(To see the original round-of-16 bracket, click here.)

After your 40,000+ votes eliminated all the blondes, foreigners, and blonde foreigners, we’re left with four semi-finalists in our quest to crown this year’s Hottest Woman in MMA — all of them belonging to that sub-species of hot chick known as the American Brunette. But which two will advance to the finals? Starting today, it is your obligation to determine just that.

Once again, the instructions are as follows: Cast a vote for your favorite MMA hottie in each of the two polls, with the help of the photographic evidence we’ve provided. (Hit the “next page” link when you’re done with Arianny vs. Mercedes.) If you don’t see the poll widget under each pairing of girls, please refresh your browser or try a different one. Any questions, let us know in the comments section. We’ll collect the results and announce the winners next week.

Okay? So let’s do the damn thing…

(This bracket ain’t big enough for the both of ‘em. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

Ladies and gentlemen — but mostly gentlemen, we’re assuming — your votes have been tabulated, and we’re proud to announce the winners of our “2011 Hottest Women in MMA Grand Prix” quarterfinals. Read on to see who has advanced to the Final Four, and come back tomorrow afternoon to start voting on the semi-finals.

For round-of-16 results, click here.

(Vid: Playboy.com)

Just a couple of days before the semifinalists in our ’2011 Hottest Women in MMA Grand Prix’ are revealed and we thought you could use a little scouting video. What you’ll find above is a subtle little film from the artistes over at Playboy where Octagon girl (and tournament two-seed) Brittney Palmer dresses up like a slutty Power Ranger and plays video games in the most sexually-charged way possible against some lady named Jo Garcia. We’re led to believe Ms Garcia is some variety of Playmate, but whatevs. When we saw it, we thought of you, Nation. Need convincing that this is something you should invest just under two and a half minutes in? “I’m so on top of you right now,” Garcia says to B-Palm at one point. Watch the vid, then come back on Thursday to find out who stays in the running for the big gold belt, the medal, the trophies, the oversized check and the wreathy crown.

(To see the original round-of-16 bracket, click here.)

It’s true — we lost a lot of good women on Tuesday. But thanks to your votes, eight lovely ladies remain, and they need your help to advance to the semi-finals.

In case you’re new here, the instructions are simple: Cast a vote for your favorite MMA hottie in each of the four polls, with the help of the photographic evidence we’ve provided. Hit the “next page” link when you’re done with each poll. If you don’t see the poll widget under each pairing of girls, please refresh your browser or try a different one. Any questions, let us know in the comments section. We’ll collect the results and announce the winners next Thursday.

You ready? Then let’s get it on…

(ReX13 would like to sincerely apologize for any awkwardness our thoughtless Pool B seeding may have caused.)

After collecting nearly 25,000 (!) votes over the last week, we’re ready to reveal the winners of our “Hottest Women in MMA Grand Prix” round-of-16. Read on to see the results for the four Pool A matchups, then hit the “next page” link to see which four ladies survived Pool B. And please come back on Thursday for the start of the quarterfinal round!

Get your voting fingers ready, Potato Nation — the right side of the “2011 Hottest Women in MMA Grand Prix” bracket is live and ready for action. But first, a very important announcement about the wild-card spot: After picking up 61.5% of the popular vote against Chandella Powell and Joanne Spracklen, Juliana Salimeni has advanced to the round-of-16, where she will be taking on #1-seeded Gina Carano. Congrats, Juju, and may your Cinderella story have a happy ending.

Now, the usual instructions. With the help of the photographic aids we’ve provided below, cast your vote for your favorite lady in each of the four polls; hit the “next page” link when you’re done with each one. Any questions, let us know in the comments section. If you don’t see the poll widget under each pairing of girls, please refresh your browser, or try a different one.

We plan to announce the complete list of winners from the Grand Prix’s opening round on Tuesday, so if you haven’t yet cast a vote for Pool A, there’s still time to make a difference. Without further ado, let’s get started…

(Click for larger versions. Trust me.)

From CombatLifestyle‘s wonderful new UFC 127: The UFC hits the Beach set. Good lord, I wish I was there today instead of dreary-ass Brooklyn. Lots more highlights after the jump…

(Above: "You’re lucky our dads are here, dweeb. I’ll just take that fancy little belt of yours next time." Below: Something old, something new… / Photos courtesy of the UFC 125 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

Good lord, is it really 2011 already? I’m still writing "PRIDE NEVA DIE" on all my checks! Another unpredictable year of MMA begins tonight in Las Vegas, as lightweight underdog-champion Frankie Edgar attempts to make title defense #2 against old rival Gray Maynard. Plus: Chris Leben and Nate Diaz try to keep their streaks going, Brandon Vera fights for his job, and a lightweight smash-up between Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi. Click through for round-by-round UFC 125 updates — beginning at 9 p.m. ET with the live prelims broadcast on ION — and remember to refresh the page every few minutes for the latest results. Let’s all try to be the best keyboard warriors we can be this year, okay guys?

  
(Photos courtesy of UFC Magazine via MMA Fix. Click all for larger versions.)

The latest issue of UFC Magazine is on newsstands now, featuring a cover story on Georges St. Pierre, a list of the 25 greatest submissions in UFC history, and most importantly, some jaw-dropping photos of new Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer, who will be making her debut at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day. Of course, Brittney is already a familiar sight to anybody who’s followed her work in the WEC. And because CagePotato is your #1 resource for crudely-scanned magazine photos of hot MMA ring girls, shots from her new pictorial are above. What else can you say, except perhaps "My God dat ass"?

