Octagon Girl Palmer: ?I want to be known as more than the hot chick?

You've undoubtedly seen Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer at UFC events, carrying signs telling you what round it is and waving to the camera. Palmer is a beautiful woman, but behind that is much more than a pretty face.

In addition to traveling the world with the UFC, modeling and dancing, Palmer has started art school in Southern California. She spoke about her new endeavor with Cagewriter.

"I've always been very right-brained, and my mom always knew I'd do something creative. Right out of high school, I started dancing professionally in a burlesque show, and a magic show, and putting all my focus on a dancing career. I was focusing on making money and working for the WEC, and I just started painting. I did some in high school, but I never took it seriously."

She started to share her work on Twitter and via her website, and got a big reaction from fans. From there, Palmer realized she could start a business in sharing art with MMA fans.

"People stereotype MMA fans as a certain kind. I don't think that they are. These people see my art, and they give input on it, and the fans are so smart. They just haven't been introduced to art. The art that I'm going to sell is going to be in the budget of the regular person who enjoys art but can't spend $10K-$15K on a painting. My paintings go for $50-$450, or I can do custom for $1,000."

Much of her work has focused on her favorite musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Bob Marley, but she does draw some inspiration from the fight world. In fact, one of her first paintings was of the G.O.A.T.

"My biggest painting was Muhammad Ali, and that's because Dana White loves Muhammad Ali. That's one of the first paintings I did, and I gave it to Dana for being such a rad boss."

Until now, her only training in painting came from YouTube videos, but she realizes that's not enough.

"I can look at a sky and paint it, but I want to know how to paint it and know which brushes and strokes to use. Learning art is just like learning fighting. There's so many steps and levels. You can't just pick it up overnight. "

Though painting, art school and her duties as an Octagon Girl for the UFC keep her busy, Palmer also finds time to surf and play guitar, and she is working on a calendar. She hopes to reach a larger fanbase than just the men who follow MMA.

"I'm doing an entire calendar based on the '60s and '70s, very natural, hippie hair, a really cool guitar, some of my artwork. I want it to be for girls, too. Some of the fans -- I hate calling them fans. I feel like such a dork. I call them band-aids or something -- but the girls like that I'm curvy. If you can get the girls on your side, that's great. The guys are easy. I want girls to hang it up, and I think it's cool that I get as much of a response from girls."

In sharing painting and her other interests with fans, Palmer wants to show that she is multi-faceted.

"I don't want to be known as just the hot chick that walks around the ring. I want to be the cool chick who likes to paint rock stars and learns to play guitar."

See more of Palmer's artwork at her website and follow her on Twitter here.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Octagon-Girl-Palmer-I-want-to-be-known-as-more?urn=mma-wp4459

Akihiro Gono Gabriel Gonzaga Lyman Good Gary Goodridge

My Thoughts On The Release Of Crisitiane Santos: One Of Strikeforce's Biggest Blunders

For those of you that may not know, Strikeforce recently was unable to come to a new agreement with Cristiane Santos, their 145-pound Women?s champion. I avoided talking about the release of ?Cyborg? Santos for two major reasons. First and foremost, I wanted to give myself some time to cool off, since as a Santos [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/07/06/my-thoughts-on-the-release-of-crisitiane-santos-one-of-strikeforces-biggest-blunders

Joe Hybrid Duarte Aldrin de Jesus  Todd Duffee  Marvin Eastman 

Nogueira Out Vs. Franklin, Belfort Vs. Akiyama Promoted At UFC 133

By Chris Howie <Br> MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer<Br><Br> A shoulder injury to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has lead to quite a few changes to UFC 133 which is just three short weeks away.<br><br> Nogueira had been pegged to face Rich Franklin in the co-main event of the evening on the card which features Rashad Evans taking on Tito Ortiz in the main event. With the Brazilian, injured Franklin has been pulled from the card altogether and Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama will now move into the co-main event slot.<Br><Br> With Franklin off the card, a slot on the main card also opened up and has been filled with a welterweight clash between Brian Ebersole and Dennis Hallman.<Br><Br> The card has been plague by injuries, Ortiz will be the third opponent for Evans who had been scheduled to first challenge Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, but injuries forced both Jones and his replacement Phil Davis out of the fight.<Br><Br> Leave your feedback on this article by posting a comment directly below! You can also chat about the card in the MMANEWS.COM Forums and/or the MMANEWS.COM Facebook. If that wasn't enough, MMANEWS.COM is now on Twitter as well @mmanewsdotcom.<Br><Br>

Source: http://www.mmanews.com/home.php

Genki Sudo Amar Suloev Mike Swick Takashi Sugiura

Melvin Guillard Criticizes Frank Edgar... But He Really Shouldn't

Now that he?s knocking out people left and right and solidifying himself as a top-division athlete, Melvin Guillard is calling out basically every top Lightweight under the UFC banner in order to get himself an eventual shot at the UFC championship. Guillard has called out people like Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller, and recently, he [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/07/12/melvin-guillard-criticizes-frank-edgar-but-he-really-shouldnt

Peter Graham Forrest Griffin Tyson Griffin Karn Grigorian

Lombard to Marquardt: ?Let?s make it happen, brother?

Nate Marquardt's suspension has been officially lifted by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. Earlier this week, Bellator middleweight Hector Lombard doubted that a fight between him and the maligned former UFC star would happen, but now he has another message for Marquardt:

That's right, Lombard would like to welcome Marquardt to Bellator as well as "whoop him up."

