Meet MMA star Karlos Vemola and his Playboy model wife Lela who live with lions, crocodiles and SHARKS at home
MMA star Karlos Vemola may be an animal in the cage – but he is not the king of the jungle at home.
Vemola has had a storied career across Europe since his debut in 2008 which even took him to the UFC for six bouts.
But he found fame as a star of OKTAGON MMA and now reigns as the promotion’s light-heavyweight champion.
Away from the cage, Vemola’s loves to look after his exotic pets which includes lionesses, tigers, crocodiles and baby sharks.
Lionesses – Elsa and Princess – are his pride and joy but he was then convinced into owning a white tiger thanks to Mike Tyson.
Vemola, 38, told Sporf: “The first one, I rescued. And it went from there because lions breed a lot.
“There are not many spaces for the lions, so she came to my house. I provided her with a home and got her a little mate to make sure she wouldn’t be lonely.
“Then I saw Mike Tyson, with the white tiger. So I thought, ‘I wanna have a white tiger too’, and I got myself a white tiger.”
Vemola’s Instagram is dominated by snaps of his tigers and lions but his wild pet collection does not stop there.
The father-of-four even has crocodiles inside his home which he feeds with his young son.
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He said: “Don’t ask me how I got the crocodiles because that was just crazy. When I was a kid, I couldn’t have animals.
“My parents were strict, and I couldn’t even have a hamster. So when I grew up, I thought, ‘When I was young, I couldn’t have it, but now I can’.
“And once, I was with my ex-partner and my son at the zoo, and my son saw a crocodile.
“He said, ‘Dad, can we get a crocodile? And she goes. ‘Of course not. Are you crazy’? I said, ‘No, he’s not. Listen, if my son wants a crocodile, he will have a crocodile’.
“And within two weeks, I had a four-meter crocodile swimming in my living room.”
Vemola has baby sharks in his living room too but he is not finished yet when it comes to completing to his homemade zoo.
He joked: “I’ve got all the big animals, so the next step might have to be an elephant.”
Vemola – who splits his time from Prague and London – is not the only famous face in his family either.
Since 2022, he has been married to former Slovak Playboy model Lela after they first got together in 2017.
And despite living with the wild cats, Vemola insisted he is most fearful of his lady, who he shares a daughter and son with.
He said: “The scariest thing in my house has to be my wife.
“The animals are great. I believe you get from them what you give to them. If you behave badly with them, you will have bad animals.
“I have lions and tigers, and you’d think they eat me alive, but they’re good.”
Vemola has proven to be an animal in the cage and has nine wins in his last ten fights.
In October, he won the light-heavyweight title with a SEVEN SECOND knockout over Pavol Langer.
And this Saturday in Prague, he returns to middleweight to face Samuel Kristofic.