Following reports of a January fight booking for Paige VanZant, she took to social media to shoot those rumors down.
Earlier today, MMA Fighting reported about a fight booking that appeared to be in place that would see Paige VanZant return to the Octagon for the UFC’s first event on ESPN in January. However, that does not appear to be the case after all, as VanZant herself has taken to social media to shoot down those reports of a bout with Rachael Ostovich:
#FakeNews..sorry everyone I’m not even cleared yet. Hoping to get cleared this week to slowly start back to training! Off to Vegas Thursday to see my doctor.
— Paige VanZant (@paigevanzant) August 26, 2018
VanZant (7-4, 4-3 UFC) is coming off two losses in a row, the last of which was to Jessica-Rose Clark in January. VanZant broke her arm in that bout, and has had to undergo two surgeries in the meantime to get it corrected. The last surgery took place just over a month ago, so it’s not really surprising that she’s still unable to train for now.
If she can get cleared sometime soon though, mid-January is still probably a reasonable timetable for return, so it’s still possible she could fight on the card.
The January 18th event, as mentioned, will be the UFC’s debut on ESPN after a long-term deal with Fox comes to an end. The only other bout tied to the event thus far is a welterweight showdown between Robbie Lawler and Stephen Thompson.