Former UFC standout Paige VanZant has made more entertaining her supporters on OnlyFans than she ever did whilst competing inside the Octagon.
’12 Gauge’ has established herself as one of the most successful combat sports stars in recent years, but ironically, all of her success has come outside of the cage. After amassing a middling 5-4 record inside the Octagon over the course of her six-year tenure with the promotion, PVZ opted to walk away from the company in hopes of banking some big money elsewhere.
She did exactly that, securing a big-money contract with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. However, it didn’t take long for her to realize that there was a lot more money to be made by baring her assets on social media than competing against the best fighters in the world. In fact, VanZant made so much money that after a mere 24 hours on the popular subscription-based website OnlyFans, she had already eclipsed her earnings from over 10 years in the fight game.
“I would say when I made the switch to OnlyFans…there’s a lot of stuff I’ve done in my career…I’ve been really fortunate that my career even outside of the UFC and outside of fighting has been pretty successful,” VanZant said during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ OnlyStans podcast.
“I’ve worked pretty hard in other industries and trying to crossover to like I guess more of a mainstream personality. But yes, OnlyFans has definitely been my largest source of income. I would say combined in my fighting. I think I made more money in 24 hours on OnlyFans than I had in my entire fighting career.”
Paige VanZant is Likely Done with Combat Sports
VanZant is still under contract with the BKFC, but neither party has been particularly adamant about working together. The promotion is reportedly finding it difficult to pay PVZ’s high asking price given the fact that she came up short in her first two appearances with the promotion.
On the flip side, VanZant struggles with the idea of walking away from her online cash machine to enter fight camp for a scrap that will pay less than what she would earn by posting a few scantily clad pictures on Instagram.
“The hard thing for me to put in perspective is with endorsements I make way more money sitting at home, posting pictures on Instagram, than I do fighting,” VanZant said. “With endorsement deals and everything I pull in from social media, I would actually be a loss just taking a fight and focusing on that,” VanZant added. “If I were to stop everything I do outside of fighting and take a fight, I would be at a loss financially.“
’12 Gauge’ is also at odds with the promotion over the pay gap between male and female fighters, citing her most recent contract negotiations.
“When I did my contract negotiation the last time, the talk was, ‘I can’t pay you more than a female champion.’ Okay, but why are comparing me to just women? All of us should be getting paid more in general,” VanZant added.
