Vanessa Demopoulos got a big win in the Octagon on Friday, her first in the UFC after scuffling to a 7-4 overall recored in MMA, said that to get serious about her new career she had to leaver her old one behind.
Her old career: stripper. (Check her out on the Gram)
The author behind the “Stripper Bible” quit her 13-year run of rocking the pole six weeks ago to get serious about fighting. Demopoulos’ decision to get serious about the fight game paid off as she beat Silvana Juarez with that first-round armbar.
Curiously, she said, one thing did actually lead to the other.
She told Combat Press in 2018 that her stripping workouts actually helped her become a better fighter.
“I found kickboxing, actually, through pole dancing. I’ve been an exotic entertainer for 11 years now,” Demopoulos, whose father was a strip club DJ and manager and her mother was a stripper, said. “I was discovered as a pole dancer, and they said if I put that same determination and mindset toward fighting, I’d be great.”
Hold up… he dad was a strip club DJ and her mom was a stripper… and she was a stripper.
It must have been tough to leave the family business.
ANNNNNNYWAYS…
“I actually got kicked out of school for fighting [while] growing up. Fighting was something I always did, and I always had a lot of interest in martial arts,” she said. “It wasn’t something I was able to do growing up. As an adult, when the opportunity came around, I just had to grab it. I actually moved here to Columbus just to train full-time.”
The stripper-turned-fighter says her flexibility is a major problem for opponents.
“I’m very wildly flexible. I’m like a strong, human rubber band. It accounts for some really cool stuff that translates to my jiu-jitsu game. I compete a lot in professional jiu-jitsu — a lot of submission grappling,” Demopoulos said.
Oh, she is also a published author.
Who knew…
In her Stripper Bible book, available on Amazon, “Lil Monster” explains to readers the “difference between making $1,000 a month to making $10,000 a month and more! A complete instructional for the Exotic Entertainment industry. This book is a guide for how to be a stripper. Everything from appearance to how the industry works, how to talk to customers, what their thinking, and how to receive the money.”
So buy some stock in Demopoulos as she is about to be a fan favorite.
