Rachael Ostovich’s scheduled fight with Paige VanZant back on in January
Although it was initially believed that she would be pulled from her upcoming flyweight fight against Paige VanZant in January due to a horrifying alleged domestic violence incident, UFC flyweight Rachael Ostovich will make it to the fight. Ostovich met with doctors today to have her fractured orbital bone examined and in her visit, she was cleared to fight VanZant on January 19, 2019 on the UFC’s first card on ESPN+.
Ostovich was attacked by her husband Arnold Berdon, who is also a MMA fighter, earlier this month and was hospitalized with a fractured orbital bone due to the attack. While in the hospital, Ostovich’s management team announced that due to her injuries she would be pulled from the fight due to the injuries she sustained in the attack.
Now with doctor’s clearance, Ostovich will be allowed to return and make her fight against PVZ and her team made it known that she never wanted to truly pull out of the fight. In a statement to ESPN, Ostovich’s manager Brian Butler-Au said that when the team first announced she was pulled from the card, the situation was very emotional.
“She never really wanted to be off of this fight. When everything happened, it was very emotional. The injuries were significant enough that, combined with the emotions of everything that was going down, we made a decision to pull out of the fight. Now that things are settling out and the swelling of the injury is going down, Rachael got a second opinion and everything will work out to where she can keep this fight.”
Berdon was arrested and initially charged with attempted-murder but that charge was then reduced to a second-degree assault charge, which he has pleaded not guilty to according to MMA Fighting. According to the report, Berdon is expected back in court on December 18 for a hearing and during this time, Ostovich has been granted a temporary restraining order against Berdon for both her and her daughter which will end May 19, 2019.
There has been some question as to Ostovich wanting to return so soon following the attack, especially including the fact that she sustained an injury, but she’s not alone. Unfortunately, several other UFC female fighters who have been victims of domestic violence, have turned around to get back into the Octagon as quickly as possible.
https://twitter.com/alexscaffidi_/status/1067567507764965377
VanZant also confirmed that her fight with Ostovich was still on and said although their fighting, she will stand by her opponent’s side for her ongoing battle at home.
https://twitter.com/paigevanzant/status/1067545873205256192
Ostovich and VanZant will meet on the UFC’s debut ESPN card which is scheduled to take place on January 19, 2019 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
