A ring girl (or number girl) is a woman who enters the ring between rounds of a combat sport, carrying a sign that displays the number of the upcoming round. Ring girls are often seen in boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts.
A ring girl (or number girl) is a woman who enters the ring between rounds of a combat sport, carrying a sign that displays the number of the upcoming round. Ring girls are often seen in boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts.
Ring girls first appeared in a 1965 edition of Ring Magazine . The magazine published a photo of a Las Vegas model holding a sign at a boxing match. Boxing promotions soon adopted the concept of ring girls, when promoters started to hire attractive women to parade around the ring holding signs, signaling the upcoming round. [1]
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In professional wrestling, ring girls are attendants who remove the entrance gear (such as jackets, robes, and other clothing) and championship belts from the ring after a wrestler takes them off before his match. Throughout the 1980s, World Wrestling Entertainment employed ring girls known as the Federettes. Since its inception in 2002, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has featured various independent female wrestlers and valets as ring girls.
During the first year of WWF Monday Night Raw , WWE featured traditional boxing-style ring girls who carried signs featuring various Raw-themed slogans in the ring between matches.
Playboy is an American entertainment magazine. Here is a list of notable ring girls who have posed for Playboy.
| Model: | Date: | Issue: | Notes: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rachelle Leah [2] | October 2008 | Playboy | UFC ring girl |
| Arianny Celeste [3] | November 2010 | Playboy | UFC ring girl |
| Brittney Palmer [4] | March 2012 | Playboy | UFC ring girl |
| Victoria Elise [5] | June 2021 | Playboy Mexico | MMA ring girl |
Some sports journalists claim that the use of ring girls, which first started in boxing, is unnecessary. Critics argue that half-naked women at the games provides sexual stimulation for the male audience, [6] whereas others regard them as harmless tradition; boxing promoter Lisa Elovich describes the practice as "part of the show." [7]
"Ring boys" or "ring guys" have been proposed for women's matches. [8] [9] Pro-boxer Mikaela Laurén said, "I want a number boy. I think that's only fair, and I'm sure it will give the women in the audience some pleasure as well." [10]
While all-female fighting promotion Invicta FC utilizes ring girls, the promotion brought in UFC fighter and sometimes model Elias Theodorou to serve as a ring boy at Invicta FC 28. Theodorou received criticism, however, for using the occasion to promote sponsors. [11]
There has been speculation that ring girls are paid more than female fighters. In 2015, former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey protested. "Do you think her walking in circles," argued Rousey, "is worth more (than fighters)? ... either the ring card girls are paid too much, or the fighters aren't paid enough." UFC ring girls are reputedly paid $18,000 a year. This excludes jobs outside the UFC, like modeling. [12] UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste protested, calling Rousey a "big bully". [13] [14] "I think people don't realise how much work it is to be a model," argued Celeste, "Trying being like a live mannequin and having clients put you in a million different outfits... It's not as easy as it looks... Not a lot of people would know that unless they were in my shoes." [15]
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. The first documented use of the term mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993.
Sara McMann is an American female mixed martial artist currently signed to Bellator MMA, competing in the Women's Featherweight division. She is a former Olympic wrestler and received a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and was a World Silver Medalist and two-time Bronze Medalist. She would then transition to MMA, most notably competing in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
Shayna Andrea Baszler is an American professional wrestler and a former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand. Baszler is a former two-time and longest combined-reigning NXT Women's Champion and a former record-tying three-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion.
Holly Rene Holm Kirkpatrick is an American mixed martial artist. She competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where she is a former Women's Bantamweight Champion.
Ronda Jean Rousey is an American professional wrestler, actress, and former judoka and mixed martial artist. She is best known for her tenure in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and WWE.
Miesha Tate is an American professional mixed martial artist. She currently competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in which she is a former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion. Tate formerly competed for Strikeforce, in which she is a former Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion. She was also the vice president of ONE Championship. As of July 2, 2024, she is #9 in the UFC women's bantamweight rankings.
Sarah Elizabeth Kaufman is a retired Canadian mixed martial artist (MMA). She competed in the women's bantamweight division where she is a former Invicta FC Bantamweight Championship. Kaufman was the inaugural Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion and was also the first and only Hardcore Championship Fighting Women's Bantamweight Champion.
Travis Kuualiialoha Browne is a retired American mixed martial artist who last competed as a Heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Arianny Celeste is an American ring girl and model. She is a co-host on the automotive reality television series Overhaulin' and has been featured in Playboy magazine.
Amanda Nunes is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist. She competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she is the former UFC Women's Featherweight Champion and two-time UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion. She was ranked #1 in the UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings at the time of her retirement.
Liz Carmouche is an American mixed martial arts fighter currently signed to Bellator MMA, where she is the current Bellator Women's Flyweight World Champion. Carmouche competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the Women's Flyweight and Women's Bantamweight divisions. At the time of her UFC departure, she was #4 in the UFC women's flyweight rankings.
Invicta Fighting Championships, also known as Invicta FC, is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion dedicated to women's mixed martial arts that was founded in 2012 by Janet Martin and Shannon Knapp. The promotion is currently owned by the Canadian-based Anthem Sports & Entertainment.
Cat Zingano is an American mixed martial artist, currently signed to Bellator MMA, competing in the Women's Featherweight division. Zingano also competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and on April 13, 2013, she became the first woman to win a UFC fight by technical knockout (TKO). At the time of her departure from the UFC, she was No. 7 in the official UFC bantamweight rankings.
Bec Rawlings is an Australian mixed martial artist and bare-knuckle boxer, who currently competes in the flyweight division.
Brittney Palmer is an American ring girl, model and artist. She is best known for her work as an octagon girl for the UFC, being awarded Ringcard Girl of the Year at the World MMA Awards in 2012, 2013, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Jessamyn Laurel Duke is an American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. As a wrestler, she worked with WWE as part of their NXT brand. She formerly competed for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Invicta Fighting Championships in the women's bantamweight division.
While mixed martial arts is primarily a male dominated sport, it does have female athletes. For instance, Female competition in Japan includes promotions such as DEEP Jewels. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Valkyrie, and Smackgirl. Professional mixed martial arts organizations in the United States that invite women to compete are industry leader Ultimate Fighting Championship, the all female Invicta Fighting Championships, Resurrection Fighting Alliance, Bellator Fighting Championships, and Legacy Fighting Championship. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Strikeforce and EliteXC. There has been a growing awareness of women in mixed martial arts due to popular female fighters and personalities such as Amanda Nunes, Megumi Fujii, Gina Carano, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, Alexa Grasso, and Joanna Jędrzejczyk and among others. Carano became known as "the face of women's MMA" after appearing in a number of EliteXC events. This was furthered by her appearances on MGM Television's 2008 revival of their game show American Gladiators.
Elias Theodorou was a Canadian mixed martial artist. He competed for the UFC in the Middleweight division where he was ranked 13th until his release, and won The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia. He became the first professional athlete to receive a therapeutic use exemption for cannabis in North America in January 2020.
Hard Knocks Fighting is a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in North America. Hard Knocks Fighting was founded in 2009 by Canadian Olympic wrestler Ari Taub. Hard Knocks Fighting is known for its local fighter support and ongoing charity efforts and where Ronda Rousey secured her second career MMA victory.
UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm was a mixed martial arts event held on 14 November 2015, at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. It was the most attended UFC event in the history of the company at the time, with 56,214 people filling the stadium. Although Ronda Rousey was heavily favored to defeat Holly Holm, Holm gave Rousey her first career defeat.
