ALICE ARDELEAN finally gets her chance in the big show tonight.
The veteran strawweight will debut in mixed martial arts’ top promotion this evening on a stacked UFC 304 card in Manchester.
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Ardelean’s dream debut, however, hasn’t come in the most ideal of circumstances as she’s stepped in on short notice to face Ireland’s Shauna Bannon.
The Romanian isn’t a household name to most casual observers of mixed martial arts.
But she boasts a huge following on social media, with her Instagram having a whopping 530,000 followers.
Ardelean has amassed her following on the platform thanks to her hilarious skits.
But it’s also in part down to the raunchy side hustle she launched when she struggled to make ends meet.
In a bid to finance her dream of making it to the UFC, Ardelean opened an OnlyFans account – where she sells raunchy photos to her loyal members.
Ardelean – who has dubbed herself the “Queen of Teasing” – has raked in an absolute fortune with racy non-pornographic snaps and videos.
The income she’s received from the side gig has well and truly helped alleviate her financial woes, although it ended up having somewhat of a negative effect on her fighting career.
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She said: “I used to train at a gym when I started OnlyFans and I kept getting dirty looks.
“I even had a few messages from wives from guys in the gym saying, ‘You are such a whatever’ and calling me names and telling their husbands not to subscribe.
“I was just minding my own business, but the hate was there. Some of the hate was nasty and women in the gym were complaining about me.
“It was just embarrassing. It was like, ‘Shut up, I am not here to take your man.
“This is just my job and I’m not interfering with your job.
“It’s not my fault if your husband was on my OnlyFans or not.’
“In reality, the only reason why, I was doing OnlyFans was to be able to pay for my training, nutritionist and gym equipment every day.”
News of the raciness of Ardelean’s content spread like wildfire, so much so some of her old bullies began hitting on her in her direct messages.
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She revealed to the Daily Star: “I used to be bullied because I was a bit chubby.
“So, I started doing MMA about 12 years ago because the guys were a bit aggressive, and I was scared somebody was going to hurt me.
“It is really weird because some of my bullies have been sliding into my DMs which is funny.”
Facing UFC calibre fighters will be no new thing to Ardelean, who has already shared the cage with dominant strawweight queen Zhang Weili.
The pair locked horns back in 2016, with Zhang winning their 115lbs clash via second-round submission.
Ardelean has gone from strength-to-strength since that defeat, winning her last seven in a row and claiming EFC’s vacant strawweight title in March 2023.
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