Former UFC standout turned BKFC brawler Paige VanZant is the latest fighter to share an unfortunate experience with USADA.
In October, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that the promotion would no longer work with the United States Anti-Doping Agency, ending an eight-year partnership in favor of an in-house testing system come 2024. Since then, fighters from far and wide and shared their horror stories of working with the agency over the years. Recently, Paige VanZant offered up her own embarrassing experience with USADA as she was in the midst of rehydrating from a particularly brutal weight cut.
“[I was] cutting weight and I was about to fight Alex Chambers in Las Vegas and this is right when USADA got implemented in the UFC,” VanZant said on her podcast alongside husband Austin Vanderford. “So my drug testers show up right after weigh-ins. I’m in my hotel room hydrating and every single time I would weigh in and try to rehydrate, [I got] instantly sick. But part of USADA is once they see you, you cannot leave their sight.
“I had my drug tester in the bathroom with me for two hours while I sh*t my brains out.”
Fortunately, VanZant hasn’t had to worry about cutting weight for some time. After amassing a 5-4 record during her seven-year run with the UFC, ’12 Gauge’ walked away in search of greener pastures. She found exactly that with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, bagging a deal worth over a million dollars.
However, PVZ failed to live up to the hype, suffering lopsided losses against Britain Hart and Rachael Ostovich in her first two appearances.
Paige VanZant Says Her Fighting Days Are Far From Over
In the time since she has found a much more lucrative career via social media and the popular subscription-based content site OnlyFans. VanZant previously revealed that in just 24 hours, she earned more money than she made during her entire combat sports career.
With her making money hand over fist by flaunting her wares, many fight fans assumed that they’d seen the last of ’12 Gauge’ in the ring or the cage, but she recently revealed plans to take at least one more fight under the BKFC banner in hopes of snagging that elusive first win with the bare-knuckle fight group.
“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 in an interview with MMA Fighting. “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.”
Watch the full episode below:
