Former UFC flyweights, Paige VanZant and Rachael Ostovich will renew their rivalry in July this year at a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship event — with the two re-running their UFC Fight Night Brooklyn clash from January of 2019.
Headlining the July 23. event, billed BKFC 19, which has yet to secure a location or venue, VanZant looks to improve to 2-0 against Hawaii’s Ostovich, as well as secure her first win over the David Feldman-led banner. For Ostovich, the 30-year-old will make her organizational bow after she put pen to paper on a deal with the promotion back in April.
Featuring at UFC Fight Night Brooklyn back in January of 2019 at the Barclays Centre in the first UFC event to be aired on ESPN as part of their new broadcast deal, Oregon native, VanZant handed Ostovich a second round armbar loss in the second bout of the main card — which was headlined by an undisputed flyweight title tilt between then-champion, Henry Cejudo and former two-time bantamweight best, T.J. Dillashaw.
Making her promotional debut under the BKFC banner back in February, VanZant headlined the promotion’s Knucklemania event against Britain Hart, eventually dropping a unanimous decision despite scoring the third round with a brief rallying effort. Following the win, VanZant confirmed she would return in a timely fashion, with the promotion confirming she would feature against a familiar foe. Well, that foe is The Ultimate Fighter 26 alum, Ostovich.
Released from the UFC back in December of last year following a run of three consecutive losses, Ostovich most recently suffered a third round body kick knockout defeat against Gina Mazany. The defeat came off the back of his submission loss to VanZant and a rear-naked choke blemish against Montana De La Rosa.
In her sole Octagon victory, Ostovich told home a first round armbar victory of her own over Karine Gerovyan back at The Ultimate Fighter 26 finale in December of 2017.
A nine-fight Octagon veteran, VanZant ended her stint with the UFC back in July of last year off the back of a UFC 251 armbar loss to the rising Brazilian contender, Amanda Ribas. Headlining once under the promotion’s banner, VanZant lodged Octagon wins against Kailin Curran, Felice Herrig, Bec Rawlings, Alex Chambers, and the above-mentioned, Ostovich.