UFC star Paige VanZant was ready to make the move to the newly formed flyweight division, but it looks like she’s going to have to postpone her plans for the time being. In a report that surfaced yesterday, VanZant had suffered an injury while training with her new team in Portland and was gong to have to pull out of her UFC 216 fight with Jessica Eye.
VanZant was very excited about the move and said she was making some very big improvements to her game, especially her Brazilian jiu-jitsu. She explained the decision in an earlier interview.
“Me and Chael Sonnen have the same management team. I’ve been friends with Chael for a while,” VanZant said. “I knew he was in Portland and he had a really successful fight team out in Portland. I just called him and he really took me under his wing, he set me up with a great MMA gym, which is Gracie Barra with Fabiano, and he also set me up with an amazing conditioning program, Dave. Chael really took me under his wing and set me up with everything I needed. I definitely do (like I’m becoming a better fighter). I can see myself growing. Training with Fabiano, he has some of the best jiu-jitsu I’ve ever had in my life, so I can definitely see the difference in my fight game because of him. I can already tell I’m getting a lot better. It’s really cool to be working with someone so positive and so talented like he is.”
“I knew I had aspects of my fight game that I needed to work on, with every fight I try to earn from my mistakes, and even in my wins I try to learn from the areas that I messed up on,” said VanZant.
According to the news from MMAfighting.com, Paige is currently doing physical therapy for her injured back and is hopes to be able to fight again before the end of this year.
“Depending on my healing timeline, I’ll fight anyone who is available,” VanZant said.
