It appears Paige VanZant’s debut in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships will come sooner rather than later.
The former UFC fighter, who recently inked a lucrative four-fight deal with BKFC, is currently being targeted for her first fight with the promotion in November. VanZant just recently revealed that she was dealing with serious illness after her husband Austin Vanderford tested positive for COVID-19, but it now appears she’s on the road to recovery.
According to BKFC president David Feldman, the promotion is planning to stack the card alongside VanZant’s debut, which will likely be one of the biggest in the company’s history.
“It should be the debut of Paige,” Feldman told MMA Fighting about her debut with the card currently expected on Nov. 14. “I know she was sick recently, so we’re going to see if she’s going to be able to get back into training, or if we have to push it.
That will also be Jim Alers vs. Luis Palomino and Johnny Bedford vs. Dat Nguyen. So we’re going to have at least two world championship fights on that card and I think we’re also going to have a women’s championship fight on that card as well. It’s going to be a tremendous couple months for us.”
Alers and Palomino recently got into a skirmish at a BKFC press conference, which built their rivalry even further ahead of their eventual showdown later this year.
Feldman added that while the women’s championship fight is not yet finalized, BKFC hopes to promote at least one women’s fight with every card in the future.
As far as VanZant’s debut goes, her manager Malki Kawa told MMA Fighting on Monday that everything is on track for her to make her first BKFC on time as expected.
“She’s doing better – she’s feeling way better,” Kawa said regarding VanZant’s health. “It looks like it’s going to be November.
“Worst case scenario it will be December, but it’s really going to be more up to if the team feels she’s ready for the fight and picked up all the bare-knuckle boxing nuances, that she’s learned how to do all that and gets it. But November’s the time frame.”
Right now there’s been no confirmation on an opponent, but it certainly appears that VanZant is anxious to get back to work after signing her deal with BKFC in August.
“It’s going to be sick,” Feldman said about the November card. “We’re so looking forward to that one.”
