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.
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Mitch Ciccarelli is the sexiest columnist in MMA and the undisputed sexyweight champion of the world. Enough said.
Follow Ciccarelli on Twitter @mitchciccarelli.
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