When the UFC brought out Brittny Ward as a guest Octagon Girl at last weekend’s UFC 119 event in Indianapolis, the fan reception was uniformly positive. Most of you seem to feel that the leggy 20-year-old model should be hired as a permanent member of the UFC’s ring girl stable, even if one of the current OG’s has to be let go, particularly the one who isn’t Arianny Celeste. We have our fingers crossed that Dana White & Co. will do the right thing and hire Brittny. In the meantime, here’s all the best photos we found of her while scouring her Facebook and ModelMayhem pages, as well as our own exclusive shots from the event. You can follow Brittny at twitter.com/brittwardxoxo. The photo goodness continues after the jump…

   
(Click all images for larger versions.)

Props to MMAHilo.com for turning us on to Melissa Jo, an X-1 ring girl who originally hails from Kentucky, currently resides in Texas, and bills herself as "Southern Belle With a Twist." The "twist" in Melissa’s case is an edgy look that suggests she might go shot-for-shot with you at the bar, then leave you in a bathtub full of ice with a missing kidney. Not that we have a problem with that. Just be vigilant, is all we’re saying. The SBWaT has been featured in Ultimate MMA and MMA Sports, in addition to all the non-MMA-related magazine and event credits on her resume. More photos of Melissa await you after the jump. Get to know her better at SouthernBelleTwist.com, Facebook.com/SouthernBelleTwist, and twitter.com/southernbtwist.

("Next time on Extreme Makeover…" / Photos courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce.)

Program the codes into your DVR machine, because Strikeforce’s femme-tastic Challengers event in Phoenix airs tonight at 11 p.m. (For most of us, at least. Check your local listings.) Weights have been made, and the first-round tournament match-ups have been set: Miesha Tate will face Maiju Kujala in the semis, while Carina Damm takes on Hitomi Akano. Plus, Ryan Couture makes his pro debut, and Joe Riggs aw who cares. If you’re tuning in, please direct your thoughts to the comment thread below. Let’s have some fun tonight…

(Props: twitter.com/evgenikogan)

It’s videos like these that make us think, damn, maybe M-1 Global should give up this silly MMA business and just go into model-hunting full-time. The Russian promotion recently set up shop in St. Petersburg to cast some new M-1 Girls, which we’re assuming is their team of bikini assassins who also hold round-cards during M-1 Selection events. The results were very, very positive; we’re partial to the girl at 0:49-1:15, and the girl at 1:23-1:43. Of course, as Dana White might say, "Oksana and Katarina are jokes, and wouldn’t be able to last five minutes blowing kisses at the camera next to Arianny." Your thoughts?

Props to the UG for turning us on to British bombshell Rhian Sugden, a former Page 3 girl who currently holds ring cards for BAMMA. Hailing from Greater Manchester, the 23-year-old blonde model has been featured on the covers of U.K. men’s magazines like Nuts, Zoo, and Loaded, and is also known for her nude monthly calendars [link NSFW]. You can see more of Rhian at her official site and her MySpace page. More lovely photos after the jump…

Between the ring girls, apparel models, television hosts, and the lady-fighters themselves, MMA is a damn fine sport to follow if you appreciate beautiful women. (And my God, do we ever.) So we figured, why not throw together our favorite females from all corners of the fight game and see how they stack up against each other? Enjoy the pics, and let us know how you’d rank ‘em in the comments section. And if you like this list, Digg it!

#12) MIESHA TATE

Hot Contender: Spending her high school years on the boys’ wrestling team gave Miesha Tate the grit she needed to fight in cages for a living. These days, "Takedown Tate" is one of the top-ten 135-pound female fighters in the world, and the combination of her nasty ground-and-pound and natural sex appeal has made her a rising star. You can see Miesha in action next month at Strikeforce Challengers 7 as she takes on Zoila Frausto. 

#11) LAURA CELESTE

Hot East Coast Girl: A native of Staten Island, Laura is a local legend among MMA fans in New York and New Jersey thanks to her ring-girl appearances for fight clubs like Ring of Combat and Asylum Fight League. As a professional hot chick, she has tremendous upside; let’s hope this exciting prospect gets her shot at the majors sooner rather than later.

(Props: Maxim.com)

The January issue of Maxim is on newsstands now, featuring a pictorial and interview with UFC All Access host Rachelle Leah, who has somehow managed to survive every professional hot chick purge since she was hired. (Does posing nude grant you a protected status in the UFC? Please, Arianny, for the sake of your job.) Three black-and-white shots of the barely clothed Ring Girl Hall of Famer are after the jump, courtesy of Maxim.com’s online excerpt. To see larger images, shell out a few bucks and buy the issue.

(Props: StrikeforceFilms)

Discussing his quick-’n’ easy win over Mike Whitehead at Strikeforce: Evolution on Saturday, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal stated the obvious — maybe Mike would have done better if he didn’t come in so fat. Without speed on his side, Whitehead was a sitting duck for Mo’s attacks. Though Lawal says he’ll fight anybody Scott Coker puts in front of him, a king needs a crown, and his ultimate goals are to fight Strikeforce light-heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi and #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko.

Hey, it’s good to have ambition. Still, we can all agree that Mo needs to face some tougher competition before he starts prepping for title fights. One of the few names that come to mind is Renato "Babalu" Sobral, who previously held Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight belt before Mousasi beat the fuck out of him. Strikeforce may want to give Lawal one more fight to develop him before making that matchup, but if you want to fast-track Mo to contendership, Babalu is probably the way to go. And with Coker’s 205-pound class as thin as it is, there may not be any other options that make sense.

