UFC’s Luciana Andrade issued a fiery response to those slandering the work of ring girls and their earnings.
Ring girls have become a staple in combat sports with the most elite promotions, including UFC, using their services to display the round number to the live audience and on the broadcast. While some support having ring girls at events, others believe it serves no purpose to the game. Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov went viral for his stance on ring girls in Aug. 2021. Nurmagomedov labeled ring girls as “the most useless people” in the sport and argued against their inclusion in his own promotion.
UFC’s Luciana Andrade hits back at haters of ring girls
In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Luciana Andrade clapped back at the critics of ring girls. She argued against the idea that they make more than fighters and claimed the rumors swirl around in attempts to get more clicks.
“It’s not true. We don’t make more money than the fighters,” said Andrade. “Think about it. We have 14 girls across the globe and some girls work a few times a year because we don’t have International fights with the same frequency that we have in the US. In the US, there’s six total girls, we rotate. You work once or twice a month if you’re lucky. Let’s use common sense. Do you really think we would be making more money than the fighters, the commentators, and the broadcasters? Obviously not.”
“It’s just crazy to me that people still think that that’s true. We get so much hate whenever a fighter says something like that. It’s kind of irresponsible sometimes when you do know it’s not true but you use it as a scapegoat to create hype or clicks or whatever it is. I have the most respect for fighters.”
Andrade added that the girls never wanted to place themselves ahead of the fighters.
“It was never a competition. We never said we’re more important than fighters that we were carrying the company on our backs. Of all the people you could use, you use us to complain about fighter pay.”
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Andrade talks about the hate ring girls received after fighter’s orgy claims
Andrade opened up on the frustrations of dealing with hate stemming from a fighter’s story claiming he had an orgy with ring girls.
“Last year some fighter that is already retired came out with a book,” she continued. “He wrote a biography from back when he was a fighter that at some point had an orgy and mentioned that there was a ring girl or ring girls I don’t even know because I didn’t read it. People read that and started commenting that that’s what we do, date fighters. I never dated a fighter. I never did. It’s just what people do.”
In May 2022, reports of ring girl Brittney Palmer boasting a higher net worth than the headliners of UFC 274, Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje, did rounds on the internet. It is important to note Palmer also runs an OnlyFans account, which might explain why she makes more. However, it’s no surprise the fighters feel left behind when they are not raking in as much dough from fighting.
