Paige VanZant announces boxing match, husband Austin Vanderford asks for Bellator release, wishes to compete on same card as wife
Paige VanZant has announced that she will return to combat sports competition, this time in boxing and is expected to compete in May or June of this year.
Just months after stating that she would compete next in bare knuckle and complete her three-fight contract with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the 29-year-old fighter will instead put on the heavier gloves, although she could not provide too many details into the yet to be officially announced fight.
“Gloves on, it’s just straight boxing,” she said. “I did think my next fight would be a bare-knuckle boxing match, but this opportunity came forward, and I was just like f*** it, let’s go. So took a fight.”
While VanZant did announce the upcoming fight, she has not yet put pen to paper to make it official.
“I got called by my manager day before yesterday, and I got offered a fight,” VanZant said. “A boxing match, and I took it. I don’t know if I can give all the details, I haven’t signed a contract yet. I accepted the fight.”
Also of interest is that her husband, Austin Vanderford, who once challenged for a title under the Bellator MMA banner, has asked for his release from the promotion would like to fight on the same card as Paige.
“When I set out to fight, I always viewed the UFC as the No. 1 spot, and we’d always gone back and forth,” Vanderford said. “Now I’m to a point where I would really like the opportunity to go fight in the UFC.”
