Some fighters credit boxing, wrestling, perhaps Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ... but Vanessa Demopoulos, she credits the pole.
Yes ... 33-year-old Demopoulos tells TMZ Sports she credits much of her success in the Octagon against Silvana Gomez Juarez at UFC 270 to the strength she's developed dancing on the pole.
"I just walked away from being an exotic entertainer. I'm like so good at pole dancing," Vanessa says.
"I feel like pole dancing and fighting goes hand and hand. I'm 3 stories up in the air, hanging on by a limb, mainly in my underwear.