Divisional superiority is, and always has been, one of the most heated debates in the world of MMA. Simply put, it’s easy to agree on who the top dog in the yard is, but it’s a bit more difficult to determine which yard has the toughest dog…
Divisional superiority is, and always has been, one of the most heated debates in the world of MMA.
Simply put, it’s easy to agree on who the top dog in the yard is, but it’s a bit more difficult to determine which yard has the toughest dogs.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is currently home to seven total weight classes from the heavyweights (that max out at 265 lbs) all the way down to the miniature bad-asses in the 135 lbs division.
Everyone who follows the sport seems to have their own opinion on which division is the most stacked. Truthfully, you could easily make a case for any one of those seven categories because each class is loaded with elite competitors.
Tonight, the welterweight division will be on display as top contenders Jake Shields and Jake Ellenberger collide in the main event of UFC Fight Night 25 in New Orleans, Louisiana. That bout is just one of several upcoming welterweight fights featuring the division’s cream of the crop.
With that said, let’s take a closer look at those matchups and the current title picture within the division.
Once upon a time, there were these two ostriches that would bicker back and forth about their goals and aspirations. The older of the two ostriches kept telling the younger one that someday he was going to become the first ostrich to ever take flight.H…
Once upon a time, there were these two ostriches that would bicker back and forth about their goals and aspirations.
The older of the two ostriches kept telling the younger one that someday he was going to become the first ostrich to ever take flight.
He kept babbling on and on about how he was going to fly all the way to Africa and make love to a toucan.
After months of hearing the old ostrich talk about his inspirational yet perverted goal, the younger one returned home one day with a female toucan. The old ostrich asked him what was going on, and the younger one said, “you spent months talking about it, and I actually did it.”
Moral of the story; there are those who talk about accomplishing their goals, and then, there are those who go out there and take what they want.
California bombshell Erica Goitia is an ostrich—if ostriches were insanely beautiful and had mesmerizing brown eyes and trillion dollar bodies. Actually she’s nothing like an ostrich, but she is the prime example of a person who takes what they want in life.
Goitia is the owner and founder of Uppercut Models, a fast-rising modeling agency that was created based off Goitia’s love for the sport of mixed martial arts. Here is her story.
“I used to work in advertising for a company called Petrol, and they do a lot of really cool stuff in the video game industry, and they also do a lot of stuff with the UFC. I was in charge of casting a lot of the models for the ad campaigns that they would do,” Goitia told Mitch Ciccarelli on MMA Mass Debation Radio.
“So in casting, I would look through a lot of models and contact the modeling agencies for people that we needed, and I wasn’t too happy with the quality of models that they were providing us.”
“I ended up bringing in people that I knew personally or friends of friends, and they ended up being a lot better. My bosses over at Petrol were like “you should start your own modeling agency, that way this could be official and we can work together on this” and I did it. About four months ago, I just decided to run with this, and things are going great.”
Things are going great indeed.
According to the Uppercut Models website, the agency currently features a roster of 32 gorgeous female models in the Los Angeles, California area.
One of the most notable models on Goitia’s roster is Amber Nichole Miller, a former UFC Octagon girl and Xyience model.
Also part of the Uppercut Models team is blonde bombshell Pamela Jean Noble, spicy brunette and aspiring MMA Journalist Iris Garcia, long legged beauty Taiya King and much more.
The agency also has a stacked roster of male model cover stars such as Victor Andujo and James Hall.
Andujo was recently featured on the cover of the UFC Personal Trainer video game for the X-Box Kinect, and Hall rocked a bad ass character in promotional ads for THQ’s Saints Row: The Third which is set for release on November 15, 2011 for the X-Box 360 and PS3.
Clearly, Goitia has excellent taste in models.
Her company has provided top talent for global marketing campaigns and advertising initiatives in print, TV and online channels. The previously mentioned James Hall was one of three Uppercut Models to grace the cover of the April 2011 issue of Game Informer magazine, the fifth largest magazine in the country.
Goitia only hires the best which is also how she came up with the name for her organization.
“Once I thought of it, I thought it was just the perfect name, and there’s so many ways to look at the name and why it would be appropriate,” Goitia said.
“An uppercut is in relation to the knockout punch, and also, if you break it down into two words, upper cut, it’s the upper portion or the top which is the best of the best. You get the idea that we have the best models.”
So what does all of this have to do with MMA? That’s the question that some of you are probably asking as you read this. Well, unlike many other sports where it’s primarily about the action itself, MMA is a lifestyle, and beyond that, it is a symbol.
