Paige VanZant har bara en match kvar på sitt UFC-kontrakt, men hon känner att hon inte vill börja förhandla under tiden hon är skadad. Hon är inbokad för sin tredje operation på sin skadade arm. I en intervju med ”The Score” så berättar VanZant om framtidsplanerna.
“I feel like I want to prove to the UFC what I’m worth”
“It’s the last fight on my current UFC contract so I’ll be fighting it out. I think I’m just curious to see what I can do. I feel like I want to prove to the UFC what I’m worth, and I think it’s going to take one more fight for me to do that, especially because fight fans are so – you’re easily forgotten in the fight world. They watch a fight happen and they’re already focused on the one that’s happening next week, so I want it to be fresh in their minds going into a contract negotiation, not fresh off of a broken arm.”
Även om läketiden för skadorna är osäker så hoppas VanZant på ett snabbt tillfrisknande så att hon kan återvända till träningen fullt ut, förhoppningsvis kanske redan idag.
“I’m not supposed to hold anything more than a coffee cup”
“I still haven’t gotten the all-clear to train. I’m hoping to get cleared by Wednesday to start doing a little bit more with my arm. I’m not supposed to hold anything more than a coffee cup or a cell phone, like, in my right hand. It’s still extremely limited, so I did start hitting pads just with my left hand and with my legs and knees and doing as much as I can, but I’m hoping to get the all-clear soon.”
VanZant hade stora problem med viktnedgången i UFC:s stråvikts-division och har nu gått upp till flugvikt. Hon förlorade dock sin debut i viktklassen mot Jessica-Rose Clark och bröt dessutom armen under matchen. Hon kom dock tillbaka ett år senare med en submission vinst mot Rachael Ostovich men är i skrivande stund osäker på vilken viktklass som hon vill fokusera på.
“I don’t know; honestly, it’s something that I know I can go back and forth. It’s always like, ‘All right I’m going to go make a run at 115,’ I have it set in my mind, then I see someone do an awful weight cut and have something traumatic happen to them. Like, I had my mind set on going down to 115, then I walked into my gym and one of my teammates was, like, going into a heatstroke and we had to call the ambulance. He couldn’t move, so I think of all those things and the effects it’s having on my body, and I’ve been watching a lot of the fights lately, and I know I’m a player in both divisions.”
