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It has been 2.5 years since Paige VanZant stepped into a ring or cage for competitive fight.
But now it sounds like a return is on the horizon for the one-time UFC star turned wildly successful OnlyFans model.
VanZant sat down with MMAFighting.com recently and laid out her plans for a return to fighting, specifically with Bareknuckle FC.
“It’s definitely bare-knuckle, and I don’t know if it’s down the road in six months, I don’t know if it’s down the road a year,” VanZant said. “I really just haven’t decided yet. I’m going to leave a lot of that up to my manager and my coaches. Just work on this time to get better and enjoy the training and not worry about signing a fight contract right away. But it’s definitely bare-knuckle.
“I love bare-knuckle boxing. I’ve now gone 10 rounds in bare-knuckle boxing and I’m searching for that victory. I’m searching for a lot of things in bare-knuckle boxing that I haven’t accomplished, and it will be with BKFC again.”
Fight Cancellation Led To Significant Time Away For Paige VanZant
VanZant was supposed to fight in August 2022, but BKFC canceled the fight shortly prior to her leaving for London.
“The real frustration, I guess, was the lead-up to the fight — I worked so hard,” VanZant told MMA Fighting. “I was so excited for this fight. But it was also a big accomplishment as a couple to say we got [my husband Austin Vanderford] ready for his fight. I was at his fight when I got the call that my fight got pulled. So him and I were supposed to fight days apart from each other. Just what goes into a fight camp for two people. Dieting for both of us, just the behind the scenes things that people don’t really understand what goes on, just getting prepared.
“For me to get the call that the fight got pulled — a fight I was so ready for, and I was so excited about. I cut all the weight early, because I knew I would be traveling, I would be flying all the way to London. My dad was already in London waiting for me. It was depressing, and then trying to figure out how to get right back into a fight camp and not knowing when their next fight camp would be. We already had plans to go visit family in Alaska. It’s like, do I cancel my trip to Alaska? It was hard to figure out what to do next.”
Despite the time away, VanZant is still one of the world’s most popular fighters. And her return to the ring will surely have a lot of hype surrounding it.