Australian MMA legend Peter Graham has revealed why popular social media influencer Spanian never kickboxed professionally.

Graham, 50, explained Spanian's fighting career never got off the ground because of his desire to be a significant identity on Instagram, which has resulted in him owning property.

'That (pursuit to buy property) was one of the reasons he didn't have a (pro) career', he told the 'Lat Chat' podcast. 

Graham has known Spanian - whose actual name is Anthony Lees - for years.

The man dubbed 'The Chief' believes influencers such as Spanian reaching the elite level of kickboxing isn't possible.   

'Those guys getting to the absolute pinnacle is not possible because they have other things going on', he said.

Spanian has enjoyed a life revival few can match.

The popular social media creator spent 12 years of his life in prison for a range of offences, including armed robbery and grievous bodily harm.

But he has successfully managed to turn his life around, mainly by creating engaging content on social media.

His series 'Into The Hood', where he travels to areas with high crime rates across the world to show people how difficult life can really be, has been especially successful.

Graham also disclosed just how successful Spanian has become from his YouTube clips.

'Even if he stopped right now, he'd be fine (financially)', Graham said.

Spanian now boasts more than 1.22million YouTube subscribers. 

He also has 925,000 Instagram followers.