Former UFC fighter Paige VanZant has opened up about her future in combat sports.
VanZant has not fought since July of 2021 when he suffered a decision loss to Rachael Ostovich in her second BKFC fight. She’s currently 0-2 in the promotion and was booked to fight Charisa Sigala at BKFC 27 on August 20, 2022. However, the fight was pulled and never re-booked, and since then, she has yet to return to fighting.
During her time off, Paige VanZant has been working on her businesses, but says she is getting close to a return and says it will be in BKFC.
“It’s definitely bare-knuckle still, 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. I just haven’t decided yet. I’m going to leave a lot of that up to my manager, and my coaches,” VanZant said to MMAFighting. “Just work on this time to get better, 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.”
As of right now, it’s uncertain when Paige VanZant will fight again and who she will face in her potential return to BKFC.
Paige VanZant says she’s fighting for fun now
Although Paige VanZant says she will be making her return to BKFC, ’12 Gauge’ says she is fighting completely for fun.
During her time off, VanZant said she got that spark to compete again, as with her businesses she no longer needs to fight for money, and instead wants to fight because she enjoys it.
“I feel like I am in a position where I’m just having fun working out and training right now,” VanZant said. “I’m going back to when I first started. I want to find that spark and that passion again to where I’m not fighting to make the president of the company happy, I’m not fighting for sponsors. I’m not fighting for my family, to help them out, to get them out of dark times. I’m in a great place where I can do all these things that I actually set out to do. I can help my family. I can do these things, but I don’t have to fight for that to be possible. Now it’s like I get to choose when I fight. It’s really nice.
“It’s going from being an employee to being the boss of my own company. So, I do feel like I’ve stepped into an entirely new realm of success, where I get to determine my future. I get to determine every move that I make, and there’s a scary aspect to it, just knowing that I’m dictating every decision that I make.”
Paige VanZant is currently 0-2 in BFKC and 8-5 in MMA.
