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Fans expressed disappointment over Paige VanZant's loss in her professional boxing debut. VanZant challenged Misfits boxing women's middleweight champion Elle Brooke for the title on May 25. The fight resulted in a split draw and fans were displeased with the former UFC fighter's performance against a relatively inexperienced athlete in Brooke.
A day after her fight against Brooke, VanZant took to Instagram and posted a smiling photo of herself to show that she was in good spirits after the performance. The caption, however, took a jab at her critics. She wrote:
"Just cause I wanna make the haters mad!!"
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Fans expressed their thoughts in the comments section of the post and criticized VanZant's caption:
"Nah, that's not for the haters. That's you being desperate," giegerheck commented.
"Lmao. We aren't mad. Just disappointed," bigmair33 commented.
"U got beat up," shaneooo13341324 commented.
Many combat sports fans expressed their disappointment in VanZant's performance against Brooke.
"Wait, she celebrating a draw to an amateur, ok," jets78222 commented.
"You are a pro and couldn't beat an influencer," donutsss1212 commented.
Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor supported VanZant and praised her performance in the comments section.
"Well in Paige! What a fighter!" Conor McGregor wrote.
VanZant's boxing debut against Brooke marked her first combat sports appearance in nearly three years. In July 2021, VanZant fought fellow ex-UFC fighter Rachel Ostovich in a bare-knuckle boxing match.
The 30-year-old fighter put forth her best effort against Brooke and showed no signs of ring rust. But Brooke proved to be a more powerful striker and scored the only knockdown of the fight in Round 1.
VanZant outworked the incumbent champion in terms of volume but absorbed the more impactful strikes throughout the five-round contest. The judges scored the contest a split draw and Brooke retained the title.
When Paige VanZant praised Conor McGregor for revolutionizing MMA and the UFC
Conor McGregor is widely regarded as one of the most instrumental fighters in expanding the UFC's global footprint. The Irishman utilized his promotional tactics effectively to draw more eyeballs to the sport and laid out a blueprint for MMA fighters to achieve commercial success.
While speaking on the Endless Hustle podcast in January 2021, Paige VanZant highlighted McGregor's contribution to the sport and his impact on the next generation of fighters:
"Now you can really see, you know, the personalities of all these other fighters come through. Everyone's trying to be the next Conor McGregor - walk like him and talk like him. I think that no one will be able to have his originality. There's going to be other stars, I absolutely believe that. But I think that he's the only one that's going to be known as the first most important person to really change the UFC and MMA to this household name."
Check out VanZant's comments below (1:14):