To a casual observer, that statement will likely seem silly, but for those of us who religiously follow the sport, we understand that it’s more than just the fight.
We watched this sport grow from a no holds barred spectacle that was banned in 49 states into the fastest growing sport in the entire world that is now going to be prominently featured on the FOX network.
The symbol that MMA stands for is this: no matter what people say about you, you have it within yourself to be as successful as you want to be.
Erica Goitia embodies that principal because throughout her young career she has dealt with judgmental individuals that believed she was nothing more than a pretty face, and she proves them all wrong every single day.
It takes a very intelligent, hard-working person to do the things Goitia is doing with Uppercut Models. The future is certainly bright, and it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to see Goitia venture into the world of MMA sponsorship.
Surely, she wouldn’t mind seeing the Uppercut Models logo imprinted on the trunks of one of her favorite MMA fighters.
“I don’t really like to pick favorites but I think there are a lot of fighters that are really good at specific things. Everyone is probably going to give me crap for this but I think Georges St. Pierre is an awesome fighter all around. People complain that he is boring or whatever, but he gets the job done and is always on point.”
St. Pierre is definitely on point which, coincidentally, is the way he has won his last few fights… on points.
Joking aside though, St. Pierre is a phenomenal athlete and unquestionably one of the best fighters in the entire world.
However, St. Pierre wasn’t born a champion. He worked his tail to the bone and beat everyone that was put in front of him until one day he earned the right to be called great.
Such is the case with Goitia and Uppercut Models. You might not know much about her or the company right now, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Nevertheless, just like the young ostrich mentioned at the start of the article, Goitia is doing things that other people are only talking about doing.
Follow Erica Goitia and Uppercut Models on Twitter
As much as we tend to believe that our lives suck sometimes, there are individuals out there that are living in way worse conditions than we can even begin to fathom. Sure, you might have bad days but at least you have a place to live, at least you are…
As much as we tend to believe that our lives suck sometimes, there are individuals out there that are living in way worse conditions than we can even begin to fathom.
Sure, you might have bad days but at least you have a place to live, at least you are getting three square meals a day, at least you have clothes on your back.
Then, of course, you have your extra luxuries such as cell phones, iPods, laptops, and maybe even an easy bake oven for all you hefty children out there—if they even still make those.
Come to think of it, when you have all of that it’s kind of silly to complain about how terrible your life is when there are children in Africa who have nothing. They don’t have clothing or food or a comfortable bed or clean water or a sturdy roof over their head.
Legitimately, they have nothing and a lot of these children are forced at a very young age to fight as soldiers in what is known as an Invisible War.
An evil piece of trash that isn’t even worthy of living up a warthogs anus named Joseph Kony and his LRA army have abducted an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them.
Not many people here in the United States are aware of the current situation in Africa but when blonde bombshell and current ring girl for the Bellator Fighting Championships, Jade Bryce, became aware of this she knew she had to do something.
Here is her story.
“When I first went to Africa, I went by myself without an organization. I saw a documentary by Invisible Children when I was about 21 and it just struck my life. [Ever since watching that] I had a hard time falling asleep knowing about what was going on over there and knowing what the children go through,” Bryce told Mitch Ciccarelli on MMA Mass Debation Radio.
“I didn’t really know what I could do [to help], just being this little girl from Texas but what I started doing was showing the film at places like Starbucks and taking donations and selling things such as merchandise like hats or shirts that I would make.”
“I would raise anywhere from 700 to 3,000 dollars and, even though it was hard work to do by myself, at the end of the event I would always feel like ‘gosh, this money wouldn’t be there if I hadn’t worked so hard to do the event’ so it started to become something that was very fulfilling.”
Invisible Children is a movement that seeks to end the conflict in Africa and bring the child soldiers home. According to their website, they seek to rebuild schools, educate future leaders and provide jobs in Northern Uganda.
Bryce was busting her incredibly well shaped booty to do all that she could to help make a difference in their cause. She eventually decided to visit the children herself in Africa on a trip that would emotionally change her life.
“I got on a plane by myself and I went to Africa. From the moment I landed from the moment I left, it was just such an emotional experience falling in love with these children that were dying of hunger or had HIV from their parents or were just in so much pain,” Bryce said.
“When I came back, my friend Lewis [Myers] and I started CRASH and I also have been working very closely with an organization called Hello Somebody and right now we are funding meals in Somalia. What I’m doing is when people make a donation I’ll give them an autograph photo from my Fight Magazine spread.”
