The notable flyweight talent is hoping to fight out her UFC contract by the end of the year, and start 2020 on the free agency market.
Despite a victory over Rachael Ostovich back in January, the past year and a half has been something of a rough on professionally for Paige Vanderford (née VanZant). The 25-year-old aspiring flyweight contender has been battling complications from an arm injury suffered against Jessica-Rose Clark in January of 2018, and only recently went under surgery yet again (you can see some uncomfortably graphic pictures of the procedure on her Instagram).
And while getting back to full strength clearly seems to be principal on the Team Quest fighter’s list of priorities, she also appears to have her eyes a little further into her fighting future. In a recent interview with ESPN, PVZ detailed how she’s hoping to finish up her UFC contract by the end of the year, and then test the open market.
“I’m aiming for – there’s always a really big card at the end of the year for the UFC – so I’m hoping for that end of the year card,” ‘12 Gauge’ said of her return timeline.
PVZ went on to explain that that bout would be the last on her current UFC deal and that she wasn’t planning on re-signing until she’d had a chance to look at free agency.
“I am, yeah,” The 25-year-old said, when asked if she was planning to ‘fight out’ her contract. “You know, it’s more for me, I want to prove my worth. And obviously, with my arm injuries I’ve had three surgeries in a row now. Even though I’m so popular, I guess… I’ve been doing amazing things outside the UFC—Sports Illustrated, Dancing with the Stars, all these amazing things. I want to show, ‘Hey, I’m a huge player in this division. I’m a huge player in the UFC.’ And I think it’s going to take one more fight to do that. And more than anything, I’m just focused on getting back in the cage. I don’t want to put any pressure on myself, or any stress behind anything. I just want to fight.”
Paige had been expected to face Poliana Botelho back in April, at UFC 236, before her latest injury scuppered the fight. Botelho went on to defeat Lauren Mueller by decision. Hopefully for PVZ, she’ll make a full recovery and be back in fighting form by the end of the year.