MMA star Aisling Daly opens up about the struggles she faced being a woman in the UFC

Ais 'The Bash' Daly opens up about life in the ring.

Girls With Goals is the inaugural podcast of Her.ie which launched last week. Host Niamh Maher was joined on the panel by blogger turned personal trainer Rosemary MacCabe and comedian and actor Joanne McNally. For the Spotlight on Sport, retired Mixed Martial Arts champion Aisling Daly opened up about the struggles she's faced being a woman in the UFC.

"The whole industry bothers me," Daly said. "Mixed Martial Arts is the sport and I love the sport but UFC is a brand and I don't like how they operate, in terms of pay for all their fighters and how they look after their female fighters."

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Daly said within the UFC there's a lot of pressure on female fighters to look the part, "There's a lot of focus on the ones who are seen to be American beauties... blonde hair, blue eyes, that sort of thing".

At one point, early in her career, she was asked to pose nude for a photo shoot with just MMA gloves covering her modesty. As the years passed Aisling said she's convinced she made the right choice by turning it down, "Some women find it empowering to take their clothes off for a sports photo shoot, I never found that. I always had it in the back of my mind somewhere that there is a little girl looking up to me." As the years passed Aisling said she's convinced she made the right choice by turning it down, "Some women find it empowering to take their clothes off for a sports photo shoot, I never found that. I always had it in the back of my mind somewhere that there is a little girl looking up to me." Listen in to the full interview with Aisling below at 14:11, and don't forget to subscribe to get your weekly dose of Girls With Goals... nothing's off limits. Ep.1 is available to download now on iTunes and Soundcloud.