“We’ve provided about 25,000 meals to Somalia in the last month, Hello Somebody has. I’m very passionate about many causes but really, any child in need whether it’s in Texas or Africa or China or anywhere, it just really rips my heart.”
Bryce felt like she was truly making a positive difference and she was, and she still is, but one incident in particular was immensely difficult for her to deal with.
“I had pulled a child out of a bush who had been strangled by his mother because she just wanted to put him out of his pain of starvation so she killed him because she didn’t want him to be in pain anymore and that was something that was so hard for me to see.”
Everything that Bryce is doing in her modeling and acting career, it’s all so that one day she can be in a position where she can help causes such as CRASH, Invisible Children and Hello Somebody on larger scales than she is currently able to do right now.
Alongside the beautiful Mercedes Terrell (soon to be Mercedes Ciccarelli), Bryce can be seen on MTV 2 during Bellator Fighting Championships programming.
She was hired by Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney at the start of season four due to a recommendation from a Spanish announcer.
“It’s been a dream come true. I’ve been a huge fan of MMA for the past four or five years now and it’s really been the only sport that I keep up with. I absolutely love it and passionately talk about any chance I can get and I never dreamed that one day I would be working in the industry,” Bryce said.
“I started modeling a year and a half ago and in some blog, I can’t even remember which blog it was but I was asked which sport was my favorite and I said ‘MMA all the way’ and listed a ton of my favorite fighters. Paul Thatcher from Fight Magazine, who is now one of my really close friends, contacted me and asked to shoot for Fight Magazine and I was ecstatic.”
“So I shot with them and a fighter by the name of Nick “The Ghost” Gonzales picked it up in a barber shop, read it and saw that the favorite fighters that I had listed were all in Bellator. His manager, Manny [Rodriguez], is the Bellator Spanish commentator so Manny contacted me and let me know that they were looking for a blonde ring girl and after I interviewed with them I got the position.”
With the UFC recently reaching a multi-year agreement with FOX Sports, rumors have been circulating media outlets that Bellator will fill the now empty MMA void on Spike TV.
Bryce has heard those rumors, and while isn’t sure if the switch in networks is indeed going to happen, believes it would be a huge deal for Bellator if it did.
“I don’t think anything has been confirmed yet but it does look like we are going to [sign with Spike TV]. I think that would be amazing because not everyone has MTV 2 but we’ve been absolutely blessed to be on MTV 2 and it would be just as big of a blessing to switch over to Spike,” Bryce said.
“I hope it happens, it sounds like it is but I usually don’t find out where we’re going until I get my plane ticket so I’m not as up to date on whether or not we’re switching to Spike but I do hope that we are and I have heard that it’s in the works.”
Bellator season five is set to air on MTV 2 beginning this Saturday, September 10. The main card will feature four fights of the first round of their welterweight tournament featuring notables such as former UFC fighter Ben Saunders, Douglas Lima, Dan Hornbuckle and Steve Carl.
Not one to shy away from making predictions, the lovely Bryce tells us who she thinks is taking the tournament. She also gives a bold pick for the organization’s next lightweight title fight which is set to headline Bellator 54.
“I do pick Ben Saunders [to win the welterweight tournament] and I also think Michael Chandler is going to win the lightweight belt even though Eddie Alvarez is everyone’s favorite. I really think that Chandler is going to win that belt,” Bryce said.
“Every one of Chandler’s fights in Bellator so far, me and Jimmy Smith the commentator, we tell each other who we think is going to win and then that person has to buy dinner after the fight and I always win and I’ve picked Chandler every single time. For some reason, he never picks Chandler and I always end up saying ‘I told you so’. Everyone seems to be picking Alvarez but I know that I am going to be saying ‘I told you so’ again.”
To listen to the latest episode of MMA Mass Debation Radio featuring Jade Bryce, Brittney Palmer, and Tracy Lee. Click the link below.
Brittney Palmer is to MMA what a plate of fried chicken drizzled in hot fudge is to Rosie O’Donnell, and that is simply an addiction. Come to think of it, you could drench a basketball in chocolate syrup and Rosie O’Donnell would become add…
Brittney Palmer is to MMA what a plate of fried chicken drizzled in hot fudge is to Rosie O’Donnell, and that is simply an addiction.
Come to think of it, you could drench a basketball in chocolate syrup and Rosie O’Donnell would become addicted faster than a pot-smoking hippopotamus, but that is beside the point.
