Seventy-one years ago, a sexy, blonde alien from an unknown planet was sent to Earth. Her mission was to destroy the entire population in order to make room for another unknown alien race that would one day claim planet Earth as their home.

However, the sexy alien accidently hit herself in the head with the door of her space pod upon landing. Her memory was completely erased and her alien mission was forgotten.

She was eventually given the name Nicole Craner by a hard working Idahoan family and would go on to become a successful model and MMA ring girl.

Joking aside, Craner knew she wanted to become a model ever since she was a little girl.

“Magazines used to inspire me. I used to make collages and stuff all over my walls. My mom had a bridal magazine once and I stuck them up on my walls so my whole wall was covered in brides, but not because of the dresses, but just because of the models,” Craner said.

Craner’s modeling aspirations took off when she entered the famous Maxim Hometown Hotties contest for two consecutive years. The second time, Craner was selected as a semi finalist and ended up being featured in the magazine.

“I just kept going and going, I’m one to always challenge myself and for me I love shooting and I love doing what I do. I love working with a variety of photographers and doing different kinds of photography whether it's glamour or swimsuit, I don’t stick with the same thing.”

Today, Craner works as a ring card girl for the Texas-based MMA promotion Shark Fights. She has also been a ring girl for various other organizations in the past, such as Strikeforce and Tuff N’ Uff.

For Craner, MMA is something that she’s been passionate about ever since she first started watching the UFC back in the early 1990s.

Back then, the sport didn’t have any weight classes and barely any rules. It was promoted as a no holds barred martial arts tournament which reminded Craner of a beloved action movie.

“I think because it’s so brutal and they weren’t wearing gloves [at the time]. I used to watch BloodSport, that’s one of my all time favorite movies so when I first saw [the UFC] I was like ‘this is the Kumite, wow this is so cool’,” Craner said.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m just a bad girl? Maybe I just like bad boys and bad things, I don’t know, blood doesn’t bother me.”

Hey, I think I speak for most guys when I say that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a bad girl. Unless of course the definition of a bad girl is someone who gets drunk and totals their boyfriend’s car, then I suppose in that instance being a bad girl is not a good thing.

But that’s not Craner’s type. She’s a very intelligent woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and state her opinion.

Many critics, and we’ll call these people “meatheads,” look at a ring girl as simply eye candy and nothing more.

If these baboons would actually look at the big picture beyond the “big picture,” they will realize that a lot of these girls are more than they appear.  

“The thing is, I’m a smart girl, and I’m a legal secretary. I’ve gone to college and studied law. I’m very business savvy and I’m not just a girl that looks pretty in front of a camera; I work hard at what I do,” Craner said.

“People say that all we do is hold up a sign but that’s not all that I do. I can name any stat, any fighter, and any fight if you asked me to. I know the sport and I’m not just some girl that sits there smiling trying to look pretty,” Craner said.

From a marketing stand point, it’s no secret that sex sells. Craner believes the same rings true for MMA when it comes to ring girls.

“I think you really can promote [ring girls] if you do it the right way. The UFC has done that and also Bellator does that and Shark Fights does that so I think it’s a good commodity for any organization out there to capitalize on,” Craner said.

As a ring girl, Craner and girls like fellow Shark Fights Angel Natalie Skyy and UFC Octagon girl Arianny Celeste are bound to attract a ton of weirdos and stalkers.

Since I am the sexiest columnist in MMA, I can totally relate; in fact I’m being stalked right now by a herd of Latina belly dancers.

However, Craner isn’t bothered by it. She is very thankful for all of her fans, whether they are creepy or not. But there was one particular incident that did strike her as odd and she’s still not even sure why it happened.

“As far as something crazy, I’m not sure if he was a fan or not, but Natalie Skyy and I were in Texas for Shark Fights 13 and when we walked into the hotel there was this guy behind a bar, and when I looked over he was completely flashing us,” Craner said.

“That’s just an image that I will never forget, Natalie and I were not only freaked out but we were just kind of like, ‘really?’ So we ran into the hotel and, I don’t know if it was [Rameau Thierry] Sokoudjou or someone that was out there looking for him and they never found him.”

“I don’t know if [flashing us] was supposed to be a really nice gesture or what he was trying to say but it definitely freaked me out.”

Speaking of Shark Fights 13, that event was held on September 11, 2010 and featured the most high profile fight card in the company’s history. Names like Keith Jardine, Paul Daley, Houston Alexander and Sokoudjou competed in what turned out to be a very exciting night of fights in Amarillo, Texas.

Craner loves working with the Texas-based company and foresees big things in their future. The UFC will likely always be the No. 1 brand in MMA, but she is confident that Shark Fights can become a popular alternative, much like Strikeforce and Bellator.

“I do [see Shark Fights becoming very big in the MMA world], with the way we are going and the things we are doing. Our next fight is March 11 so I’m very excited for that and I believe we have a TV deal in the works,” Craner said.

“I believe the network will be announced soon, either tomorrow or next week is when they will start announcing everything. I think we have a great chance to do big things as long as we keep going in the right direction, which we are.”

Founded in 2008 by President Brent Medley, Shark Fights has grown rapidly over the past three years.

They are different from other fight promotions and Craner attributes their family-based mentality as reason for their growing success.

“We are a family-oriented promotion; we’re actually going to have a mascot which is going to be really cool. We all seem to work really well together so I think we’re going to do really well in 2011.”

For more information on Nicole Craner, follow her on twitter @NicoleCraner

Mitch Ciccarelli is the sexiest columnist in MMA. A staff writer for Heavy MMA, featured columnist for B/R and host of Crouching Tiger Hidden Leprechaun MMA Radio, Ciccarelli is also a future United States Airman beginning basic training this March. He is also engaged to Eva Mendes and Jessica Simpson.

Follow Ciccarelli on twitter, unless you have herpes.  @MitchCiccarelli