Of all the destinations that fans of Paige VanZant expected – when one of the most recognizable athletes on the UFC roster had a free agency last summer – Bare Knuckle FC was not really on the radar.
It’s forgivable. It wasn’t exactly hers either.
“No, not at all,” VanZant told The Post by telephone on Tuesday. ‘I always thought about it [bare knuckle boxing] as something I would have wanted to do, but I did not know it would be my home. I did not know that they would be such a big player in the negotiation process, and they ended up being one of the biggest players. ”
And yet the nine-fight UFC veteran will battle with an 8-5 score in MMA for Friday night’s BKFC pay-per-view headliner (FITE TV, 9pm) without gloves, and lose to Britain Heart in Tampa, Fla., In an event called KnuckleMania.
That she left the UFC, the best MMA promotion, was not necessarily a shock. Many have VanZant, whose name carries weight with casual and non-fighting fans, predicted thanks to her success in the reality competition programs “Dancing With the Stars” and “Chopped”, to go with the man Austin Vanderford under the Bellator banner. Noting that she respects the offer she received from one of the top two MMA outfits to the UFC and other prospective suitors, it is unlikely that it would have been competitive with what BKFC had on the table.
With the new management negotiating this agreement as previously agreed with the UFC, VanZant called manager Malki Kawa, who was named in August last year, a ‘million dollar deal, and we are not even talking the sprinkling and the cherries that are on top of the sundae. ”
“Beyond their amazing offering, this was just where my passion was,” VanZant said. ‘I thought about how exciting it would be to call myself a professional boxer. This is the one where I felt it was going to make me stand out, and that’s what’s going to make me the worst, because I’m in this organization. ”
Few athletes in martial arts – especially in MMA – can sign seven-digit contracts. But VanZant’s status as a crossover star makes her a bit of a unicorn in this world. While most fighters could only dream of such a giant wallet, it is the 26-year-old’s reality that she can also earn foreign fights.
Asked if she could possibly turn down such a lucrative offer, she agrees that she could do so, based on the confidence in her ability to seize opportunities. She quoted a separate million-dollar deal her manager got for her earlier this year, a testament to the strength her name carries on the negotiating table.
‘I’m lucky I earned every dollar. I fought for it, “said VanZant. “I did everything possible to build my brand, and I know I bring a lot to Bare Knuckle, as well as that they bring me a lot for what I bring.”
VanZant wants to be clear that she is not ‘pointing fingers and talking negatively about the UFC’ about dissatisfaction with her last contract. On the contrary, she says it has cost the open market to determine her value and find what she considers suitable compensation, something that, according to her previous management who negotiated on her behalf, is not succeeding.
“It was a contract negotiated for me,” she said. “I was not happy with it at the time, and now I have one that is better.”
Friday’s debut is the first of four contracts with BKFC. Unlike her experience in MMA, only her bare fists are weapons. That means no elbows, kicks or knees that VanZant says will be missed to some extent – especially strikes by Muay Thai, for which she has gained a passion over the past few years. ‘Nor struggling, which removes her strength to be scrambled and work for submissions and ground attacks on the mat. On the plus side, there is no threat to the removal, which she said was part of her fight in several UFC setbacks.
“Just my defense for the removal was my biggest downfall,” VanZant said. “… It got to the point that many of my opponents could only take me down at will, and I could not really make the struggle in my struggle to take over.”
However, she has expressed confidence in the coaching staff at American Top Team, where she currently trains, to be able to take her defensive wrestling to the next level when she lands in the MMA competition again. And the option, according to her, is offered to her BKFC contract, and the sport is therefore not closed.
With the fight against Hart, which is her primary focus, she did not train MMA except to help other women in the gym. Instead, she sharpens her boxing technique to ‘narrow the gap in my pursuit of this transition’.
One thing VanZant does not care about is the lack of gloves. She is no stranger to being punched or cut open. She also underestimated the difference between MMA gloves and no gloves.
“My MMA gloves in which I fight for the UFC are small,” VanZant said. “I think the risk of being cut open is much higher, but I think you can handle everything.”
Hart is 4-4-3 as a boxer, as well as 1-2 in bare knuckles – with a total of four knockout victories in both sports. VanZant spoke highly of Hart’s toughness as something that “carried her through many fights.”
Although VanZant’s striking game in MMA was not known for its boxing base, she believes viewers will be amazed at how far she has come in the sweet science.
“I think they see a technical boxer out there, someone who really developed my striking game,” VanZant said. “I changed a lot of my fighting style. I could really focus on one skill, and if you focus on one skill for so long, it will definitely show the growth I have made. ”