Paige VanZant will return to bare-knuckle boxing this year, and is planning to ink a contract extension with her promoters BKFC despite also committing to AEW professional wrestling.
The former UFC star, who is one of the most recognisable faces in the sport, lost her first two outings in the squared circle after leaving the top MMA promotion. She was comfortably beaten by Britain Hart before a razor-close decision against Rachael Ostovich, but has promised to come back better than ever in what she deems the "most raw" combat sport.
VanZant has other options including a number of top MMA promotions such as Bellator, where her husband Austin Vanderford is a top middleweight contender. But she is sticking with BKFC in search of her first win in the brutal sport.
“I’m still bare knuckle boxing,” VanZant told MMAFighting. “I’m still with BKFC. I’m about to sign a contract extension. Of course I didn’t have the greatest success right off the bat but that also fuelled my fire even more.
"I'm training harder and I do see a lot of relationship between my training for BKFC and my training for pro wrestling - the great thing is there’s 24 hours in a day and I’m going to use every single hour of that to train for both.”
VanZant struggled with her losses, particularly the second to Ostovich where she stormed out of the ring following the reading of the final decision. But she has come to terms with them, and is now laser-focused on getting back to winning ways for the first time since her UFC days.
“I do know the last two fights that I had for them, they were extremely close, both of them," she continued. “Looking at it from an athlete’s perspective I do know I lost to both of them.
"I know there was controversy some people saying I won. It was very close. I do see it as I had two losses but they were extremely close and I can see my boxing skill better from the first to the second [fight].
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“I’m not done yet - I know people saw me going into it as a terrible career move and there was all the negativity and the shock of me signing with bare-knuckle boxing. Yeah, I did go 0-2. I need to come out there, I need to get some wins under my belt.
"Those losses even though losing is terrible, I just had so much fun. Both of those fights were so much fun. I never once thought about walking away. I would love to sign a contract extension with them. I just plan on keep going with it. I feel it’s the most brutal, raw form of fighting and I want to be a part of the show for the long run.”
VanZant is expected to return on July 9 in London when the promotion touches down on British soil for the first time, although nothing has been confirmed as yet. She is also plotting to make her AEW debut as an in-ring competitor, so training will be split between both.
