PAIGE TURNER
Paige VanZant vows to prove she is not just pretty face and happy to get cut open and scarred in Bareknuckle Boxing
PAIGE VANZANT has vowed to prove she is not just a pretty face after signing a multi-fight move with the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
The 26-year-old lost the final bout of her UFC contract against Amanda Ribas last month on Fight Island.
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She looked destined to join Bellator, the promotion who husband Austin Vanderford fights for.
Yet PVZ has now agreed an exclusive deal with BKBFC and claims she's not bothered about having long-term scars fighting in the promotion.
12 Gauge told : “I feel like I still have this stigma in MMA that I'm just a pretty face, and what a way to prove to people that's not the way I see myself at all.
“This is a sport where people probably have the highest rate of getting cut open and having long-term scars is definitely something that I'm not even worried about for me.
“It's just the love of competition and I'm really excited to go out there and show off in such an amazing sport.
I feel like I still have this stigma in MMA that I'm just a pretty face, and what a way to prove to people that's not the way I see myself at all.
Paige VanZant
“It was an amazing contract, an amazing opportunity, I also feel like it's not a move backwards for me.
“It's a lateral move to a new opportunity, a new challenge, a brand new sport. I really have sparked a brand new passion for it and especially for striking in general.”
VanZant was humbled in the first round by Brazilian Ribas during her final UFC fight last month.
After the defeat, Dana White took a cheeky dig at her but the American has refused to rule out an eventual return to the Octagon.
VanZant added: “I don't know that I am done with MMA.
“I know momentarily I am. I still have a huge passion for MMA, and I just recently relocated to Florida to train with American Top Team. Obviously they are one of the best MMA gyms in the world.
“Right now, my sole focus is boxing, but in a few years I could go back to MMA or I could just be making so much doing this bare knuckle boxing that I don't do anything else."
UFC president White had urged VanZant to test out different promotions and she did attract interest from Bellator.
Yet speaking on why she picked the BKFC, the flyweight contender said it was the idea that “fit best.”
VanZant said: “I talked to a lot of different promotions.
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“I actually had no idea that I would have so many come with such big offers.
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“I knew I would get the big players in the game, like Bellator or ONE, but I actually had five or six huge, solid promotions that I had to decide on.
“For me, at this moment in my career, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship was the one that fit best."
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Former UFC star Paige VanZant ‘signs multi-fight deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’
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