VanZant hasn’t fought in MMA since 2020, and doesn’t think she’ll ever return due to the risk of injury.
Don’t expect to see UFC fighter turned reality star turned bare knuckle boxer turned OnlyFans model turned Power Slapper Paige VanZant fighting in the cage again.
VanZant is set to return to Dana White’s Power Slap league on Thursday, October 24th when the promotion rolls into Abu Dhabi during UFC 308 Fight Week. She won her first slap-off back in June 2024, earning a unanimous decision win over Christine Wolmarans. Next weekend she’ll face off against Chelsea Dodson, the wife of former UFC flyweight John Dodson.
What she won’t be doing is getting back into MMA. In a new interview with MMA Junkie Radio, VanZant explained why.
“I don’t ever like to say I’m closing the door 100%, but I do see it would be hard for me to go back into MMA,” she said. “Not because I don’t love it, or not because I don’t have a passion for it still. But like I said, I broke my arm five times in my life and four times in basically two years of competing. I had two surgeries on it, and I still have a huge plate that runs the length of my entire forearm.”
“So just going back to that place of risking breaking my arm again and having surgery again and getting set back? I can still have the thrill of competing, and I can still get that rush without putting my body at risk. I’m fine if I break my arm, it’s really just the mental fortitude, I don’t know if I can push through that again. It was a really, really rough few years.”
Now VanZant is satisfied with the rush Power Slap provides, and insists there is a training and development portion to the ‘sport.’
“You can train a little bit,” Paige said. “Like, I let my husband hit me in the face with the pool noodle just so you practice having something coming at your face extremely quickly.”
“And then just trying to figure out a plan for how you’re gonna take it, if it’s best for your body to close your eyes, if it’s best to keep your eyes completely open, if it’s best to follow the slap or follow their hand, to basically try to watch it make impact with your face.”
Paige VanZant’s Power Slap Match#powerslap8 pic.twitter.com/Ye7lREd885
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) June 29, 2024
“Everybody’s body and body reactions are gonna be different,” she concluded. “So just learning what works best for you.”
The hardest part of Power Slap for Van Zant is the ‘no flinching’ rule, which she did several times in her debut and got called on once.
“I think as you see professional fighters coming over — boxing, boxers, MMA fighters — you are gonna see that flinching foul happen,” she said. “Because as much as we don’t want to flinch, it’s our body mechanics. It’s ingrained in our muscle memory.”
Once again, it comes down to training (aka more pool noodles to the face).
“You can flinch forward. You can, like, flinch down and brace, but you just can’t flinch away from the hit. So, it’s a learning process. And for the first one, I think I did absolutely great.”
PVZ vs. Dobson goes down at the Space42 Arena in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, October 24th. Tune into MMAMania.com for all the highlights, plus news from UFC 308 which goes on later that weekend on Saturday afternoon, October 26th.