26-year-old Korean beauty Jin Jin Kim said on Jan. 15 in an exclusive interview with Long Island MMA Examiner Eric Holden that she's pleased to be a part of the XFC family as the promotion continues to grow into an MMA powerhouse.
"Yes their growth has helped me," Kim said of XFC. "They’re a great promotion to work for and a cool group of people. I do feel that working with the XFC has helped me with connections and to grow my brand bigger than it was before."
Kim, an official XFC cage doll, generously gave up a few minutes of her time to answer questions for Examiner.com. She delved into a number of topics, including her background as an exercise physiologist, and some facts about her famous wardrobe malfunction incident. Here's what she had to say:
Q. From what I understand, you quit a steady cardiology job in a hospital to become a ring girl. That seems like a pretty bold move. Were your parents upset with that? What do they think about it now? Any regrets?
Kim: To quit a profession with stable pay was definitely a bold and scary move for me. My parents were very upset with the decision I made to follow my dreams. They’re old school and traditional so they did not understand my reasoning for wanting to pursue a modeling career.
I don't regret my decisions because I’ve had awesome experiences traveling and meeting many talented people. However, I do have feelings of guilt at times simply because I don't want to disappoint them and I want to make them happy. At the end of the day I want to do what makes me happy. I will strive to find success in this and make it to the top as a successful model and ring girl.
Q. XFC grew into a truly powerhouse MMA promotion in 2012, and they seem to be doing big things heading into 2013. Tell me a little bit about working with them.
Kim: They’re a great promotion to work for and a cool group of people. I do feel that working with the XFC has helped me with connections and to grow my brand bigger than it was before. I met the guys over at Apocalypse MMA through the XFC and they’ve helped me out tremendously!
They were the ones who built my website for free, taught me how to use it and brought me on as their official Apocalypse MMA model. I don't see myself branching off quite yet, simply because I enjoy the world of MMA, working as an XFC cage doll and Apocalypse MMA model.
Q. Speaking of your website, MMA fans seemed to enjoy the health and fitness blogs you were posting late last year. Any plans to start that up again?
Kim: Coming out of the holidays I now have time now to get that going and have a list of things to start posting. My website just got finished back in December so the holidays kind of threw me off with that. But definitely stay tuned for new modeling pictures, health and fitness post on my official website at http://www.jinjinkim.com or follow me on my official Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/OfficialJinJinKim!
Q. Who is your favorite ring girl?
Kim: My favorite ring girl would have to be Brittney Palmer. I love art and to know she is a very talented artist is very inspiring to me.
Q. What's the worst thing to happen to you during your time as a ring girl?
Kim: I had a wardrobe malfunction! At one show I had one of the girls slip out! It was so embarrassing for me. Luckily, it was my friend who caught it.
Q. Wow that is funny. I'm sure the men in the crowd didn't mind though. So I understand you were born in Seoul, Korea. Are you proud to be one of the few ring girls from Korea?
Kim: You're right; there aren't a lot of Korean ring girls. For that reason, I do like that because it does set me apart from the other ring girls. I'm not sure if I know of any Korean MMA fans in the Nashville area but I am proud to be represented as the only Korean MMA ring girl in this area!
I have not had anyone say anything negative to me yet. I do know that Korean people are very conservative and that I probably wouldn't get the nicest comments. I just don’t worry about what others think of me!
Q. Besides your work as a cage doll with XFC, you also serve as a model for Apocalypse MMA. How's that going for you?
Kim: Apocalypse MMA has been great to me, they help so many women in the MMA industry and do so much for so many people. Their motto of paying it forward is awesome!
Q. What's the energy like at XFC shows?
Kim: If you haven’t been to a live XFC event, you need to go, it’s like no other! They are so much fun and I wish they were in Nashville every month. The XFC I want to thank for bringing me on as an official XFC Cage Doll.
Q. Shoutout to any other sponsors?
Kim: Besides XFC and Apocalypse MMA, I would also like to thank MMA Mayhem. I want to ask everyone to checkout all my sponsors when you get a chance.
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