UFC Ring Girl Brittney Palmer Announces Her Retirement After 16 Years As The GOAT

Last night at the World MMA Awards in Las Vegas, Brittney Palmer won another Ring Girl of the Year Award (I don't actually have confirmation she's won that award before, but I'm just assuming - I mean c'mon) and announced that after 16 years as a Ring Card Girl, she's finally hanging up the shorts and round cards and calling it a career....

MMAFighting- “I truly am honored to accept this award,” she said. “Thank you to the UFC, Fighter’s Only, and all the fans who voted for me. Well, there’s no better time to say it. But after 16 years with UFC, I’ve decided to retire. This weekend will be my last event, and I’m so absolutely grateful for this unforgettable experience.”

I think you could make a real case that Brittney Palmer is the GOAT Ring Girl, to be honest. 

Palmer and Arianny Celeste were the first two I remember breaking out of the MMA bubble and taking mainstream modeling/Playboy by storm....and they're still friends to this day!

Gotta love to see that!

I didn't even remember this til I read the MMAFighting article linked above, but apparently Palmer left the UFC initially to pursue a career in art over a decade ago (we'll get to that in a second) but was voted the octagon girl fans most wanted to see back in 2011, so she returned.

Now her art, which I just mentioned, is incredible….

Super cool portraits (and Star Wars pieces!) that companies like Topps are using for trading cards. Pretty awesome.

So I assume she'll just be more focused on that going forward - but Brittney, we salute you. Thank you for your years of service.

Enjoy retirement!