Paige VanZant IS BACK & Ready To Punch Women In The Face With Her Bare Fists Again

Remember Paige VanZant?

It feels like it's been 18 months since the last time I blogged about Paige VanZant and her career punching women with her bare fists. Throw in her subscription content business and VanZant was a content-producing machine for OutKick over the years, but then all of a sudden things changed.

VanZant lost her first two bare-knuckle fights and hasn't stepped foot into the ring since July 2021. The former UFC fighter told the New York Post this week that her layoff should officially come to an end this spring when she gets back to punching women.

“I highly anticipate fighting, probably in April,” VanZant told the outlet. Under contract with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship for three fights, VanZant was supposed to fight Charisa Sigala in August and then in October, but the fights didn't happen and 2022 ended with Paige fracturing her foot and then doctors discovered two other old fractures she didn't know about.

Still just 28 years old, VanZant has plenty of competition left in the tank and she knows there are fighting leagues out there who'd love to have her name on a pay-per-view card, but if she can't find the right deal financially, she says things will be just fine at home.

Code: She and her husband Austin Vanderford haven't blown through their money on dumb stuff.

"We’ve been just extremely smart financially, too," Paige told Post reporter Scott Fontana. "We have investment properties, we’ve invested extremely well in the stock market — which isn’t doing so great right now — but we’ve done well. I think I credit a lot of that to my parents just telling me not to keep all my eggs in one basket. And that’s what I’ve done.”

The scheduled fight with Charisa Sigala, which had been dubbed the "OnlyFans Championship," was supposed to be yet another chance for Paige to double up on her cash earnings with a check from Bare Knuckle and a chance to add OnlyFans subscribers (typically the price is $9.99 a month, but right now she's running a 50% off deal), but the fight was reportedly pulled for reasons ranging from low ticket sales to "logistical concerns."

Tonight, VanZant will be trotted out as a guest judge on PFL's Challenger Series (9 p.m. ET, fuboTV) as the rejuvenation of her career gets moving in 2023.