Brazil’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) female fighter, Luana Pinheiro has become the first sportswoman in Latin America to be paid in cryptocurrency.

In partnership with the digital asset payroll service, Bitwage, Pinheiro will receive her entire salary in Bitcoin (BTC).

The Bitwage ambassador army grows!

We are proud to announce that we are partnering with @ufc strawweight fighter @LuPinheiroMMA to ensure that she receives 100% of her salary in #Bitcoin.

Read the ?to learn more. pic.twitter.com/zlQqtQUuma

— Bitwage (@Bitwage) July 19, 2022

Pinheiro, a Brazil native, is currently ranked #15 in the strawweight division with a record of 10-1-0. Given her experience with Brazil’s financial systems, she views BTC as a hedge against inflation.

“I am from Brazil, so I know a thing or two about inflation and its effects,” she said.

According to Pinheiro, BTC is similar to her jiu-jitsu fight style. “It takes on average 10-15 years for an individual to get a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so my time preference here is equally long if not longer,” she shared.

However, BTC’s volatility does not concern Pinheiro, allowing her to find little risk in investing in it. “If it was not volatile it would not go up either,” she emphasized.

Pinheiro also credits this choice to her boyfriend, Matheus Nicolau, UFC’s Flyweight division’s #7 ranked fighter. Nicholau joined Bitwage’s platform in March, motivating Pinheiro to do the same.

In the past year, the UFC has collaborated with multiple crypto companies, including Crypto.com, and blockchain logistics firm, VeChain Foundation. Earlier this week, VeChain introduced its $100 million USD sponsorship assets during the UFC event in Singapore.

As cryptocurrency’s unpredictability becomes more conventional, a wide of industry workers have opted to receive salaries in digital asset form, including the MLB and NFL.

MLB’s New York Yankees recently announced its team’s partnership with NYDIG, offering employee payrolls through Bitcoin, while other MLB players like Klay Thompson and Shohei Ohtani also opted to accept payments in Bitcoin.

NFL stars Odell Beckham Jr. and Aaron Rodgers have also accepted similar salary and endorsement deals.

In January, New York Mayor, Eric Adams shared he would convert his first three months’ pay into Bitcoin and Ethereum.

With inflation rising and government spending, many have found preference in cryptocurrency payments despite wavering token prices.

In other cryptocurrency news, Ethereum leads crypto back to $1T USD market cap.