MMA Fighter Quits Her Stripper Job Weeks Before Winning Biggest Fight Of Her Career At UFC 270

Mixed martial arts fighter Vanessa Demopoulos, the author behind the "Stripper Bible" who quit a 13-year stripping career six weeks ago to get serious about fighting, is officially in the win column after applying an armbar to her opponent Saturday night at UFC 270.

Demopoulos' decision to get serious about her new career and dedicate her life to the gym instead of hanging from a pole paid off big time when she beat Silvana Juarez with that first-round armbar. Now 7-4 in her fighting career, "Lil Monster" isn't shy about revealing her past life of stripping.

“I don’t think it’s a secret, I was an exotic entertainer for 13 years," Demopoulos said after Saturday's fight.

“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.”

The Cleveland, Ohio native 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.

“I actually got kicked out of school for fighting growing up. Fighting was something I always did, and I always had a lot of interest in martial arts. 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 added.

Saturday, life changed for the ex-stripper and author. She was awarded 'Performance of the Night' at UFC 270 and appears poised to find herself on future UFC cards, especially when you combine her performance and her story that plays well when Dana White needs to sell pay-per-views.

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."

Now she has a UFC victory and a $50,000 performance bonus for her work. It might be time for Vanessa to start getting to work on a new book.