The social media star will get a shot in the UFC after a fight cancellation left Shauna Bannon without an opponent on July 27th.
Forget Twitter and YouTube fighters, now we’re starting to see TikTok stars in the UFC.
Alice Ardelean has over three million followers on TikTok, half a million subscribers on Instagram, and over 100,000 likes on OnlyFans. Those are impressive numbers, even if her 9-5 MMA record (or the records of those she’s beaten) pales in comparison. Impressive enough to land her a spot in the UFC?
With all the fight cancellations that have been plaguing the promotion, apparently so.
The Birmingham-based Ardelean will be stepping in for an injured Ravena Oliveira to fight Shauna Bannon at UFC 304 in Manchester on July 27th. This isn’t completely out of the blue — back in May the popular social media star announced she would fight on the upcoming season of Dana White’s Contender Series. Now she gets a direct path into the UFC and some combat sports fans are not happy.
“The UFC signing Alice Ardelean is a disgrace to the promotion,” Cageside Press’ Shawn Bitter wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Probably the worst signing ever and I’m not joking. Ardelean isn’t a fighter, she’s a TikTok star.”
“Ardelean has a terrible 9-7 record. She’s won her last five but against who? Such a shame that the best promotion in the world isn’t caring about ‘best in the world’ talent.”
A search for Alice Ardelean is more likely to turn up endless videos of the “Booty Queen” shaking her rear for the camera than fight footage. But the Romanian born fighter is a scrapper in the cage, even if those scraps are often against cans with losing records. She’ll get her chance to prove she can hang in the big leagues two weeks from now when the UFC returns to England for UFC 304..
What do you think of this latest signing, Maniacs?