UFC Fighter Julia Avila Reveals She Had To Take A Second Job To Make Ends Meet

Julia Avila had to take a second job to pay bills

Photo credit: Julia Avila's IG @ragingpandamma

UFC bantamweight knockout artist Julia Avila revealed that fight cancelations caused her to take a second job.

Avila (9-2) has been out of action for over a year and was last in action in June of 2021 when she submitted Julija Stoliarenko. “Raging Panda” was supposed to face former title challenger Raquel Pennington in December, but she suffered a knee injury that required surgery. As she was recovering from her surgery, she became pregnant and has been out ever since.

Avila has a ridiculous history of having an opponent pull out of fights or just the fight being canceled altogether- nine times in fact.

I had to get a job to make ends meet and have insurance to cover my pregnancy

On Thursday, Avila wrote on Twitter that she was forced to take a second job to pay bills because of all of the cancelations.

“Fighter pay is great when you have a fight; I had 9 cancelled fights one year and since my injury 2021, I had to get a job to make ends meet and have insurance to cover my pregnancy,” Avila wrote. “I love being a part of the UFC, it’s a dream come true. But it is a temporary dream.
 
Often times you have to choose between having a career, being in a relationship, being a mother, OR follow your dreams to being in the best fight circuit ever. Even then, sometimes you just don’t feel appreciated (as a woman) because you don’t show skin or talk trash
 
I love being in the UFC. I love fighting for the fans and putting on a show, but it’s a dog and pony show. I’m just as replaceable as anyone else on the roster and fans will be none the wiser. That’s the hardest pill to swallow.”

Cleaning mats for cash

A few hours later, she would add that after one of her fight cancelations, she asked the UFC if she could clean mats for money.

 
“In response to my previous post. I don’t want guaranteed money, I WANT to work. I propose having an optional degree program where fighters apply to online learning, maintain a certain GPA, and a signed to work for the UFC in some other capacity other than fighting.
 
Like business management degrees for the UFC gyms across the globe. PR relations degrees or hospitality to take care of new fighters as older one phase out. I’VE NEVER WANTED A HANDOUT. I WANT TO WORK. in fact, from one of my cancelled fights I offered to stay back & clean mats,” Avila wrote.

With fighter pay being talked about almost daily, this is another example of UFC fighters not having enough money to survive.

Published on August 18, 2022 at 8:45 pm
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