mma / News

Paige VanZant Says She’s Improved Since Her Last Fight

August 25, 2016 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Paige VanZant spoke with MMAjunkie about her fight with Bec Rawlings at UFC on FOX 21. Some highlights are below:

On McGregor’s big payday: “Hopefully (McGregor’s purse) means us other fighters are going to get a little bit bigger paychecks. Definitely going through ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I got to see what other athletes out there make, and I was like, ‘Hey, I don’t make that much money.’ But I still feel blessed to be part of the UFC. They pay me better than any other job I’ve had, so I feel blessed.”

On her time off from MMA: “I just took a short break and went to ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ A lot of fighters have longer breaks than I do and they don’t get to do an experience like that or (have) a huge blessing like that. I just felt like hopefully ‘Dancing With the Stars’ brought a few new fans over that will come watch me fight on Saturday.”

On being smaller than Rawlings: “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. I fought really big fighters. Felice Herrig was definitely a bigger opponent than me. Some of my other fights that weren’t with the UFC, I’ve fought people that were much, much bigger than me. I train with all guys that were fighting in the 125-(pound) division. I don’t have to change anything about my camp.”

On being improved from her last fight: “I’ve definitely improved a lot with the technique and the thing with combat sports is, when you don’t give yourself those breaks you’re constantly putting wear and tear on your body. Luckily, I’m very young and I can recover and bounce back quickly. But having those few months off with ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I was able to heal minor injuries I was pushing through fight camp with. Now I didn’t have to deal with those.”

article topics :

Paige VanZant, Jeremy Thomas