(The UFC’s newest Octagon Girl looks very familiar. GSP, as usual, is not impressed. Props: Twitter.com/BrittneyPalmer)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– ‘WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki’ Open Workout Highlights (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Vazquez, Mendes Look to Settle Differences at WEC 52 (Versus MMA Beat)

– Rodriguez, Monson, Trigg, Sokoudjou Score Wins at Israel FC; Shonie Carter Might Retire After Loss (MMA Fighting)

– According to the Rumor Mill, Bellator May Be in Deep, Deep Doo-Doo (MiddleEasy)

– Jose Aldo’s Coach Turned Down Kenny Florian Fight Because It Wasn’t ‘Interesting’ (MMA Convert)

– Scott Carson Lashes Out at the ‘Keyboard Warriors’ Who Are Writing Him Off Against Herschel Walker (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Rashad Evans Explains ‘Conflicting Stories’ Are His Source of Frustration (LowKick)

– Thales Leites Back On The Winning Track At Superior Challenge 6 (FightMagazine)

– Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller Beats the Crap Out of MTV Bully (MMA Scraps)

– Urijah Faber Looking To Make a Statement at WEC 52 vs. Takeya Mizugaki (SBNation.com/MMA)

(Only the immortal can truly become "best friends forever." Photo courtesy of facebook.com/cowboycerrone)

This is not the best way to make an impression with your new employer. As first reported by the Na Koa MMA Show, WEC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone was involved in a backstage brawl with a heavyweight headliner at the first event put on by Evolution Combat Sports Championship, this Saturday in Clovis, New Mexico. According to Na Koa…

The brawl was apparently about a young lady now dating Donald Cerrone who used to date the main event fighter of the evening Marcus Sursa. [Ed. note: Not Brittney Palmer. Possibly this chick.] Comments were exchanged after Sursa returned from a trip to the rest room and Cerrone was overseeing the warm-ups of several Jackson MMA fighters on the card…some words were exchanged by the two and then a shove followed by Cerrone throwing a punch causing a laceration on the eye of Sursa, who responded with a punch cutting the lip of Cerrone.

(Props: MMAFighting)

The cat’s out of the bag, and the "major announcement" turned out to be pretty damn major after all. Dana White announced during a media call today that the UFC is absorbing the WEC beginning in January 2011; the UFC will now feature seven championship weight classes. Here’s how it’ll work…

– Jose Aldo is automatically the UFC Featherweight Champion; he’ll defend his UFC featherweight title at UFC 125 on January 1st against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

– WEC 53 (December 16th; Glendale, Arizona) will be the final WEC event. The winner of the bantamweight title fight between Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgensen will become the UFC Bantamweight Champion. The winner of the lightweight title fight between Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis will automatically face the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard at UFC 125.

(Brittney Palmer and Chan Sung Jung: No matter who you are, the WEC’s got your eye-candy. Photos courtesy of the WEC 51: Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle)

Potato Nation, assemble: Since tonight’s WEC event promises to be a card-of-the-year candidate, we’ll be liveblogging all the action starting at 9 p.m. eastern. So if you don’t have Versus, or you just feel like hanging out, come back to CagePotato.com tonight and join the conversation. After the jump: Results from yesterday’s Aldo vs. Gamburyan weigh-ins, and a must-see video feature on Miguel Torres‘s new day job.

(Props: YouTube.com/Heavy)

— If you thought last night’s WEC main event wasn’t as close as the judges scored it, Dominick Cruz would respectfully agree with you. As the reigning bantamweight champ said after his fight with Joseph Benavidez (skip to the 2:59 mark above): 

"In my humble opinion, I thought I won all the rounds…I think that the crowd has a big part to play in the judges’ opinion sometimes. Also, he caught me with a real slick knee up against the cage that made me bleed real bad. I would assume the blood could have swayed the judges a little as well."

Benavidez was also surprised that one of the judges saw it his way: "I figured I didn’t do enough to win, but I wasn’t watching the fight, so when the judge did say my name it was quite a surprise. I was like "wow, could this happen? Is this, like, the work of God or something?" For the record, FightMetric gave every round to Cruz for outpointing Benavidez in striking (103-46 total) and takedowns (5-0 total).

— $10,000 performance bonuses were handed out to the following fighters…
Knockout of the Night: Newcomer Maciej Jewtuszko for using a spinning back elbow and a pair of nasty uppercuts to wreck Anthony Njokuani in 96 seconds.
Submission of the Night: Anthony Pettis for finishing Shane Roller via triangle choke with just nine seconds left in the fight, after wearing Roller down with his impressively-flashy striking attacks. (How ’bout that capoeira head kick in round one?)
Fight of the Night: Scott Jorgensen and Brad Pickett for their 15-minute smash-up which went all over the cage and didn’t slow down for one second. Round two was easily one of the best MMA rounds of 2010.

Watch Brittney Palmer – RawVegas.tv Girl of the Month on RawVegas.tv

Brittney Palmer is truly America’s Girlfriend. Here she is seductively preparing baked goods, posing on a motorcycle while wearing an American flag bikini, lying down in the backseat of a car (that most American of pastimes), and stripping down to her bare ass in somebody’s bedroom. She reveals that she’s not much of a cook — feel free to send sympathy cards to her boyfriend, Donald Cerrone — and explains that being an American "is pretty much just having freedom to do and say what you feel." As Thanksgiving approaches, please remember to exercise your rights as a citizen of this great nation by being as big of an asshole as possible. Ah, patriotism!

***

Brittney Palmer (born June 24, 1987) has been a WEC ring girl since 2008. Raised in San Diego, Brittney worked as a boxing ring-card girl until she discovered MMA. Brittney Palmer also works as a professional dancer in the X Burlesque show at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. She’s the longtime girlfriend of WEC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone. 

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