UFC ring girls: Who is the highest-paid octagon girl in the promotion?

UFC ring girls have been a prominent feature of the world's biggest mixed martial arts promotion for decades. Given the size and scale of the organization and the recent controversies over fighter pay, it's unsurprising that octagon girls like Arianny Celeste and Camila Oliveira make over five-figure salaries.

The ring girls are not just regarded as components of the glitter of fight promotions. Their duties include announcing match rounds by holding up numbered cards to the audience.

According to mediareferee.com, the average UFC ring girl earns between $1000 and $5000 per fight for pay-per-view events, raking up between $20,000 and $50,000 annually. However, the total income of an octagon girl can reach $1 million per year. The most popular and highest-paid octagon girl is Arianny Celeste, with her annual earnings estimated at about $1 million.

Celeste made her UFC debut in 2006 and has emerged as the Ringcard Girl of the Year at the World MMA Awards seven times, making her the indisputable queen of the ring girls. Apart from her duties in the octagon, Arianny Celeste models full-time and has been featured in top magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Playboy, and Maxim.

Camila Oliveira is the second richest ring girl, with a reported yearly salary of $50,000. Meanwhile, octagon ring girls Brittney Palmer, Chrissy Blair, and Carly Baker make $30,000 a year.

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UFC ring girls: Luciana Andrade dismisses the notion of octagon girls earning more than fighters

UFC fighter pay has been one of the most hotly discussed topics in MMA for quite some time now. Last year, reports emerged that a few top-profile ring girls in the promotion made a lot more money than many fighters on the UFC's roster.

These reports caused quite a stir within the MMA community, and there was a wave of social media backlash against Dana White and his organization for the unfair treatment of fighters. However, iconic ring girl Luciana Andrade recently rubbished such reports.

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Andrade claimed such narratives were 'far away from the truth' and stated:

"This is the tale as old as time, far away from the truth... It is not true, we don't get paid more money than the fighters... Think about it, we have 14 girls across the globe. Some girls work a few times a year..."

She continued:

"Let's talk about the US girls, we're six total, we rotate. So you work twice a month if you're lucky. Let's use common sense, do you really think we'd be making more money than the fighters... to walk around a few rounds, obviously not."