I’m a male stripper-turned-MMA star… girls say I’m too good looking to fight but brutal KOs are a warning to my rivals

MMA star Akonne Wanliss was told he is too pretty to fight - but his brutal knockouts prove otherwise.

Wanliss is signed to European promotion Oktagon MMA and has a record of 8-2 in the cage, having started the sport aged 23.

But for the last decade, he also toured the continent as a male stripper before giving it up last year to focus solely on MMA.

At the height of his stripping it caused concerned girls to warn Wanliss off fighting while his rivals used it as armour to mock him.

But the lightweight contender - who returns on Saturday in Prague against Mateusz Legierski - insisted it is both substance and style.

He told SunSport: “Girls used to say it all the time!

"But another thing the guys, they won’t say, ‘You’re too pretty or you’re too handsome.’ They’d say, ‘You’re just a stripper.’ 

“I’ve heard it many times in my career, heard it many times in Oktagon already, ‘Oh, you’re just a stripper. He just likes to be famous online, he just likes to do YouTube.’ 

“First of all, aren’t you supposed to promote yourself too? All these guys are just boring. They say, ‘I’m just going to let my fighting do the talking.’ 

“Legierski is pretty much the same, maybe he was forced to but he said he’s going to bounce a lightsaber off my head. 

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“I know how it’s going to be, come fight week it’s probably going to be a bit too much to deal with. 

“At the press conferences I bring my rawness, I unleash the force and by the time we step in the cage, probably all you want to do is hit me. 

“You’re not thinking logically and if he comes in there and all he wants to do is put hands on me, he’s going to walk into many shots and that’ll be the end of it.”

Wanliss was working as a PT until an old friend from his breakdancing days offered him another career route.

And he would go onto tour the country for over ten years as a performer before focusing all his efforts on MMA.

Now, he returns as part of Oktagon's 16-man €1million lightweight tournament in the quarter-final stage having KO'd Sahil Siraj in round one.

Wanliss - who is in a relationship with OnlyFans star and influencer boxer Daniella Hemsley - already has his eyes on the prize money.

He said: “It’s something I’ve already thought about. 

“Obviously, I’m focussed on the fight but I do think about what I can do with the amount of money that I’m going to receive, how can I place it in different areas to invest it. 

“I have my head switched on when it comes to finances anyway. It’s not the first time I’m dealing with money and it won’t be the last.”