Paige VanZant is noncommittal when it comes to her future in MMA.
Just four fights into her professional MMA career, VanZant was signed to the UFC and quickly rose to stardom. She won four of her first five bouts, including an incredible switch-kick knockout of Bec Rawlings after competing on “Dancing With The Stars.”
VanZant’s popularity also meant plenty of opportunities outside the sport, and after parting ways with the UFC in 2020, VanZant signed a lucrative deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. She also crossed over into the world of professional wrestling and isn’t quite sure what the future holds in terms of MMA.
“Right now I have a lot on my plate with BKFC and with AEW, but I don’t know,” VanZant told MMA Junkie. “I just turned 28 years old, so I don’t really like to say a door is closed unless I know what is for sure, and it’s definitely not in a place where I’m ready to hang my hat up entirely, so we’ll see. I’m having a lot of fun right now with bare-knuckle boxing and with pro wrestling, so I don’t really have my heart saying yes or no on absolutely anything (regarding MMA) right now.”
Amongst the other sources of revenue for VanZant is her Only Fans page, where she has amassed a huge following as a social media influencer.
“For me, it’s easy. I think my entire career throughout the UFC early on, everyone said I was a master at social media,” VanZant said. “I still feel like I am. It’s definitely another – not a full-time job for me, it’s more I have fun. I get to communicate. The difference between regular social media – Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, those are all things that I do have, and I am very active on. This (Only Fans), it’s a select group of people that are paying for my time, so I feel like they get that one-on-one interaction. I get to talk to people personally everyday, whereas on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter, I’m not able to respond to everybody all the time, so I find the balance actually really easy.”
VanZant will seek her first BKFC win when she headlines the promotion’s inaugural event July 16 in London against an opponent to be determined. In two bare-knuckle fights, VanZant has fallen short to Britain Hart and fellow ex-UFC fighter Rachael Ostovich.
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2022/04/paige-vanzant-having-fun-bkfc-aew-pro-wrestling-only-fans
