UFC strawweight prospect says she would’ve preferred to go unconscious than tap to Rose Namajunas’ rear-naked choke last December, much like Holly Holm went out cold vs. Miesha Tate at UFC 196.
One of the bigger talking points to come out of UFC 196 was the way the co-main and main events ended. Holly Holm lost her women’s bantamweight belt to Miesha Tate with a dramatic rear-naked choke in the final round of a fight which Holm would’ve otherwise retained the title via win or draw had it gone to the scorecards. Featherweight champion Conor McGregor desperately shot for a takedown vs. Nate Diaz in their welterweight contest, with Diaz quickly forcing McGregor to tap with an RNC of his own in round 2.
UFC president Dana White praised Holm for not tapping out, whereas McGregor has taken heat for being “mentally weak” and his heart has been questioned. As the debates rage on, one rising UFC star wishes she’d taken the Holm approach to her own loss.
Strawweight prospect Paige VanZant was bloodied up, beaten up, and straight-up dominated by Rose Namajunas in their UFC Fight Night 80 main event back in December. PVZ didn’t tap to several submission attempts by “Thug Rose” over the course of their contest, but she finally tapped to a rear-naked choke in the 5th and final round of a fight she otherwise was going to lose by unanimous decision.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, VanZant said she regrets “giving up” by tapping to Namajunas’ choke.
“I think it’s just you giving up,” VanZant said. “It’s submitting and saying, ‘I give up, you can win.’ And that’s just where I feel I could have just gone out. I would have rather have gone out than tap out.”
“I do care that I lost, but it’s the fact that I tapped out,” VanZant said. “I said, ‘Rose, you can beat me. Go for it.'”
As far as her thoughts on Holm, VanZant praised her toughness and thinks she’ll recover strongly from the loss.
“That shows a lot of heart, a lot of determination,” VanZant said. “I think she’s gonna come back really, really strong from it.”
In the meantime, “12 Gauge” will compete on the upcoming season of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, making her the 3rd UFC fighter (and first female one) to appear on the reality dancing competition. With the season set to premiere live on Monday, March 21st and run through May, VanZant eyes a spot on UFC 200 on July 9th.
“Time wise, that just works perfect for me,” she said of UFC 200. “I’ll have a great camp leading up to it.”
The 21-year-old holds a record of 6-2, with a 3-1 mark inside the Octagon, and she’s currently #7 in the latest UFC women’s strawweight rankings.