PVZ: I had to prove to myself I belonged
Paige VanZant: I had to prove to myself I belonged in the Octagon
UFC women’s strawweight Paige VanZant doesn’t look like a fighter.
Wanderlei Silva looks like a fighter.
PVZ, not so much.
Being a mediagenic female in mixed martial arts attracts extra eyeballs (and in this case an elite, exclusive contract with Reebok), but it also means being taken less seriously by most fans.
PVZ took a beating in the first round vs. Bec Rawling at UFC on FOX 21 Saturday, and then came back with one of the best KOs of the year.
https://twitter.com/UFCONFOX/status/769701235062562816
The fighter appeared Monday on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and revealed that after a break from MMA to shoot Dancing With The Stars, she had to prove to herself that she belonged in the Octagon.
“I feel like every fight it’s not that I have to prove anybody wrong, it’s just that I have to prove myself right,” said VanZant, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. “I had to go in there and prove to myself that I belonged in there and that I’m so much more than just coming off ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ It was definitely just pressure I put on myself, especially knowing I was gonna have a lot of people watching coming from ‘Dancing With The Stars.'”
“For me, I’m a fighter first. I just happened to stay on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ until the finale. So it pushed back my next fight. But it all worked out.”
“I was really excited after the fight, obviously. I do have a few fun things in the works right now. Hopefully those things pan out and I get a good timeline for a fight in there.”
Amen