Paige VanZant isn’t nearly finished with her bare-knuckle fighting career.
The former UFC star inked a four-fight deal with BKFC back in 2020 but also just recently announced her plans to crossover into professional wrestling after signing with All Elite Wrestling. VanZant stated that she will be busy with both of these endeavors. The Writer that she’s still very much a combat sports athlete with hopes that she’ll soon reach an agreement on an extension to stay with BKFC even longer.
” I’m still doing bare-knuckle boxing,” VanZant stated. I’m still at BKFC. I’m about to sign a contract extension. Although I wasn’t the most successful right away, it also fuelled my passion even further. It is hard to train and there are many similarities between training for BKFC as well as my pro wrestling training.
“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.”
Despite an 0-2 start with BKFC, VanZant hasn’t lost an ounce of confidence that she made the right decision to test herself in bare-knuckle fighting after leaving the UFC.
Although neither of the losses she suffered were bad, VanZant sees them as learning experiences. She expects better results when she competes in the next BKFC event.
“I’m committed 100 percent,” VanZant said. “I know that the two last fights I had with them were very close.
“Looking at it from an athlete’s perspective I do know I lost to both of them. Some people claimed I won. It was very close. It was very close.
Of course, VanZant heard plenty of criticism from the moment she put pen to paper on her contract with BKFC, especially considering the graphic brutality that often accompanies bare-knuckle matches.
VanZant claims that this was just an extra motivator. Her experience with BKFC is nothing short of positive, with the hope that their relationship will last well beyond this year.
” I’m still not finished,” VanZant stated. “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. These fights were great fun. It was never in my mind to walk away.
” I would like to extend my contract with them. It’s a great show and I plan to keep it going. 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 now training with David Heath for pro wrestling. Many of his long-standing fans know him as Gangrel, his legendary character from World Wrestling Entertainment.
While pro wrestling can be difficult, VanZant is confident that AEW will allow her to grow because she signed a contract not just for TV.
“It’s a long term partnership for sure [with AEW],” VanZant said. “This is not something I’m doing it for I guess to check off my bucket list, just to say that I did it. I want to be a part of their show. It’s true. I love what AEW does.
“I had gone to a few shows and I was like this is cool. It is incredible. [American Top Team owner] Dan Lambert had brought me out just to check it out and I was like this is really cool. After that, I felt like this was the right place for me to go. It didn’t take long for us to convince AEW that I should be a part of their team.”
VanZant fell in love quickly with wrestling, while still appreciating the fact that AEW as well as BKFC have her best interest at heart.
” I’ve had a conversation with AEW, BKFC, and they are willing to collaborate to ensure that my career is successful and allow me to focus on the task at hand.” VanZant stated.
“So I’ll probably have my match for pro wrestling and then I will be bare knuckle boxing this year as well.”
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