“She’s giving me a rude look.” Kat Cortez flashes her dark French Indian/Latin American eyes at a quintet of women in bikinis. “But,” she says, thinking twice, “I put myself in this position.”
True. She and about 15 other pretty young hopefuls have put themselves in a very visible, slightly vulnerable position.
The women have trekked out in their bikinis and high heels, lip glossed and curled, to Hawaiian Tropic Zone late on St. Patrick’s Day night for a shot at being an MMA Ring Girl—for a day.
MMA Ring Girl hopefuls.
The top three winners from this pool of half-naked ambition will be granted the honor of holding placards aloft at this Friday's MMA Xplosion V: Coaches Best at Planet Hollywood. The fight is not an official UFC fight but a battle for titles between the up-and-coming Javier Torres, Matt Conte, Jake Kaawa and Kimo Yueva.
Cortez, 25, is a promotional model as well as a martial artist. “I’d be happy to get just one UFC contract,” she says longingly.
Join the club. Most of the girls are promotional models – ages 21 to 31 – and look like they spend a good part of the day at the gym.
Kat Cortez
Christina Robles Lee, 26, is a Spanish-Asian exotic beauty with flowing silky black hair, the almond eyes of Princess Jasmine, and a nose ring. She wears a pink Hawaiian flower in her hair that matches her shiny lips and pink bikini.
She is a professional Brazilian samba dancer from Toronto, Canada, who aspires to be cast in a Strip dance production like Jubilee.
“I’d like to make money from what I do best: entertainment,” Lee says about why she is at the tryouts, and why she even left Toronto for Vegas in the first place. “This is my niche.”
Eve Gray, 31, showcases her professional volleyball player’s physique and height in a tiny, flashy Ed Hardy two-piece. She is a sports model who has posed in ads for Nike and Adidas.
Gray moved to Vegas from Portland, Ore. only a month ago.
“I’m living out of a hotel right now,” Gray says. “[The MMA Ring Girl audition] is my first gig. Vegas is a 360 degree change from Portland. The 9-to-5 here is totally different: it’s 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.”
At the audition the Arianny Celeste protégés are interviewed on camera, pose for a succession of pictures and then—unenviably—have to hold aloft a giant Hawaiian Tropic Zone sign (Octagon girl style) and climb stairs in stilettos in full view of a packed room of fully clothed (mostly in green) HTZ revelers.
Then the girls, one by one, pace back and forth on a balcony, smile and sometimes turn around to shake their butts, as the emcee urges the half-drunk, half-enthused crowd to cheer them on.
After hours of scrutinizing themselves and others and being scrutinized, waiting around and wondering, the winner is finally announced: Amanda Tamayo. She nabbed a cool $500 and a night in the spotlight, but alas, no official UFC contract.
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