The Ultimate Fighting Championship just wouldn’t be the same without UFC Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer.
Yes, ultimately it’s the athletes that drive the company, but in many ways Palmer, along with fellow Octagon Girl Arianny Celeste, are a bigger part of the UFC brand than many of its fighters.
Most fans of the UFC are somewhat familiar with what fight week is like for the mixed martial artists competing: They arrive in the host city early in the week to get situated; they do a lot of press; they must moderate their diet and begin cutting weight; open workouts Wednesday; pre-fight press conference Thursday; weigh-ins Friday; recover then go to work on Saturday night.
Fight week for Palmer is shorter, but just as hectic.
“I usually arrive Thursday night. For me I always like to get there the latest and leave the earliest, but this weekend is really, really busy so this week I arrived (earlier),” Palmer told sportsnet.ca on Friday.
She travels far more than any fighter since she and Arianny are present at virtually every event. For example, right after UFC 152 Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre she will fly to England to get ready for the company’s event in Nottingham on Sept. 29.
And just like any star fighter there are lots of press obligations and pre-fight appearances she must take part in. Palmer says it can get tiring like anything else, but she can’t complain because she truly loves what she does.
“It comes with the job, you can’t really have one without the other. I’m so appreciative of having this job with the UFC and being involved in such an amazing and fast-growing sport and organization, so I enjoy it. I enjoy meeting fans and doing press and getting my name out there.”
#UFC’s @brittneypalmer shares some Octagon pizza with sportsnet.ca’s MMA Insiders @mikeyj_mma and @james_brydon. twitter.com/Sportsnet/stat…
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 21, 2012
Another thing during her fight week that is similar to that of a fighter’s is the way she must prepare physically for a show.
“We cut weight in our own way,” Palmer explained. “You have to understand there’s fights every other weekend so we naturally just have to stay fit. A fighter can have six months, three months to prepare in camp, but for us we stay in shape and then closer to the event, no sodium, cut out the little things just to kind of lean us out for the show.”
In addition to being one of the faces of the UFC — a very pretty face for that matter — Palmer is a talented and successful artist whose paintings are quite popular and acclaimed.
“I’ve been interested in art my entire life, whether I was dancing on stage or I was really into music. A lot of my paintings are of rock and roll icons. I’m better at portraits than I am at doing landscapes, so I kind of lean towards that.
“There’s something really iconic about these people, and Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon really left a footprint and I respect that and appreciated that and I love capturing an essence of someone who’s left a footprint in the world. I have a painting I did of (UFC president) Dana White, who’s definitely made a footprint creating UFC as a sport.”
Sometimes Palmer paints custom pieces for people, some she keeps for her own collection, while others are commissioned. Right now, there are three popular prints of hers — one of Hendrix, one of White and one of Johnny Cash — that fans can buy on her website brittneypalmer.com.
With all the exposure she receives, the UFC beauty, who was featured in the March issue of Playboy Magazine earlier this year, says business is booming.
Naturally, Palmer, who was the featured ring girl in the now defunct World Extreme Cagefighting, says she loves the sport of mixed martial arts and is looking forward to UFC 152 because she is a fan of many fighters on the card.
“I love Michael Bisping, I think he’s wonderful, Brian Stann’s a great man, I love my WEC boys Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez, and Jon Jones has always been one of my favourites. It’s going to be a good card. I don’t like picking winners, I just like picking good fights.”
Fans can see Palmer in action, along with several preliminary fights on Sportsnet with coverage starting with a pre-fight show at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, as well bonus coverage on sportsnet.ca, including the early preliminary fights starting at 6:45 p.m. ET.
