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Paige VanZant has revealed why she turned down an offer to re-sign with the UFC.
'12 Gauge' had a brief stint with the UFC. She joined the promotion in 2014 and left it in 2020 to sign with BKFC. Since then, VanZant has competed inside the BKFC squared circle just twice and has made several appearances in the pro-wrestling promotion AEW as well.
However, VanZant has been out of action for quite some time now. Despite this, her popularity seems to have grown tremendously thanks to her career as a model on the exclusive content-sharing platform OnlyF*ns.
Interestingly, '12 Gauge' once had the opportunity to re-sign with the UFC as well. While speaking about it during an interview with Damon Martin of MMA Fighting, VanZant revisited why she declined the offer and said:
"Me re-signing with the UFC would have been a safe choice but I also just wasn't happy anymore and it's not ill will towards UFC and I knew I needed something else."
She added:
"I just opened up my mind and my options so much to where I just get to do pretty much anything that I want to. I can spark a passion and I can say you know what I want to start a podcast, you know? I want to do this and then I just you know, attack it 100% I don't have anything holding me back."
Catch Paige VanZant's comments in the video below (22:23):
Paige VanZant claims her next fight will be under the BKFC promotion
After being out of action for over two years, it looks like Paige VanZant is open to returning. During the same interview with Damon Martin, VanZant was asked about potentially returning to competition to which she replied by claiming her next fight will be under the BKFC banner.
While stating that she does not have a fixed timeline for her return as of yet, VanZant said:
“It’s definitely bare-knuckle, and I don’t know if it’s down the road in six months, I don’t know if it’s down the road a year. I really just haven’t decided yet. I’m going to leave a lot of that up to my manager and my coaches. Just work on this time to get better enjoy the training and not worry about signing a fight contract right away. But it’s definitely bare-knuckle."
Check out Paige VanZant's comments in the video below (12:20):
