Former UFC star [autotag]Paige VanZant[/autotag]’s bareknuckle boxing debut has a date.
VanZant (8-4 MMA), who signed with Bare Knuckle FC last August, will make her promotional debut against Britain Hart. VanZant announced her contract signing Thursday on Instagram.
VanZant, who competed at both strawweight and flyweight in six years with the UFC, became as popular for her stint on the hit ABC show “Dancing with the Stars” as for her actual fighting in the cage.
After finishing her UFC contract with a first-round submission loss to Amanda Ribas at UFC 251, she drew interest from several promotions, but surprised the fight world by announcing her signing with BFKC.
“I feel like I still have this stigma in MMA that I’m just a pretty face, and what a way to prove to people that’s not the way I see myself at all,” VanZant said at the time. “This is a sport where people probably have the highest rate of getting cut open, and having long term scars is definitely something that I’m not even worried about for me.”
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VanZant, 26, went 5-3 in the UFC, losing three of her past four. Win or lose, her fights tended to be all action, as four of her five UFC victories came by way of finish, two of which earned fight-night bonuses.
Hart is a boxer out of Virginia with a 4-4-3 professional record. She has a 1-2 BKFC record and earned a fourth round TKO of Randine Eckholm at BKFC 14 in November.
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