Ever since the lovely Palmer decided to take a step back from her Octagon girl duties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to pursue artistic ambitions, fans have gone ballistic on social networking websites begging for her to return.
The MMA community wants to see their favorite brunette back on their television screens during UFC programming.
Two weeks ago on the debut of MMA Mass Debation Radio, Palmer announced that she will in fact return to the organization, but she is taking time off to go after her artistic dreams and build an empire of epic paintings.
Certainly, fans can respect and admire the ambition and drive that Ms. Palmer possesses, but as previously mentioned, MMA fans are addicted to Brittney Palmer.
Having been kept from seeing her beautiful smile and trillion-dollar body in recent UFC events, fans are starting to go through withdrawal symptoms.
Those fans are in for a treat on September 4th because Palmer is returning to MMA Mass Debation Radio, but this time she will be joining yours truly as a guest co-host.
For the full one hour and 30 minutes of live radio, Palmer will be on the air to fulfill the addiction of all of her loyal fans and supporters.
As your current reigning sexyweight champion, I feel it is my utmost duty to give all of my Mitchaholics what they want to see.
MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world because of our incredibly passionate fanbase. The people made this sport and, therefore, MMA needs a podcast for the people.
There are way too many media outlets producing radio programming that is either way too serious, way too censored or just flat out, way too ridiculously boring.
MMA Mass Debation is a podcast that is guaranteed to make you laugh, guaranteed to make you smile and absolutely guaranteed to leave you with a feeling of satisfaction that surpasses that of any feeling you have ever experienced in your life as an MMA fan.
Palmer and I will be joined by MMA’s sexiest photographer, Tracy Lee of Combat Lifestyle and Yahoo Sports, for an interview of awesomely awesome proportions.
We will also discuss many of the hot topics buzzing around the MMA world right now.
Those topics include but are not limited to: Jon Jones’ manager sending a three-foot tall belly dancing midget to Quinton Jackson’s training camp to spy on Jackson’s training, UFC 134 rocking the casbah in Brazil, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos signed to make history on FOX and much more.
Our phone lines will be open throughout the broadcast for fans to call in and Mass Debate with the best-looking radio show hosts in the history of Internet radio.
The episode airs live this Sunday, starting at 12:00 p.m. pacific standard time and concluding at 1:30 p.m. PST. The podcast will be available at the link below.
In life there are two types of individuals. There are those who sit back and wait for good things to happen to them and there are those that aggressively attack their goals like a powerful lion mauling an antelope, a crocodile munching on a water buffa…
In life there are two types of individuals. There are those who sit back and wait for good things to happen to them and there are those that aggressively attack their goals like a powerful lion mauling an antelope, a crocodile munching on a water buffalo, a python swallowing a zebra or a seagull molesting a clam. I think my point has been made.
California beauty Brittney Palmer is one of the most ferocious lionesses walking God’s green earth. At age 20, after being involved in several different modeling gigs in the Las Vegas area, Palmer entered the world of Mixed Martial Arts as a ring girl for the now defunct WEC promotion.
It didn’t take long at all for MMA fans to fall in love with her.
Here was a girl that had everything: a beautiful face, fantastic body, breathtaking smile, rock star ambition and the sweetest personality imaginable.
When ZUFFA merged the WEC into the UFC earlier this year, Palmer retired the blue bikini and became a UFC Octagon girl alongside Arianny Celeste and Chandella Powell.
Palmer’s popularity sky rocketed and she quickly became one of MMA’s most beloved females.
But as much as she loves the UFC and the sport of MMA, there are bigger ambitions on Palmer’s agenda and she’s going after them.
“I’ve always been into art, ever since I was young. I fell in love with everything that has to do with art and I mean it could be anything [such] as music or dancing,” Palmer told Mitch Ciccarelli on MMA Mass Debation Radio.
“I was a professional dancer in Las Vegas, not a stripper, but I did a lot of dancing shows there so I’ve always had a very artistic side. About nine months ago, I really wanted to pursue a career as an artist or somewhere in the art industry in whichever aspect I end up falling into.”
Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, Picasso painted the Garcon a la Pipe and Van Gogh painted the Portrait de l’Artiste sans Barbe. Someday, perhaps Brittney Palmer will create a legendary portrait that will change the art world forever.
Palmer’s forte is painting portraits of musical icons. Her painting of rock legend Gene Simmons was a big hit with fans and she is currently working on an Amy Winehouse piece.
