UFC Octagon girl Red Dela Cruz takes coronavirus pandemic struggles in stride after losing day job – ‘I’m very lucky’

Filipino may have lost her 9-5 office job in Sydney but says ‘it’s all good, I’m not alone – everybody’s going through the same right now’

‘I’m happy to be here in Fight Island for the second time. I’m very blessed, very privileged for the opportunities the UFC has given me’

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Red Dela Cruz during a five-week stint on UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. Photos: Instagram/@red_delacruz

Published: 9:05pm, 24 Oct 2020Updated: 10:04pm, 24 Oct 2020

UFC Octagon girl Red Dela Cruz is, by all intents and purposes, living the dream as a five-week stint on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi comes to a close.

But the 28-year-old Filipino has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, much like the rest of the world.

Not that she would use that as an excuse to feel down about herself or ask for sympathy.

The last time SCMP MMA caught up with her, Dela Cruz was picking up the 2018 Asia MMA Awards Ring Girl of the Year trinket at PMQ in Hong Kong’s Soho district. But fast forward two years and she has lost her day job at an IT firm in Sydney, Australia.

‘I’m no longer working there any more, I lost the job when the Covid pandemic happened,” Dela Cruz told SCMP MMA from Fight Island. “It’s all good – I’m not alone. Everybody’s going through the same thing now.

“I’m just focusing on the UFC and then my career modelling. If there’s some work that’s gonna come, I’ll grab it. I’ll do modelling on the side, but I’ll see because right now in Australia it’s really hard.