Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Current BKFC champion Bec Rawlings was one of the first combat sports athletes to join the online subscription-based platform.
Australian TUF and UFC veteran Bec Rawlings currently reigns as Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s featherweight champion. However, since the beginning of the year, the 31-year-old has been supplementing her income—which is unpredictable/unreliable due to the nature of prize-fighting—with an account on OnlyFans.com.
OnlyFans is a platform that allows performers to charge subscriptions for exclusive media content. Many, but not all, of the accounts on OnlyFans belong to sex workers. Recently, celebrities such as Cardi B and Bella Thorne have also started using the platform. A lot of, but not all, the material shared on OnlyFans is mature content.
Rawlings, or @rowdybec on OnlyFans, spoke to Damon Martin at MMA Fighting about her decision to join the site and how it is working out for her.
“Look it’s been a game changer for me,” said Rawlings, whose fight career has been drastically affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “I’d be stressing and freaking out right now. I definitely wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in right now if I didn’t start my OnlyFans. I took the plunge and I’ve never really been one to care about what people think or say. I put myself out there and it’s definitely paid off.
“Normally, I’d be freaking out right now if I haven’t fought yet and made some money. So it’s given me an opportunity to make money elsewhere. So it’s definitely saved me during this. It’s been good. I’m enjoying it. I’ve always been good about putting stuff online and with social media so it’s allowed me to get on a more exclusive website where people can pay to see your content and actually make some money off it instead of putting stuff up on Instagram or Facebook and they reap all the benefits.”
“I like having control of everything,” continued Rawlings. “I’ve had people say they were thinking of starting one and they ask if someone else will be controlling it for them. Nope, I control everything that I do.”
Rawlings isn’t the only fighter to have set-up an OnlyFans account. Her Alliance MMA teammate, and roommate, Jessica Penne is also on the platform. So too are UFC fighters Jessica Eye, Claudia Gadelha and Hannah Goldy. UFC Octagon Girls Brittney Palmer and Arianny Celeste also have OnlyFans accounts. Cindy Dandois, Barb Honchak and Katharina Lehner are among the fighters outside of the UFC who are using the site to make extra money.
“I think it’s cool to see other fighters and especially athletes embrace the site and hustle on something that we can,” Rawlings said. “We can’t tell the future and with the pandemic, we don’t know when we’re going to fight and so this is a way to set yourself up and have another source of income. It will be interesting to see what kind of content people are offering and if they stick around.
“I think it’s definitely something everyone need to embrace. It’s good for the sport, it’s good for the fighters and it’s good for the fans to have a different kind of contact and support for the fighters.”
Rawlings joined the UFC in 2014 as a cast member of the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter. That season launched the UFC’s strawweight division and crowned the weight class’ first champion (Carla Esparza) in the finale.
Rawlings was eliminated by Tecia Torres in the first round of that series, but went on to be signed by the UFC. In her professional debut for the company she lost to Heather Jo Clark on the TUF Finale card. She rebounded with wins over Lisa Ellis and Seo Hee Ham.
After four straight losses in the Octagon (to Paige VanZant, Tecia Torres, Jessica-Rose Clark and Ashlee Evans-Smith), Rawlings left the UFC in 2018.
According to TheSportsDaily Rawling’s career earnings in the UFC equal $118,000. If accurate, that means Rawlings made under $24,000 a year in purses/Reebok pay between 2014 and 2018.
Since leaving the UFC Rawlings has competed for both Bellator and BKFC. In Bellator she is 1-1. In bare knuckle fighting she is a perfect 3-0.