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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight, Paige VanZant, expected the world’s preeminent mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion to compensate her accordingly after a bevy of mainstream appearances for popular television shows like Dancing with the Stars and Chopped!, among others.
Didn’t happen.
Instead, the former strawweight “It” girl is being forced to fight out her current contract with no deal in place for a 2020 return. That may explain why VanZant, still only 25, was complaining about fighter pay on social media last week, which appears to have drawn the ire of veteran flyweight, Justine Kish.
“I can’t take it anymore,” Kish wrote on social media. “Paige VanZant keeps acting like a super star but her actions lately prove that she’s just [a] stupid star. UFC match me up with this star. There’s a better blonde in town that actually wants to fight. The star can choose strawweight, flyweight, heavyweight, I don’t care because I can make any weight for this to happen. Excuses be gone. Let’s fight Paige VanZant.”
Kish (6-2) blew out her knee as a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 20 back in 2014, then continued to struggle with injuries in the years that followed. The former Muay Thai champ is just 2-2 inside the Octagon and hasn’t competed since her controversial decision loss to Ji Yeon Kim at UFC on FOX 27 in early 2018.
As for VanZant (8-4), she’s pushing for a late 2019 return but as of this writing, remains unbooked. Like Kish, “12 Gauge” has been plagued with injuries throughout her combat sports career (like this one) and is hoping to find more lady balls consistency in her next round of cage fights. When and where those take place, remains to be seen.