Vanessa Demopoulos made a wise choice in swapping her career from exotic dancing to the world of professional fighting.
Her UFC 270 victory proved to be monumental as she not only won her debut fight but also walked away with a staggering $50,000 performance bonus. In addition to the bonus, she pocketed $24,000 just for stepping into the octagon for the bout.
“I don’t think it’s a secret, I was an exotic entertainer for 13 years,” Demopoulos disclosed in a post-fight press conference following her win over Silvana Gomez Juarez with a first-round armbar.
The discussion arose after the 33-year-old displayed a split during her weigh-in and after securing the victory.
“Yeah, that’s my stripper guard there,” she mentioned.
She further added, “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.”
Demopoulos attributed her “pole dancer expertise” to greatly enhancing her jiu-jitsu skills.
In a previous interview back in 2018, the former LFA Strawweight Champion highlighted the physical advantages of pole dancing:
“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,” as quoted in Combat Press.
“It’s akin to what jiu-jitsu entails, but in jiu-jitsu, you have escape options if needed, or you’re secure when you’re on the ground. With pole dancing, it’s thrilling in the sense that you’re essentially hanging on with a limb, and one misstep could be disastrous. Like, I’m falling from two stories and that’s it. You only fall once.”
