From stripper to winning a UFC main event: “I traveled organizing girls’ nights and doing striptease.”

Most fighters work menial jobs until they make it big in MMA. The same was true for Carlos Ulberg, who this past Saturday defeated Dominick Reyes by TKO in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Perth, Australia, with just 30 seconds left in the first round. But unlike most of his peers, Ulberg’s side job was far from ordinary—before dedicating himself fully to fighting, the New Zealander worked as a stripper to pay the bills.

Ulberg tried his hand at several jobs before finding his footing in the UFC. He first played rugby and later switched to kickboxing, though neither provided enough income. To make ends meet, he leaned on his looks. Alongside modeling, he performed as a stripper. “I traveled around Australia and New Zealand organizing girls’ nights and doing stripteases,” he revealed at a press conference.

The venture was more lucrative than he expected. “I needed a little extra money, and I found out this was way more than just extra money. I was traveling, getting put on billboards and all that,” he said. Ulberg even received two offers to join The Bachelor and was linked to New Zealand’s version of Thunder From Down Under, the Australian male revue famous in Las Vegas for its mix of muscular physiques, dance routines, and tongue-in-cheek humor. He turned them down. “I did that. I partied, I got paid, I loved it, I was young—until I discovered I was good at fighting. So I quit that pretty quickly,” he added.

That chapter in his life also inspired one of his nicknames: Ladies Night. “A local newscaster in my town found out and gave me that name,” Ulberg recalled. Still, his official moniker is Black Jag, a nod to his love of black jaguars and a gamer tag he used as a kid. “It all comes down to being a kid and having that as an alter ego,” he explained. Today, his focus is fully on MMA.

Currently ranked No. 3 in the light heavyweight division, Ulberg is looking to establish himself as the next title contender. This weekend, champion Magomed Ankalaev defends his belt in a rematch against former champion Alex Pereira, which could set the stage for Ulberg’s own shot at the title. His case strengthened after dispatching Dominick Reyes, who entered the fight ranked eighth and once pushed Jon Jones to a razor-close decision.

Reyes had been on a three-fight win streak since returning from a health scare. He was previously diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a condition that caused blood clots and sidelined him until he was cleared to compete.

He was originally scheduled to fight Ulberg in January 2024, but the bout was canceled after Ulberg suffered an injury. Though the matchup was later rescheduled, they didn’t finally meet until last Saturday—when Ulberg, the ex-stripper turned top contender, made a statement by stopping Reyes in emphatic fashion.

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