shocked that the ‘girl with the eyes’ was a fighter. Now I can do both things and it has come together really well.”
Ardelean had been on a seven-fight winning streak before joining the UFC and still has high hopes for her stint in the company. She said: “I have my goals, and making it to the UFC was one of them.
(Image: Alice Ardelean)
“In terms of getting to the top, I need to work to get there, which is what I am focusing on now. I want to perform well, and have interesting fights.”
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