UFC Vegas 57 winner ‘Ladies Night’ reveals past as a male stripper

UFC light heavyweight fighter Carlos Ulberg shares a story about his life prior to professional fighting.

Light heavyweight fighter Carlos Ulberg scored his second victory inside the Octagon on Saturday at UFC Vegas 57 against Tafon Nchukwi. But before his entry into professional fighting, the 31-year-old held a job in another realm of entertainment.

Speaking to reporters during his post-fight scrum, “Black Jag” Ulberg, who also goes by the nickname “Ladies Night,” explained the origins of this moniker.

“I used to do ‘ladies nights’ in Australia. I used to travel around Australia and New Zealand doing ladies' nights and strip, pretty much. And then a guy, one of the announcers back home, local, heard of that and gave me that name,” he said (quotes via MMA Fighting).

“I was a rugby player and I needed a bit of extra money and I found that this was — more than extra money. I was traveling, they put me on billboards and all that sort of thing. It was similar to the [Las Vegas-based Thunder From Down Under show] that they have here.

“So I was doing that, partying, getting paid, I was loving it — I was young — until I found that I was good at fighting. So I gave that up pretty quickly.”

Ulberg isn’t the only UFC fighter with an exotic dancing background on that fight card. Strawweight fighter Vanessa Demopolous shares a similar past and as she revealed in January after her UFC 270 win, it was a job she’d just left eight weeks prior to allow her to focus on MMA full-time. She beat Jinh Yu Frey by decision earlier at UFC Vegas 57.

As for Ulberg, he’s now 2-1 in the UFC since his entry via Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. After his first-round TKO win over Nchukwi, he now improves to a record of 5-1.