Vanessa Demopoulos took some important decisions before her UFC win on Saturday.
After getting dropped by a big punch from Silvana Gomez Juarez during the preliminary card at UFC 270, Demopoulos was able to recover and lock in a tight armbar that forced a tap in the first round at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Speaking with reporters backstage following the win, the 33-year-old revealed that she quit her job as an exotic dancer ahead of her second octagon appearance.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that I was an exotic entertainer for 13 years,” Demopoulos said during her post-fight scrum. Demopoulos said that she didn’t have the opportunity to speak this out on [microphone after the win], but it’s something I would like to share right now. She said that her experience as a stripper ended and she wanted to keep this camp going.
“I stopped dancing six- to eight weeks back in order to focus on MMA and take it seriously every day. But that’s also where my background is from. A lot of what I do with jiu jitsu comes from my experience as a pole dancer .”
Demopoulos also discussed being able to recover from getting dropped early in the fight, premeditating the moment where she jumped into Joe Rogan’s arms after the victory, and more in the video above.
