Of all the destinations that wrestling fans have been waiting for for Paige VanZant – when one of the most recognized athletes on the UFC list hit the free agency last summer – Bare Knuckle FC was not really on the radar.
It’s forgivable. It wasn’t right on her either.
“No, not at all,” VanZant said on the phone on Tuesday. “I always thought of [bare knuckle boxing] like something I’d like to do, but I didn’t know it would be my house. I didn’t know they would be such a great player in the negotiation process and they ended up being one of the biggest players. ”
And yet, the nine-fight UFC veteran, with an 8-5 MMA score, will enter the ring for the BKFC pay-per-view headliner (FITE TV, 9 p.m.) without gloves on Friday night in front of England Hart from Tampa, Florida, at an event called KnuckleMania.
Leaving the UFC, the best MMA promotion, was not necessarily a shock. Many have predicted that VanZant, whose name weighs heavily on regular fans and without a fight, due to her success in the reality show “Dancing With the Stars” and “Chopped”, will join her husband Austin Vanderford under the Bellator banner. Noting that she respects the offer she received from one of the first two MMA outfits after the UFC and other suitors, she is unlikely to have been competitive with what the BKFC brought to the table.
With a new leadership negotiating this deal than previously negotiated with the UFC, VanZant achieved what manager Malki Kawa referred to in August last year as “a multi-million dollar deal and we’re not even talking about splashes and cherries that go on the sundae side. ”
“Besides their amazing offer, that’s where my passion was,” VanZant said. “I thought how interesting it would be to call myself a naked professional boxer. This is where I felt that this will make me stand out and this is what will make me the worst, being in this organization. ”
Few athletes in martial arts – especially in MMA – are able to conclude seven-figure 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 massive wrestling purse, it is the reality of the 26-year-old that he can win big dollars outside of fights.
Asked if she could turn down such a profitable offer, she agreed that she could do so, based on confidence in her ability to make the most of opportunities. She cited a separate multi-million dollar deal secured by her manager earlier this year, a testament to the power of her name at the negotiating table.
“I’m pretty lucky I won every dollar I pay. I fought for it, “VanZant said.” I did my best to build my brand and I know I bring a lot to Bare Knuckle, and they bring me a lot for what I bring. “
VanZant wants to be clear that he does not “point fingers and speak negatively about the UFC” because of his dissatisfaction with his latest contract. Rather, she says it was necessary to reach the open market to assess its value and find what it considered adequate compensation, which it says its previous leadership, which negotiated on its behalf, failed.
“It was a negotiated contract for me,” she said. “I wasn’t happy about that at the time and now I have a better one.”
Friday’s debut marks the first of four matches with BKFC. Unlike her experience in MMA, only her bare fists are weapons. This means that there are no elbows, blows or knees, which VanZant says he will miss using to some extent – especially blows from Muay Thai, for which he “has gained a passion in recent years”. No fighting, which takes away his strengths in creating mixes and working for deposits and ground hits on the mattress. In addition, there is no threat of elimination, which acknowledges that she was part of her fight in several UFC counterattacks.
“Only my elimination defense was my biggest downfall,” VanZant said. “… It got to the point where many of my opponents managed to take me down at will and I didn’t really manage to make progress in the fights to take control.”
However, he expressed his confidence in the coaching team of the American Top Team, where he currently trains, being able to take his defensive fight to the next level if he finds himself in the MMA competition. And this option, she says, is offered to her through her BKFC contract, so the door was not closed for sports.
Fighting with Hart on her main focus, she only trained MMA to assist other women in the gym. Instead, she sharpens her boxing technique to “reduce the distance on my strike for this transition.”
One thing VanZant doesn’t care about is the lack of gloves. She is no stranger to being punched or cut in the face. It also minimized the difference between MMA gloves and neither gloves, even less a factor in this smaller, featherweight fight.
“My MMA gloves in the fight for the UFC are tiny,” VanZant said. “I think the risk of being cut is much higher, but I think you can handle anything.”
Hart is 4-4-3 as a boxer, as well as 1-2 in empty fights – with a total of four knockout victories in both sports. VanZant talked a lot about Hart’s toughness as something that “led her through many struggles.”
Although VanZant’s striking game in MMA was not known for its boxing base, she believes viewers will be surprised at how far she has come in sweet science.
“I think they’ll see a technical boxer, someone who really developed my striking game,” VanZant said. “I changed my fighting style a lot. I was able to really focus on one skill, and when you focus on one skill for so long, it will definitely show the growth I did. ”