Paige VanZant‘s next fight isn’t your ordinary one.
VanZant vs. Brooke To Headline Misfits Boxing 15
The ex-UFC and BKFC star will be making her boxing debut atop Misfits Boxing 15, where she battles the equally famous Elle Brooke. The two competitors are set to square off for the women’s middleweight title on May 25th in Houston, Texas.
VanZant has boxing experience under her belt although there were no gloves involved in her two BKFC fights in 2021. Pitted against Britain Hart and former UFC foe Rachael Ostovich, VanZant went without a win in the bare-knuckle boxing promotion, but perhaps she’ll turn over a new leaf in Misfits Boxing facing a greener fighter like Brooke.
Coming from a three year layoff, “12 Gauge” explains how the main event boxing match came about.
“Honestly, it was kinda just the call from my managers, like, ‘Hey, Misfits wants you to fight for the title. This is the opponent. This is how much money they’re gonna pay you,'” VanZant told MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin.
“I had been training for a bare-knuckle boxing match. I had a bare knuckle boxing match lined up in London that got canceled the week of the fight because of some protesting in London. I was training and prepared for a bare knuckle boxing match. So, when all of a sudden they’re like, ‘Hey. Do you wanna do this?’ And I kinda looked at it on paper, and I was like, well, yeah, of course I do.”
PVZ Treats Boxing Match Like She’s Fighting UFC’s Felice Herrig Again
VanZant and Brooke were on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to fighting. VanZant started off in MMA, transitioned into bare-knuckle boxing and capitalized on her massive social media following to monetize a library of exclusive content on subscription-based platform OnlyFans.
Brooke, 4-1 in boxing, built her OnlyFans from the ground up and the star then crossed over to the influencer boxing scene as well as the adult film industry. While Brooke doesn’t come from a martial arts background like the other women that VanZant has fought previously in the UFC, VanZant isn’t taking her any less lightly.
“It was kinda just one of those instances where it’s like I am still going into it, though. Like, it’s still a fight. She’s gonna come trained and prepared. She’s gonna be working extremely hard. I watched her last few fights. She’s very, very tough. So, I’m putting the same [energy] into it as if I’m fighting Felice Herrig again. It’s kind of that same situation. I’m gonna get ready for war…”
“I mean, everybody is,” VanZant said, when asked if Brooke was a threat. “I’d have to go back and check what her last fight date was, but I know that she’s been preparing, obviously, extremely hard to fight me. I think they may have known that they were trying to get me on the fight card before I even knew. So, I’m sure she’s been working really hard, and of course, I hope she is because I do wanna go out there, and I wanna have a tough fight. I want to really show how hard I’ve worked, and that only will come from fighting a skilled opponent. I wanna show how much skills and level I’ve progressed in the gym and how hard I’ve been working on my boxing.”
I have never been less intimidated @paigevanzant 😂 pic.twitter.com/zluZa1Iqp4
— Elle Brooke 🥊 (@holdthatelle) April 26, 2024
VanZant Details Why She Fights To This Day
Having not competed since 2021, VanZant has been heavily criticized and questioned when it comes to her fighting career. The former UFC star has turned a profit in multiple ventures over the years and doesn’t have to fight another day in her life. Still, VanZant chooses to and it’s not to stay “relevant” like her opponent Brooke has suggested.
“I have a lot of other opportunities on the table. I signed a movie contract that we’re pushing back so I can have this fight. There’s there’s a lot of other things I could be doing, but I choose to fight because I love it,” VanZant said in response to Brooke. “I have multiple other opportunities reaching out to me that are bigger, I guess, in the realm of popularity. But, I wanted to do this boxing match.
“I wanna go in there, I wanna show how hard I’ve been working in the gym, how hard I’ve been training. And, yeah, I guess I do the OnlyFans, and I do all this and that… but, my entire career, people have been asking me why I’m doing it and it’s because I want to. I do whatever the f*** I wanna do. I do it because I’m good at it, and I do it because this is where I’m gonna feel the most success at the end of the day. I like taking risks. I like having fun, and I like to fight.”
Paige VanZant says this upcoming bout with Elle Brooke is just the beginning of a multi-fight contract with Misfits Boxing and that it doesn’t mean the end of her days fighting in the BKFC.
