Paige VanZant not afraid of getting bloody in BKFC debut
Paige VanZant knew she was going to shock the world when the announcement was made that she was leaving the UFC and signing a deal to join Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships.
While her exit from the UFC wasn’t all that surprising given her concerns over the pay scale in the promotion, the fact that the 26-year-old flyweight, who doubles as a model in her spare time, would make the decision to compete in a sport where getting really bloody is just part of the deal.
Despite a study conducted in coordination with the Association of Ringside Physicians that actually showed fighters competing in bare-knuckle boxing are concussed less often while also receiving fewer broken hands than their counterparts in mixed martial arts or boxing, the aesthetics surrounding the aftermath of a typical contest in a BKFC bout is a much tougher pill to swallow.
There’s one particularly grisly image from BKFC veteran Jason Knight after a fight that VanZant was tagged in repeatedly over social media once she signed with the promotion. As much as she appreciates the concern, VanZant promises that she’s going into her debut fight at BKFC Knucklemania on Feb. 5 with realistic expectations of what’s probably going to happen.
“I think the hard thing is the regular fan, not necessarily educated in martial arts or educated in the medical field. They see blood and immediately see it as a terrible injury,” VanZant said when speaking to MMA Fighting. “Whereas for me, I would much rather be cut open than break my arm or break my knuckle or tear my shoulder or tear my knee.
