Who is Diego Garijo, the former MMA fighter who also performed as a drag queen?

Diego Garijo is a unique personality who mixed the usually contrasting worlds of mixed martial arts and drag. The 41-year-old, who is covered in prison-style tattoos, sees himself as a fighter, painter and all-round entertainer.

Diego Garijo was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and was smuggled into the US as a child. A misdirected teenager, Garijo served several prison sentences before he took up fighting professionally in 2006. Garijo ammassed a 7-1 professional record, which also included a victory over Saad Awad at Bellator 10.

Diego Garijo's MMA career came to a halt when he suffered a retinal detachment. However, partial visual impairment couldn't keep 'Dos Pistolas' away from the world of combat sports. Garijo entered the realm of bare-knuckle boxing in 2018, where he recorded a win and a loss against Tom Shoaff.

Watch Diego Garijo's first fight against Tom Shoaff below:

When Diego Garijo isn't fighting in the ring, he performs as a drag queen known by the stage name 'Lola'. According to Garijo, the worlds of combat sports and drag do not contradict each other. Over a year into his career as a drag performer, Garijo said in an interview with VICE:

"Before my first drag show, I felt just like I do before a fight. In the early days of MMA, I would sit in the same changing room as my opponent before the fights. We’d sit, staring at each other, wondering: ‘Can I beat him?’ It was the same at my first drag show competition. A tiny room, eight adults, everyone sizing each other up. I wasn’t nervous though. I have strong nerves. Or maybe I’m just too stupid to be scared."

Catch a glimpse of the combat artist-cum-drag performer below:

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Why did Diego Garijo take up bare-knuckle boxing?

Diego Garijo started bare-knuckle boxing even though he stood the risk of losing his one good eye. According to Garijo, his love for fighting was too much to be completely detached from it. He told VICE about venturing into the world of bare-knuckle boxing:

"I retired from professional combat sports in 2012 after my retina detached. My doctor was able to save the eye, but it doesn’t work so well anymore. He warned me that the same thing could happen to the other eye. But I just wasn’t ready to give up fighting. So, I got into bare-knuckle boxing. I wanted to try it out without the gloves. I wanted to really feel it. I just love fighting. I would probably risk going blind for it."