Chris Unger / UFC via Getty Images

WNBA Star Sophie Cunningham Walked the Octagon as a UFC Ring Girl and All Male Fans Could Do Was Start Ranking Her Against the Other Octagon Girls

Updated 5 days ago, August 13, 2026

And men immediately began comparing her to Chrissy Blair and Brooklyn Wren, the veteran Octagon Girls working the same card, and judging how she stacked up.

Brookliyn Wren holding a round-number card inside the Octagon at UFC 329 in Las Vegas — Octagon Girl Brookliyn Wren announces a round during UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 11, 2026. Photo by Jeff Bottari / UFC via Getty Images.

Cunningham was sitting ringside on an off night when she half-jokingly told Dana White that if he ever needed a ring girl, to let him know. About eight minutes before the Paddy Pimblett vs. Benoit Saint Denis co-main, he put her on the Round 1 card.

Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever looking on at UFC 329 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas — Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham takes in UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 11, 2026. Photo by Ian Maule / Getty Images.

“When she walked in, she goes, ‘Oh, I wanna walk around that.’ I said, ‘Then you’re gonna walk around it,'” White told reporters. She kicked off her shoes, walked out in a black tank top and shorts, and hit her signature finger-point the whole lap. Pimblett choked out Saint Denis in under a minute, so she only got the one walk.

A blonde UFC Octagon Girl in a black bikini top and shorts holds a round 1 sign above her head inside the UFC cage. — Octagon Girl Chrissy Blair holds up the round one card during UFC Fight Night at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona on January 15, 2017. Photo by Christian Petersen / Getty Images.

The clip took off after a basketball account posted it with the note that she was working the fight as a ring girl. Then the ranking started fast and got blunt. Male fans lined her up against the actual Octagon Girls working the card, mainly veterans Chrissy Blair and Brooklyn Wren, with early replies calling her “the least attractive one there tbh” and ranking her last next to the women who work the cage every fight.

Sophie Cunningham, Red Dela Cruz, and Chrissy Blair announcing rounds as Octagon Girls at UFC 329 in Las Vegas — Sophie Cunningham, Red Dela Cruz, and Chrissy Blair work the Octagon together at UFC 329 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 11, 2026. Photo by Chris Unger / UFC via Getty Images.

Pushback followed, with fans firing back that scoring a pro athlete who stepped in on eight minutes’ notice against the regular Octagon Girls proved nothing, but a large share of the thread still treated it like a live beauty contest.

Sophie Cunningham holding a round card as an Octagon Girl during a lightweight bout at UFC 329 — WNBA star Sophie Cunningham holds up a round card inside the T-Mobile Arena Octagon during UFC 329 in Las Vegas on July 11, 2026. Photo by Chris Unger / UFC via Getty Images.

A second thread broke off to argue Cunningham was getting a pass that Angel Reese never would. “If Angel Reese did this white people would go crazy,” one post read, pulling Reese into a fight she had nothing to do with.

Angel Reese of the Atlanta Dream driving to the basket against Dearica Hamby of the Los Angeles Sparks during a WNBA game — Angel Reese drives to the basket for the Atlanta Dream against the Los Angeles Sparks in the fourth quarter at Gateway Center Arena on July 13, 2026. Photo by Todd Kirkland / Getty Images.

Cunningham called the night “so much fun” and said she and White have become friends. “I love Sophie Cunningham, and we’ve created a relationship,” White said. The next night he turned up at the Fever’s game against the Las Vegas Aces in a custom shirt of Cunningham flipping double middle fingers.

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