It's a fight that makes sense for both men, as Lombard's biggest problem in Bellator has been a lack of challenges. For Marquardt, it's the best fight available after being cut publicly from the UFC just after his suspension messed up the main event for UFC on Versus 4.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Lombard-to-Marquardt-Let-s-make-it-happen-bro?urn=mma-wp4647

Dan Hardy Lee Hasdell Musse Hasselvall Daiki DJ taiki Hata

Bellator 47's Neil Grove: "I'm so hungry I can take on two heavyweights"

Neil Grove has finally found light at the end of the tunnel.

After a career-long eight-month layoff and his patience worn razor thin, he returns to action this Saturday night in the second of Bellator 's three"Summer Series" events.

Grove battles promotional newcomer Zak Jensen on the Bellator 47 main card. The event takes place at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario, Canada. The main card airs live on MTV2.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/R2qKhHyXumc/bellator-47s-neil-grove-im-so-hungry-i-can-take-on-two-heavyweights.mma

Antonio Silva Assuerio Silva Paulo Silva Jay Silva

Working in the business: Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports columnist

MMA is not just a sport, but also a business that creates jobs for people all over the world. Cagewriter takes a look at some of the people and jobs that keep the MMA wheels churning. First up: Yahoo! Sports columnist Kevin Iole.

Cagewriter: What are your job duties?

Kevin Iole: My job is to come up with feature stories and columns that would appeal to a wide audience that follows boxing or MMA. Occasionally, I cover events, I meet with a fighter, sometimes I go to lunch or dinner with a fighter or manager.

Hardly a day goes by where I don't do a radio interview of one sort or another. A lot of times I'll do short TV gigs, discussing upcoming fights or my thoughts on fighter.

I'm supposed to stay on top of breaking news from an analytical standpoint. When news breaks, what does it mean? It's not necessarily my job to be the first guy to get it out there, but it's my job to explain to people the significance of the news.

CW: But you do break news sometimes.

KI: A lot of times, what I do when I get up in the morning, something as a reporter for more than 30 years I've gotten in the habit of doing, is make calls to people in the industry. That's how you find stories. That's how you develop relationships with people. That's the biggest part in our business. I find a lot of good stories that way, and I ending breaking news that way.

CW: What is the best part of your job?

KI: I can really live a dream. Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a sportswriter. I love fights. I love both boxing and MMA, and I get to write about the biggest fights, the biggest stars, to say my opinion on a day-to-day basis. I can't imagine doing anything else.

CW: But what's the worst part?

KI: The biggest downside is that I can't be a fan. I'm a fan of the Steelers, and if the Steelers score a touchdown, I'm standing up cheering. I'm clapping my hands. When I cover fights, I may see some of the best fights in history, and I can't cheer. I can't clap my hands. I can't root for any particular side. I've got to be neutral.

The other downside is travel. Getting on airplanes, staying in hotels, being away from my family. I did over 100,000 miles in travel for Yahoo! last year. As much as being in exotic places is nice, I wish there was a Star Trek thing where I could get beamed into these places.

CW: What did you do before this to prepare you to be a columnist?

KI: I was a reporter for many years. I started with a small paper in Pittsburgh, and then moved to Vermont. I was there for close to 10 years, and then after having met my wife, she and I moved to Las Vegas. I was with the Las Vegas Review-Journal for about 17 years. By the time I got to Yahoo!, I had over 25 years of experience as a reporter.

CW: What advice would you give to someone starting out in MMA journalism?

KI: The first thing is to just write a lot. If you're sitting at home watching the fight, run back to your computer and write about it. Compare it to what other people do.

The second thing is read a lot of good writing. Whoever you think is a good writer, whether it be in boxing, MMA, or any other sports, read good writing. Pay attention to how they transition from paragraph to paragraph, or how they make their case. Also understand what the elements of a news story are.

Look at your work with a critical eye and ask, what could I have done better? How does somebody else do that exact same story? What points do they make better? Why is their story better than mine? If you look at that and pay attention, you're going to be able to do it. Assuming that when someone wants to be a writer, they have some skills to begin with, it's just a matter of developing them. It's not something that comes naturally. Sometimes, it's a long and tortured process.

You have to go through it multiple times before you decide that's the final product. Sometimes, people want to sit down and after 15 or 20 minutes and say, 'OK, I'm done,' and think that what they have is the best they can do. They can definitely do better.

A lot of young writers are too wordy, and they use too many big and extraneous words that can be left out. A good rule of thumb is less is more.You need to think if somebody on the subway on the way to work, they're reading your piece. Are they going to jab the guy next to them and say, 'Hey, read this?' Or will they just go to something else. If you know they're going to jab the guy, then you've done your job. If not, you've got to work to do.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Working-in-the-business-Kevin-Iole-Yahoo-Spor?urn=mma-wp4789

Mikko Rupponen Bas Rutten Tarec Saffiedine Alessio Sakara

Anthony Njokuani vs. Paul Taylor Added to ?UFC 138: Leben vs. Munoz?

According to MMAJunkie, a thrilling lightweight shootout between Anthony Njokuani and Paul Taylor has been added to “UFC 138: Leben vs. Munoz.” The Octagon’s long-awaited return to the U.K. takes place November 5th inside the LG Arena in Birmingham. Facing nearly a must-win situation against Andre Winner at UFC 132, Njokuani managed to recapture his [...]

Source: http://www.5thRound.com/82661/anthony-njokuani-vs-paul-taylor-added-to-ufc-138-leben-vs-munoz/

Lorenzo Borgomeo  Kyle Bradley  Jai Bradney  Ebenezer Fontes Braga