Bec Rawlings wasn’t exactly setting out to become a trailblazer when she joined OnlyFans but three years later there has been an explosion of growth for combat sports athletes on the subscription based website.
At the time, Rawlings was stuck in Australia during the global pandemic without any real avenues to earn an income with her fight career so she decided to join the site, which charges fans a fee for access to photos, videos and other content. As a result, the former BKFC champion was able to stay afloat financially while waiting to book her next fight.
While Rawlings faced a litany of questions surrounding the stigma from joining the site, which prominently features a lot of adult content, these days everybody from ex-UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic to Kevin Holland and even the PFL have set up OnlyFans pages.
“It’s f****** cool,” Rawlings told MMA Fighting. “Like when I saw Floyd Mayweather walk out with a hat with an OnlyFans logo on it, I was like, this is f****** cool. It’s even hit boxing! I’ve never really looked at it that way, I don’t like to blow smoke up my own ass, but I definitely was a trailblazer now that you mention it.”
Rawlings never cared much about what anyone had to say regarding her OnlyFans page, because she was just doing what was best for her and her career. That said, she’s been stunned to see the growth of high-profile athletes joining OnlyFans. Many have made a viable income from the site, supplementing the sporadic nature of paychecks in fighting.
“Myself and Jessica Penne were just talking earlier, we were the f****** OG’s of that s***,” Rawlings said. “We were the first fighters to take that f****** leap and sign up and promote it, and everyone was like, ‘Are they doing porn?’ Or, ‘that’s risky,’ this or that. We’re like no, it doesn’t have to be porn. It can be f****** mainstream s***, too, it’s just exclusive content. Now, every fighter and their f****** dog are on OnlyFans.”
On Saturday, Rawlings gets back to her primary job when she clashes with Christine Ferea with the flyweight title on the line at BKFC 56 in Utah. Her return comes almost seven months after her most recent appearance in BKFC, which like all fighters means that’s the only time she’s getting paid from the fighting throughout the year.
In the meantime, OnlyFans has continued to pay off while she has been out of action.
“It’s definitely helped me pay the bills and stay on top, especially when I only fight twice a year this year,” Rawlings said. “So yeah, it’s been great, and it’s nice to be able to connect with fans on another level, and not so much on Instagram, and be able to put out exclusive content and talk to people. A bit more personable.
“I’ve always kind of been fighter Bec I guess on Instagram and Facebook, and on OnlyFans, you see a different side of me. I’m still enjoying it. I’m still on there live and popping on there.”
As far as her upcoming fight, Rawlings faces Ferea for the second time this year after their first encounter ended in disappointing fashion. Following a back-and-forth battle through two rounds, Rawlings was not allowed to continue with a doctor stopping the fight due to a cut on her eyebrow.
It was a particularly difficult pill to swallow, because Rawlings found success against Ferea, who ran roughshod over several opponents. Rawlings promises to finish what she started on Saturday night.
“I think it’s easy to look dominant and look like a bully when the caliber of fighters you’re fighting aren’t that great,” Rawlings said about Ferea. “I’ve traveled the world and fought the best around the world for a long time. That doesn’t work on me. You’re not going to intimidate me. You’re not going to bully me.
“I definitely think that my style versus her style is a good matchup, and it proved to be a good matchup in the first fight. I just think I’m technically better, and if all she has is toughness and aggression, I have that, too. So you’ve got to bring something else to the table. I think I’m just going to outwork her. I’m going to out skill her. I’m more technical. I’m more of a sharpshooter, and I’m obviously not going to let her bully me like I didn’t the last time either. It’s going to make a good fight.”
