Paige VanZant will be testing free agency after UFC 251.
Last month, the flyweight fighter confirmed that her bout against Amanda Ribas will indeed be her final appearance for the UFC as VanZant has opted to test the free agency market. The big reason that VanZant has decided to walk away from the UFC is due to feeling undervalued in the company:
“I feel like I am betting on myself here,” VanZant told MMA Fighting. “You don’t know your value until you test it. I want to know what people see my value as.
“I feel like more than ever, especially with me hurting myself, that if I’m going to be a professional fighter, I need it to be worth it for me. It needs to be worth me breaking my arm everyday and walking into the cage and bleeding and sacrificing.”
VanZant has criticized the company’s lack of payment previously, claiming that she made more money during her time on Dancing with the Stars than she ever did as a UFC fighter. The 26-year-old actually calculated that working a simple 9 to 5 job would’ve been given her the same pay:
“I’ve added up all the money I’ve made in the UFC over six years, and I could have just had a regular job with the same pay,” VanZant said. “I’m so thankful for everything the UFC has done for me, the platform they’ve given me. This is nothing against the UFC. But the contract I signed is what I signed and I know I need to honor it. That’s why I’m fighting this last fight out and I was never trying to break it early.
“It’s important to fight this fight out, honor my contract and then say listen this is my value and this is what I need to be paid to make it worth it.”
Check out the full interview where VanZant talks about her arm injury holding back her career, her success outside of the UFC, and so much more!