“I like to create iconic people, whether it’s Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, etc. I love rock and roll, I love music and I love the more modern art. I love art that has some kind of meaning to it. I have pieces of paper everywhere and just have so many different ideas and it could be something completely stupid or something that actually means something to so many people,” Palmer said.
“I love that grungy aspect of art, that’s always my favorite pieces to look at. Things that are kind of messed up and something about it is wrong but it’s also right.”
In addition to attending art school, Palmer also just recently formed a partnership with JAKT apparel to form her own women’s clothing line.
“I’m kind of incorporating my art into women’s apparel and it’s like a yoga line ultimately. I feel like I wear gym clothes all day or if I’m at school that’s the only time I’m in something different, but I wanted to do a rock and roll, yoga, fitness look that doesn’t consist of a bunch of rhinestones and just crazy lettering or designs.”
With everything that she has on her plate right now, it’s understandable why she opted to take a step back from her card-girl position with the UFC.
Of course, there are several individuals out there that disagree with Palmer leaving the company just when she started becoming a huge star, but Palmer isn’t the type that strives for quantity. She strives for quality.
“I don’t constantly look at my Twitter and see how many extra followers I have per day. It was kind of like a really cool feeling gaining all these fans, but getting really popular really fast wasn’t something that I was like ‘Oh my God, I can’t handle it,’ it was just being in the moment,” Palmer said.
“I was so stoked to be a part of something so cool and to have the opportunity to be on PPV or to even say that I have fans. I still think that it’s weird to this day to say that I have fans, it’s just crazy and I never thought in a million years that it would be that way. It wasn’t something that I expected, but I wasn’t completely freaked out when I got it either.”
Since her departure from the UFC, different stories have surfaced on media outlets as to the reason for her exit.
Some websites reported that UFC president Dana White was simply giving Palmer some time off to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. Other outlets, however, stated that Palmer was indeed let go by the company.
According to Palmer, the latter is incorrect.
“No I was not fired from the UFC, so for whoever wrote the column, like you said people are going to hate but I wasn’t let go,” Palmer said.
“I’m still part of the UFC, they just wanted me to take a little break and it was a good time because I have other things that are going on. Dana White and the UFC are very supportive and we have a great relationship, there’s no bad blood and I’ll be back.”
As far as when we can expect Palmer to grace us with her sexiness on UFC programming again, she isn’t quite sure when she will return, but she guarantees her fans that she will be back.
“Nothing is permanent [and] it’s definitely not a permanent absence [from the UFC], but they wanted to go in a different direction. They still want me to be a part of the company, I still want to be part of the company and they don’t want to lose me,” Palmer said.
“It’s kind of like taking a little break, which is fine because I just moved to L.A. and I’m in school and fall semester is coming up. I’m starting to follow other artists that live in the area and just study them and really take this seriously, so it came at a good time.”
Simply put, Brittney Palmer is not your average ring girl. She didn’t get into the industry to become a star or to be that typical model type that marries an 85-year-old Viagra-induced billionaire—sorry, Hugh Hefner—she’s doing what she does because she has a passion for it.
The sky is the limit for this 24-year-old bombshell.
Actually I take that back. If she truly wanted to, Palmer could go further than the sky and all the way to Mars, spreading her awesomeness all over Marvin the Martian’s clan of green midgets.
“I would love to have an empire of amazing pieces and clothing and album covers and just to live an amazing life. I’m not looking to strike it rich here or anything, I don’t want to be a millionaire because that was never a goal of mine. I just want to be happy and comfortable and surf and paint and just have a good quality of life.”
To listen to the full interview on MMA Mass Debation Radio, click here.
Four years ago, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was conceived as the most devastating fighter in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. A vicious knockout artist, Jackson ended the legendary Chuck Liddell’s title reign with a thunderou…
Four years ago, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was conceived as the most devastating fighter in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.
A vicious knockout artist, Jackson ended the legendary Chuck Liddell’s title reign with a thunderous left hook in the first round of their 2007 meeting.
He defended the belt in a slugfest against Dan Henderson before the tide changed at UFC 86 on July 5, 2008.
Jackson dropped a unanimous decision to Forrest Griffin, losing his coveted light heavyweight championship in the process.
Unlike other dominant champions of the past and present, Jackson never received a rematch.
He’s had to work his way back into contention and, following a dominant decision win over Matt Hamill at UFC 130, it appears he’s finally earned a shot at the gold once again.
In addition to Jackson’s title shot, here are some other pivotal matchups that should be made following UFC 130.
Once upon a time, there were these two ostriches that would bicker back and forth about their goals and aspirations.