BUCHAREST, ROMANIA: Andrew Tate was a professional kickboxer and earned the nickname 'Cobra' before he became famous for his degrading, predatory, and misogynistic comments about women on nearly every online platform.

His ring name as a kickboxer was 'Cobra,' and even after retirement, he has gone by 'Cobra Tate.' He does, however, smuggle in 'Top G' on occasion.

How did Andrew Tate become 'Cobra'?

Tate has a Cobra tattoo on his arm that wraps around his bicep and slithers down to his hand. As soon as his fans noticed the huge tattoo they gave him a nickname, 'Cobra'. Tate is compared to the king cobra, a venomous snake endemic to Asia because of his fighting skills.

King Cobra, is the world's longest snake with an average length of 3.18-4 meters. It preys on other snakes and builds nests to protect eggs. Threatened by habitat destruction, it has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2010.

Andrew Tate's boxing career

Tate started kickboxing in 2005. In Derby, England, he won the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) cruiserweight championship in 2009. Throughout his career, he was a four-time ISKA champion before retiring from combat sports.

Tate also dabbled in MMA. He was undefeated in the sport after one amateur and one professional fight. As an amateur, he defeated Luke Barnatt by decision in 2010, then as a professional, he knocked out Shane Kavanagh three months later.

He has stated that his fighting career did not pay well, with the most he had ever earned from fighting being around $100,000. Fighting would certainly make him far more than he was used to getting paid while participating in the kickboxing scene now that he has reached to new heights of celebrity.