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18/03/10 - Arianny and her teenage prom date need your help
Remember the 17-year-old MMA fan who managed to get UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste to agree to be his prom night date? Well that prom night is tomorrow night and the lucky teen is checking and re-checking his prom night suit as he gets ready for the date of his life.
The teen in question is Connor Cordova. His gutsy, persistent and often hilarious efforts to earn Arianny’s hand on prom night became something of an internet sensation thanks to Cordova wooing his intended via the medium of YouTube.
A series of videos in which Cordova makes ever more extravagant pleas for Arianny to accompany him - accompanied by UFC stars such as Wanderlei Silva and Georges St Pierre - have attracted hundreds of thousands of hits. What is more, they have become a vehicle for charity too. Since the recent earthquake disaster in Haiti, Arianny and Cordova has appealed for fans of the videos to help ‘Raise it for Haiti’. He has even persuaded his high school to make the prmo nite dance a Haiti fundraiser.
Cordova gives all credit for the charitable effort to Arianny, saying the 2008 and 2009 winner of Ring Girl of the Year really wanted to do something to help the Haitians, who have been absolutely decimated by the natural disaster that hit the island recently.
"When a MAXIM Model makes a suggestion you just say yes," Cordova laughed. “But it’s a great idea and a wonderful suggestion, it would be great if we could use this prom night to help the Haitan people because honestly, they were hit so hard by the earthquake it’s a miracle they can keep going.”
Asked how MMA fans can help, Cordova pointed towards PayPal. “Its really easy to make a donation via PayPal and its no cliché to say that every single dollar helps. Donations of any size will have a real, practical benefit in Haiti.
“Just go to the website A Stronger Haiti.org and you can read about my campaign, 'Raise it for Haiti'. If you go to the section at the top right, 'Support', there is an option there to make a PayPal donation. Anyone who is kind enough to make a donation, if you make sure to put in the subject line ‘Raise it for Haiti’ then they'll know it came from an MMA fan as a result of this campaign. Fight fans are generally cool people, I hope there will be plenty who will reach out to the Haitian people this way.”
Tomorrow night's prom event will feature autions of signed UFC memorabilia, with the results going to the 'Raise it for Haiti' fund. As for his own plans for the prom night, Cordova was much less forthcoming. “I can’t tell you anything,” he laughed. “A gentleman never reveals!”
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