Paige VanZant's husband Austin Vanderford in post-fight scrap after winning UFC Seattle debut by TKO

02/22/2025 08:33 PM

Paige VanZant’s husband Austin Vanderford’s first UFC victory was tarred by a post-fight push following a TKO victory.

The impressive former Bellator title contender is making the move down to welterweight in order to pursue UFC gold. However, he was forced to take on Nikolay Veretennikov at a catchweight of 175lb due to the fight being such a short-notice endeavor at UFC Seattle.

Known as one of the nicest men in MMA, Vanderford had to show his nasty side after the fact as he stuck up a middle finger at his rival when he was pushed after landing the win. Ultimately, the pair had to be separated by security before tensions thawed.

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Paige VanZant corners Austin Vanderford to KO win at UFC Seattle

It didn’t take long for Austin Vanderford, with his wife Paige VanZant in the corner, to show off his impressive wrestling skills at UFC Seattle. With a raucous early crowd in at the Climate Pledge Arena, ‘USA’ chants rang out, he took top control of Ukrainian Nikolay Veretennikov early.

He almost landed a head and arm choke to finish proceedings in the first round, with two efforts towards the end of the five minutes coming close. It didn’t take long for him to get in a similar position in the second, although he opted for more strikes on the ground.

Eventually, Vanderford managed to get his rival’s arm locked and rained down ground-and-pound. This led referee Kevin MacDonald to step in and call a stop to the contest, much to the frustration of the Ukrainian who is now 0-2 in the octagon.

Austin Vanderford pushed by rival after winning UFC debut

Immediately following the stoppage, Veretennikov made his way across the octagon seemingly unimpeached and pushed Vanderford. It appeared that he wasn’t happy with some shots in the closing exchange, perhaps feeling they were behind the head.

The former Bellator star didn’t back down and even appeared to make a crude gesture towards his rival as UFC security separated the pair. Ultimately, it didn’t seem to upset the wrestling sensation too much as he celebrated with a raucous crowd in the Emerald City.

In his post-fight interview, he shouted out his American Top Team corner as well as his wife’s upcoming Power Slap bout.