YouTube streamer IShowSpeed was shown just how serious a Jiu-Jitsu black belt is as he was tapped out by a UFC strawweight contender.
Vanessa Demopoulos is a fan favorite in the UFC, having traded in her career as an exotic dancer for cage fighting and making it to the big leagues. And while training at the Performance Institute on Friday night, she got into a sparring session with Darren Watkins, better known as ‘IShowSpeed‘.
The social media star is something of an underrated athlete in his own right, scoring multiple victories over professionals in various challenges over the years. However, his effort at fighting with a black belt didn’t go as planned, with the strawweight making him tap out three times.
FIGHTING SPIRIT: IShowSpeed walks into a Muay Thai gym and demands to ‘Spar the best person here’IShowSpeed taps out three times to Vanessa Demopoulos at UFC PIThis evening in Las Vegas, IShowSpeed continued his lengthy roadtrip around America, where he took in Sin City and got some training at the UFC Performance Institute. He was shown around the facility and got to meet both Demopoulos and top middleweight Caio Borralho.
After his sparring session went wrong with lightweight contender Dan Hooker earlier this year, Speed opted to go for just sparring with Demopoulos, who is currently on a three-fight skid inside the octagon.
It didn’t take her long to get him down and lock in a variation of a triangle choke for submission number one. She then looked for a leg lock, but was warned against going too hard and had to insist to Borralho ‘I won’t hurt him’.
Afterwards, she showed him how easily she can pull guard and almost made him tap out while he was standing with her in his arms. She also got him in a head-and-arm choke and an arm bar to finish it all off.
IShowSpeed feared Vanessa Demopoulos could break his legIn the immediate aftermath of the sparring session Speed seemed stunned at just what was able to happen to him. He spoke to the camera on his stream while outside the gym and claimed that Demopoulos could have broken ‘every leg [sic] in my body.’
Demopoulous, for her part, was complimentary after the fact, writing on Instagram: “IShowSpeed came to the PI to have some fun today. He admired that he lost. So much fun!!”
Fans did note in the comments section that she perhaps went a little hard on a raw beginner, showing off the entirety of her black belt skill set. One coach even asked “All this wrestling training and you pull guard ?!”
