Las Vegas — Combat Sports and OnlyFans star Paige VanZant returned to the confines of the UFC APEX on Wednesday, appearing during the UFC 303 media day to instead promote an appearance at Power Slap 8, which goes down Friday, June 29, 2024.
“It feels like home. Seeing all the familiar faces,” VanZant said during her media scrum, no doubt lined up by the UFC to take advantage of media present for International Fight Week. “I was with the UFC for six years. Seeing everybody that I kind of like left behind, it feels like I’m home. Right where I belong.”
The big question ahead of Paige VanZant competing in slapfighting, a controversial sport that took off in Eastern Europe before Dana White launched his Power Slap promotion, was just how the opportunity came about.
“Everyone keeps asking me that. Who knows, you know? I got called, [asked] if I would do Power Slap, I said ‘absolutely,’ and that was it,” VanZant stated on that front. “Signed the contract, and here I am, here to do Power Slap.”
“I think it’s exciting for me because listen, I am a gangster, whether people want to admit it or not. I am here to slap somebody, it doesn’t matter what organization, what combat sport. I am here to take over and have some fun.”
The idea of VanZant as a “gangster” isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem, given the number of combat sports she’s forayed into.
“I look back at my UFC career, my bare-knuckle boxing career, everything that I’ve done, you can’t take away how tough I am,” she opined. “And this is the ultimate test of toughness. You have to stand there and have the balls to get hit.”
Standing and absorbing unprotected blows to the head, however, is exactly what makes slapfighting so controversial. Many states have been reluctant to regulate it, and some of those who have, have expressed remorse for doing so (mainly, the former chair of the Nevada Athletic Commission).
“I was a part of the UFC when they still weren’t legal in all 50 states. So I think it’s just a matter of time before people start recognizing it,” VanZant said on that front, before adding that “you don’t have to love everything. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, and some people might not love it. But there’s a reason that they are as successful as they are, and why they’re taking over social media space.”
VanZant later suggested that she might stick around Power Slap for a while, alongside boxing, which she intends to continue on in, with a match arriving possibly at the end of 2024. “I am a woman who does whatever the f*ck I want, and right now I want to do Power Slap.”
That boxing match will likely come in a rematch against Elle Brooke under the Misfits Boxing banner, VanZant later confirmed to Cageside Press. And there’s still a possibility that “12 Gauge” returns to bare-knuckle boxing for BKFC.
“It’s still on the table. Currently I still have the opportunity to fight for BKFC, I loved fighting for them, they’re an incredible organization. I took my boxing match, and again I intend to fulfill my contract with them [Misfits] and fight again at the end of the year. The nice thing, I’ve had a very long career, but I’m extremely young still. So I have a lot of opportunity. I love BKFC and I do see the door still being opened and me competing for them again in the future.”
Watch Paige VanZant’s full media scrum above.
