Paige VanZant turned down a chance to fight for Bellator to sign with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship but she admits she’d love to fight for Bellator.
VanZant has gone 0-2 in BKFC and her next fight could be do-or-die for her career with the sans gloves promotion. She says she only has one fight left on her deal and after that, she is open to signing with Bellator.
“That’s always on the back of my mind. I would love for us to fight for the same organization,” VanZant said on American Top Team’s Punchin’ In podcast (via Sportskeeda). “I would love to fight for Bellator, they’ve treated him [Austin Vanderford] really well, especially now that he’s fought his way up to a title… I feel like it was good that we weren’t in the same organization because they couldn’t build him as a star by himself. He would be always kind of be in my shadow and I felt like now that I’m not with Bellator, he got to build himself up to a title shot all by himself.”
VanZant’s husband, of course, is Austin Vanderford who is set to fight for the middleweight title against Gegard Mousasi next time out. VanZant, meanwhile, does not have her next fight booked in BKFC.
Paige VanZant is currently 8-5 in MMA and last fought in MMA back at UFC 251 where she suffered a submission loss to Amanda Ribas. Although she is 0-2 in BKFC she still remains a big name in the sport and would be a welcomed addition to Bellator’s flyweight division. However, whether or not the promotion would have interest in her is uncertain as she is 0-3 in her last three fights including BKFC and MMA. Yet, if she does win her next fight in BKFC then perhaps BKFC looks to re-sign her, but VanZant will likely have options.
