After Sophie Cunningham’s UFC 329 Cameo, Dana White Shows Up for Indiana Fever’s Victory Over Las Vegas Aces

Dana White watches Sophie Cunningham and the Indiana Fever defeat the Las Vegas Aces 109-75, returning the favor after her UFC 329 cameo.

After Sophie Cunningham’s UFC 329 Cameo, Dana White Shows Up for Indiana Fever’s Victory Over Las Vegas Aces

Dana White and Sophie Cunningham (Image: Imagn and UFC)

UFC CEO Dana White returned the favor to Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham on Sunday by attending the team’s WNBA game against the Las Vegas Aces, less than 24 hours after she made a surprise appearance as a special cageside girl at UFC 329 in Las Vegas.

White was seen at Michelob ULTRA Arena wearing a Sophie Cunningham T-shirt before posing with Cunningham after Indiana’s 109-75 victory over the defending WNBA champions. The Fever guard delivered one of her best performances of the season, scoring 20 points off the bench on 7 of 9 shooting while making six of her seven attempts from beyond the three-point line.

Her six made three-pointers were more than the entire Las Vegas roster managed in the game. The visit capped a cross-sport exchange that began at UFC 329 on Saturday night and ended with Cunningham helping Indiana record one of its most convincing wins of the season.

Went to my first live fight last night, which was so cool. The whole experience overall was wonderful. Dana came over to say what’s up, and I was like, ‘Hey, if you need a ring girl, let me know,’ and he’s like, ‘Alright, first round for the Paddy fight, that’s you.

Sophie Cunningham said via OutKick

The UFC’s 14th International Fight Week card delivered on almost all fronts except the main event of the night. Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return to the Octagon was ruined as he suffered a right knee injury in the opening seconds of the bout, with the fight being called off just 69 seconds into the opening round.

This handed Max Holloway the TKO win and resulted in the Irishman suffering an injury in his second straight UFC contest, as he previously broke his left leg at UFC 264 back in July 2021 against Dustin Poirier.

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Sophie Cunningham posed with Max Holloway after serving as a special cageside girl at UFC 329

Sophie Cunningham made her surprise appearance before the co-main event between Paddy Pimblett and Benoit Saint Denis at T-Mobile Arena after Dana White accepted her spontaneous offer to be a special cageside girl.

The appearance marked her first live UFC event. After the show concluded, Cunningham also posed backstage with former UFC BMF champion Max Holloway before returning to WNBA action the following day.

Sophie Cunningham at UFC 329
Sophie Cunningham at UFC 329 (Image via UFC AUSNZ/X)

She later explained that she initially thought White was joking and said the UFC’s regular Octagon girls helped her prepare just moments before walking out with the round card.

I was like, ‘Yeah, hah,’ and he was like, ‘No, seriously,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, God, It was so much fun, though. It was a great environment. At the end of the day, you pull the card up and you turn left. Hopefully, I could do that, but the ring girls, actually, the real ones, they were helping me. It was fun. They were like, ‘You have to have a little personality, a little sass to it.’ It was a good time.

Sophie Cunningham said via OutKick

White attended Sunday’s Fever game after Cunningham’s UFC 329 appearance the previous evening, while the Indiana guard closed the weekend with 20 points in the Fever’s 109-75 victory over the Aces.

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