UFC 329 was full of unexpected events. However, one particular event turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Sophie Cunningham, WNBA star and teammate of Caitlin Clark, made a surprise debut as a ring card girl between rounds.
The WNBA superstar even paused her walk around to display her signature point, which has become a viral meme over the past weeks. Even Max Holloway, the UFC’s signature pointer, paused for a video with Cunningham after his short-lived rematch with Conor McGregor, where they both displayed the pointing they are famous for.
Of course, Holloway, “meet me in the middle point,” goes back to his epic clash with Justin Gaethje. Cunningham’s is more recent; she extended the finger of justice to Phoenix’s DeWanna Bonner, when both circled each other, pointing before a fight that never materialized.
As for how the viral ring card moment came about? Well, clearly it had nothing to do with the WNBA, which would have botched the moment and made it terrible. Instead, Cunningham, one of the dozens of celebrities in attendance at the fight, approached UFC President Dana White and asked to do it.
Asked by a reporter when he actually hired Cunningham, White jokingly answered: “About right minutes before she did it.”
White added, “I love Sophie Cunningham. We’ve created a relationship, and she was here tonight. And when she walked in, she went, ‘Oh, I wanna walk around that.’ I said, ‘Then you’re gonna walk around it.’”
To prove the point that he and Cunningham have become friends, White showed up at the Fever-Aces game on Sunday wearing a Sophie Cunningham T-shirt.
So, what Sophie asks for, Sophie gets! That appears to be the reality. It’s unlikely she will ever ask for a fight in the Octagon. That would probably violate multiple clauses of her contract. Though, as a world-class athlete, a former martial artist, and a longtime fan of the UFC, who knows?
She plays in the WNBA, so she’s had plenty of experience being physically assaulted.