Stripper gave up lap dancing for punters to become UFC fighter nicknamed 'Lil Monster'

dailystar.co.uk:

UFC dream.Crystal "Vanessa" Demopoulos had been mixing a career as a pole dancer with professional MMA fights.But the 33-year-old has decided lap-dancing for men into the early hours of the morning while training for upcoming fights is too much of a workload.The strawweight, nicknamed 'Lil Monster', stopped her 13-year pole dancing career to focus fully on her most recent training camp where she went on to beat rival Silvana Juarez at UFC 270.

And the decision paid off as 5 feet 2ins Demopoulos beat Juarez with a first-round armbar submission. She will now fight Jinh Yu Frey on June 25.But how did the UFC superstar transform from a stripper to a fighter worth a reported $2 million?Demopoulos was born in September 1989, in Cleveland, Ohio.Her parents and paternal grandparents raised her in their native country of Greece before the family moved to America.She was academic at school and shone winning a host of prizes and honours.Her mom had also been a dancer so Vanessa followed in her mum's footsteps and became a pole dancer at the age of 20.Speaking to Cageside Press on YouTube she said: "I followed in my family's footsteps.

My dad was a DJ and my mom an entertainer so that's how they met. When I was growing up it was normal talking about the clubs.