Paige VanZant admits she was 'mega depressed' after last fight got cancelled but still plans to compete again

10/10/2023 21:00

Paige VanZant wants to fight again, but she's not exactly certain when that might happen.

The former UFC fighter turned bare-knuckle brawler hasn't competed since 2021 when she dropped a unanimous decision to Rachael Ostovich in her second appearance in BKFC. VanZant was originally scheduled to fight at the BKFC card in London in August 2022 but her bout was scrapped just days before the event took place — and the cancellation wasn't by her choice.

It turns out the drama surrounding that ordeal put VanZant in a bad place where her fight career was concerned, which was part of the reason she opted for a longer hiatus afterwards.

"So, of course the last fight that I was supposed to have for BKFC, the fight got pulled the week of the fight," VanZant explained during an Instagram. "I had cut all my weight, I was so excited to fight, I got mega depressed.

"So, I took a little bit of time off and I'm back in the gym, training 100 percent now. And I feel like I'm in a really good place, where I'm training for fun and to get better. Not just to prepare for a fight."

VanZant trains at American Top Team in Florida alongside her husband, Bellator competitor Austin Vanderford, and she's recently started posting more videos and photos showing her back in the gym again.

Financially, VanZant no longer needs to fight after she launched a wildly successful website and OnlyFans page that transformed her into a millionaire almost overnight. VanZant previously told MMA Fighting that she could "retire tomorrow and be financially free" for the rest of her life.

That said, VanZant still wants to fight again but she won't plot her return until she's truly ready.

"I want to continue, just kind of doing this, what I'm doing right now," VanZant said. "Training to have fun, to get better and learn and then once I feel, like I'm desperate to fight — which I do really want to — but once I feel like I'm mentally and physically prepared, then I'm going to take a fight.

"I don't want to just take a fight because I want to. I want to really feel it in my body, that I'm ready. So, it's coming though. I am working really hard."

BKFC president David Feldman said he would gladly welcome VanZant back in the fold when she's ready to compete again after the upstart promotion inked her to a lucrative contract following the end of her UFC career.

"I think she wants one more crack at it," Feldman told MMA Fighting in May. "I know that I want to give her one more crack at it, so I think we're going to have at least one more run there."