One of 2022’s breakout stars for the UFC, Vanessa Demopoulos is looking to build on the momentum she has gained thanks to a pair of wins earlier this year.
The former LFA champ joined the promotion on short notice in 2021, losing a fight up a weight class before dropping down to her natural strawweight division, where she has since seen her hand raised over Silvana Gomez Juarez and Jinh Yu Frey.
At UFC Vegas 65 this Saturday, “Lil Monster” Demopoulos will look to go three-for-three in the calendar year when she takes on Maria Oliveira.
“I am rockin’ and rollin’ right now. My weight is good, my weight has been coming down so easy, especially this last week. It’s been so awesome,” Demopoulos (8-4) told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview just a few weeks out from the fight. “I’m feeling good, I just came back from the EBI [Eddie Bravo Invitational], I was commentating over the weekend. It was the perfect little break that I needed, but I was still completely engaged with fighting.”
For Demopoulos, doing commentary means you’re still watching and doing analysis, and she was able to stay on top of her training as well. Basically, it was training and having fun, she noted. “I feel like you need to do that in the middle of training camp, you know?”
“Since I started my fight camp I’ve been so extraordinarily structured that I needed that little bit of breakaway to go have some fun and everything. I thrive off of that stuff. I work better when I’m happy, man. A happy Monster is a dangerous Monster.”
The career ride of Vanessa Demopoulos thus far has certainly been a sight to behold. As she put it, “I went from being in the LFA and a stripper to now retired from that profession and getting to be full time in fighting, and getting to do fight analysis. The thing that I love the most, I get to do that as my side job on top of doing what I love,” the always upbeat Demopoulos stated. “Yeah my life is really good right now, I’m extraordinarily happy and I’m honored that I get the attention of everybody right now. And I’m really looking forward to continuing to grow in that as well. It doesn’t stop here, this is just the beginning.”
As for her opponent, Maria Oliveira, there’s something of a deja vu element to their fight. That’s because, in a sense, Demopoulos has prepared for Oliveira once before.
“I was literally there with Tabatha [Ricci] when she fought Maria. I got to basically be the partner for Tabatha against [Maria] in that fight,” Demopoulos explained. “Which is why when they offered me Maria, I was like ‘yeah I know exactly who she is.’ It was a pretty cut and dry thing for me. I had already studied her.”
Vanessa Demopoulos faces Maria Oliveira this Saturday, November 19, 2022 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
