PVZ: I’m like Roy Nelson in ballet tights
PVZ: “For me to be a fighter, it’s different, it’s unexpected … It’s the same thing if you saw Roy Nelson in ballet tights all of a sudden performing in Julliard.”
UFC strawweight Paige VanZant is on a three-fight win streak in the UFC, is one of a handful of fighters with a direct Reebok contract, and is headlining an event in December. She is just 21, and has been fighting in the UFC for less than a year.
The fighter tried in a recent interview to explain her appeal.
For me to be a fighter, it’s different, it’s unexpected, said VanZant to Thomas Gerbasi for UFC.com. You wouldn’t expect someone like me to be a fighter, and I think that’s what draws people to watch me. It’s the same thing if you saw Roy Nelson in ballet tights all of a sudden performing in Julliard; people would want to watch. It’s something unexpected, it’s something you would have never imagined, and I think that’s why I’m getting so much attention.
I’ve always had the desire to be the best athlete I could ever be, and I think some people just don’t have that. They don’t have the heart, and I think that’s something you can’t teach; you can’t learn that. You can put the most technical person out there, and if they don’t have the heart, they’re not going to be successful. I definitely have the heart. I’m still developing as an athlete and I’m new to MMA, but I have the heart to be a champion and my skills are getting better and better every day.
I knew from a very early age that I was going to be successful, and even growing up I always had this fighter’s side of me, and it got me in trouble a few times. I was the most competitive person out there. We had to cancel family game night with my parents and my brother because of how I’d get if I didn’t win. (Laughs) So I’ve always had a desire to win since I was born, and I’m a very terrible person if I ever lose. You don’t want to be around me if I ever lose, no matter what it is. If it’s a board game or my one fight (that she lost to Tecia Torres in 2013), it really affects me.
I don’t think it’s scary. I think it’s a great part of me and it definitely helps me be a better person and a better fighter. I think you need to have that in you.
Paige VanZant fights Joanne Calderwood in the main event of UFC Fight Night 80 on December 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada.