‘I flogged cars before becoming Bellator ring girl – now I’m training to fight’

Louise McKie has gone from selling cars to starring on huge fight nights across Europe thanks to her role as the promotion's lead Bellator Girl.

Louise got a golden chance to impress in her home city of Newcastle back in 2019 and did just that to land a starring role with the MMA promotion – appearing in all UK and Ireland shows ever since.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport, Louise has explained how she started off in her dream job and has even been training in Thailand to gain a better understanding of the fighters.

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She said: "Before I started with Bellator and in the entertainment industry, I always worked in sales, I sold cars and then I went to be a sales manager at one of the local clubs in town – and that is where I actually made the contact.

"So I kind of signed up to do in small events, which is like your typical white collar boxing shows. It was an extra bit of money on the weekend.

"And then an email that got pinged through for Bellator coming into Newcastle, which is obviously my hometown. Now when I seen that I was like, oh my goodness, like this is exciting, but obviously I was new to it. I didn't really have much experience.

"But I put myself forward and if I get it, thinking: 'if get it great. If I don't them it was worth a try'.

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"Luckily, I actually got it so I went to the Newcastle show. I can't say that I remember much of it because I was kind of just in awe of what was going on.

"But yeah, the Newcastle show producers really liked it I got on really well with the team, which was great. Then I got invited back to Ireland and since then I've never really looked back.

"Last month as my fourth year with Bellator, it's been a crazy. Off the back of it I then got signed with Monster Energy. It's incredible that this ride first started back in 2019."

Following the recent co-promotional show between Bellator and RIZIN, Louise remained in Thailand for five weeks of Muay Thay training, which proved to be an eye-opening experience.

She added: "I've always been a sporty person, right from childhood I've always been involved in some sort of sport. But yeah, I definitely say like the love that comes from working in the mixed martial arts industry brought on a bigger passion for it.

"So originally, I started training Muay Thai to kind of just get a bit of insight into the sport having seen the emotional side of it in fighters being away from the families

"A lot of the time I found myself thinking why do they do this? This is crazy. Like it puts a lot of strain on a lot of different people.

"And I think for me, it was kind of figuring out why they do that and why they put their bodies through such a gruelling regime. I did a little bit of training and then I fell in love with it.

"I totally get why it's addictive and why people love it the way to do and why people ultimately go in the cage and fight on fight night."

Louise added when asked if she might ever step into the cage: "I don't think I'd ever be on the same level as any of our Bellator guys but never say never! I wouldn't say I would definitely do one, but never say never."

With a return to Dublin in late February followed by a upcoming Paris card headlined by Fabian Edwards and Gegard Mousasi, Louise will be keeping busy throughout 2023.

Next up is Usman Nurmagomedov's lightweight title bout against former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson on March 10, with Michael 'Venom' Page also on the card.

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