As expected, Lawal’s royally pimpin’ cage-entrance was almost as entertaining as his fight, though it was unfortunately left out of the Showtime broadcast. Check out some fan-shot video and pictures of King’s "queens" after the jump…

The world is still searching for answers in the wake of the shocking dual-firing of UFC Octagon Girls Logan Stanton and Natasha Wicks — and it turns out that the women were just as shocked as we were. Though Wicks has played it rather low-key so far, thanking her fans and the UFC via Twitter, Stanton spoke to MMA Fighting to explain that her dismissal came completely out of the blue:

As for the rumors that her and Natasha’s fate was sealed by their RawVegas.tv interview with our own Ben Fowlkes, in which they accused Josh Koscheck of faking his eye injury during his UFC 106 fight against Anthony Johnson?

(Cue melancholy Forrest Gump theme music.)

Some tragic news coming in from MMA Madness:

Well this blows. With no other information to work off of at this time, we’ll just assume that Arianny became jealous that her alpha-chick status was being threatened by the two newcomers, and went into them-or-me mode during contract negotiations. I know it’s not very responsible to make up rumors out of whole cloth, but goddammnit, Logan and Natasha are gone — gone, you guys — and the last thing I’m feeling right now is responsible. More to come; for now, let’s remember the good times…

– Exclusive Interview: UFC Octagon Girl Logan Stanton
– Photos: Octagon Girl Logan Stanton in Fight! Magazine
– And the UFC’s New Octagon Girl Is…
– Pics: UFC Ring Girl Natasha Wicks Goes ‘Au Natural’
– Hot Potatoes: UFC Releases New Octagon Girl Photos
– The Strangest Thing Happened to Me at the Raw Vegas UFC 106 Afterparty

Photo courtesy of Satio Photography via MMA Fight Girls. Two more great ones after the jump…

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!

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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. 

Check out these other MMA hotties…
Gina Carano
Rachelle Leah
Miesha Tate

(Images courtesy of MySpace.com/badaby. Props to MMA Fight Girls for the tip!)

Aby Rulloda is a San Francisco-based go-go-dancer, model, clothing designer, and former Strikeforce ring girl. And oh yeah, she’s also a competitive kickboxer who trains with World Team USA and previously won WCSC‘s California State Super Flyweight Championship. Now that’s hustle. You can get to know Aby better at MySpace.com/badaby and Twitter.com/badaby. After the jump: Lots more pictures, plus a video of Aby working the pole.

(Props: PunishmentFilms.tv/dragonman34)

How happy is Tito Ortiz to be back in the UFC? So happy that he would engage in an illicit homosexual kiss with his boss and former rival, Dana White. WHY ISN’T TMZ COVERING THIS?? Later, Ortiz revealed that White "had a hairy lip," and White scrubbed his tongue with steel wool.

After the jump: A quick video profile on new Octagon Girl Natasha Wicks (she’s not just a piece of meat, you guys — she has thoughts, emotions, and she loves the outdoors), some footage of Lyoto Machida training for Shogun, and an underrated Fedor Emelianenko fight, just because.

Alexia Lei is a prolific import model and former Strikeforce ring girl who now acts as the spokesmodel for KNOXX Performance Gear. She’s the result of Portuguese, Hawaiian, Chinese, Chamorro, Mexican and Colombian intermingling, and designs a clothing line for go-go dancers called Ambition. Be her friend at myspace.com/alexialei, and check out more of her pics after the jump…

(Photos courtesy of the Las Vegas Sun)

Meet Natasha Wicks, a 24-year-old Las Vegas native who beat out 39 other women to become the winner of Saturday’s Maxim UFC Octagon Girl Search at the UFC Fan Expo. According to this Model Mayhem profile, Natasha was a cross-country runner at Northern Arizona University, used to work as a Bunny at the Playboy Club in Las Vegas, and has never undergone any kind of plastic surgery. She’s 5’2, and her measurements are 34-25-36. More pics of the UFC’s new ring girl are after the jump…

(That’s what you’re wearing to dinner? It’s Arby’s, Danielle. They have standards.)

God bless those jerks at Fight! Magazine.  They finally stopped throwing wild parties long enough to upload some photos from their extensive library on to their website.  Yeah, there’s a lot of good fight pics, but the best part is the ring girl spreads that you’ll find in every issue.  That’s how we found out about Danielle Loveland, a ring girl for TUFFNUFF who appeared in their February 2009 issue.

Things you should know about Danielle: 1) She used to be a lifeguard at the pool at the Palms in Las Vegas, 2) She’s "been a gymnast and a cheerleader my whole life pretty much. I’m real athletic – very flexible," and 3) her personal website contains some very NSFW (that means naked) photos.  Check out her MySpace page if you feel like you need to know more about her interests.

Some more pics of her, including one that makes the best use yet of the sexy black belt theme, are after the jump.

Maybe Arianny Celeste released these stunning new photos in an attempt to steal back some of the MMA news attention that’s currently being heaped on Octagon Girl newcomer Logan Stanton — we’re not exactly sure where they came from — but at any rate, they started circulating the Internet last night, and we truly appreciate it; props to the UG and Fightlinker for the early finds. Caution: Those thumbnail pics are slightly more NSFW than the main pic, and therefore way more awesome. Enjoy responsibly.

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Arianny Celeste (born November 12, 1985) has been a UFC Octagon Girl since 2006. Born and raised in Las Vegas, Arianny is of Mexican and Filipino descent. She has modeled professionally since the age of 15, and previously attended UNLV, where she majored in fitness management and nutrition. Among her many magazine appearances, Arianny Celeste was featured on the cover of the May 2010 issue of Maxim, and was featured in the November 2010 issue of Playboy. Besides her duties as a UFC ring girl, Arianny also hosts the UFC Ultimate Insider web series.

Check out some of the UFC’s other hot ring girls…
Chandella Powell
Rachelle Leah
Ali Sonoma