Paige VanZant

Paige Michelle VanZant (née Sletten; married name Vanderford; born March 26, 1994) is an American mixed martial artist, bare knuckle boxer, professional wrestler, author, model, and OnlyFans content creator.

VanZant was previously signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where she competed in the flyweight division.

Outside of mixed martial arts, Van Zant has been involved in professional wrestling with All Elite Wrestling and in boxing with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.

Additionally, Van Zant has appeared on the television shows Dancing with the Stars and Chopped.

VanZant was born in Dundee, Oregon, and raised in Sherwood, Oregon, both near Portland.

Her parents owned a dance studio, and she was brought up dancing ballet, jazz, and hip hop for over 13 years.

As a teen, she appeared in a mop commercial for Bissell.

She was considered a tomboy while growing up and loved the outdoors; her hobbies included riding dirt bikes and fishing.

In high school, she was regularly bullied by a group of girls.

The bullying included mocking her surname Sletten, which students changed to "Slutton".

She eventually changed her surname legally to VanZant because of the persistent bullying.

She chose "VanZant" because it was one of her mother's students' last names and she liked the way it sounded.

However, she has noted this experience as one of the reasons she likes being a martial artist and having the ability to defend herself.

After VanZant moved with her family to Sparks, Nevada, she was looking for a dance studio when she came across UFC veteran Ken Shamrock's gym, where she began training in boxing and other martial arts.

After winning an amateur fight at age 18, VanZant made her professional MMA debut on June 30, 2012, at UWF's Tournament of Warriors finale against Jordan Nicole Gaza in Corpus Christi, Texas, winning by split decision.

On September 22, 2012, she faced Amber Stautzenberger at Premier Fight Series 2 and won via unanimous decision.

VanZant faced Tecia Torres at Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs. Hyatt.

The event was held on January 5, 2013, at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

VanZant was dominated on the feet for much of the fight and lost to Torres via a unanimous decision.

In December 2013, VanZant was announced as one of 11 women signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for its newly created Strawweight division.

It was also announced that she would compete as a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter, a television reality series, as part of a tournament to crown the inaugural strawweight champion.

However, on March 31, 2014, VanZant was turned away from the reality series because she was only 20 years old, and the minimum age to compete on it is 21 due to the presence of alcohol in the house.

In August 2014, the UFC announced that VanZant would face Kailin Curran on October 4, 2014, in Halifax at UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Saffiedine, but VanZant suffered a back injury and the bout was rescheduled for UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Swanson.

VanZant marked her UFC debut by defeating Curran by TKO in the third round, in a fight that would win Fight of the Night honors.

After defeating Kailin Curran, VanZant enjoyed an increase in popularity.

In February 2015, she was signed to a sponsorship deal with Reebok.

This became a source of controversy due to her having only one UFC fight at the time.

Some media outlets and fighters speculated that VanZant only received the deal due to her physical attractiveness.

UFC president Dana White responded that she received the Reebok deal because of her "it" factor and personality.

VanZant faced Felice Herrig on April 18, 2015, in Newark, New Jersey, at UFC on Fox: Machida vs. Rockhold.

Following a competitive first round, VanZant eventually overwhelmed Herrig with her grappling, winning by unanimous decision.

VanZant faced Alex Chambers on September 5, 2015, at UFC 191.

After controlling most of the fight with aggressive strikes and grappling, she won via armbar submission in the third round.

VanZant signed a new contract with UFC on September 17, 2015.

VanZant was expected headline UFC Fight Night 80 on December 10, 2015, against Joanne Calderwood.

However, Calderwood was pulled from the fight in October and replaced by Rose Namajunas.

VanZant lost the one-sided fight via submission in the fifth round.

Following her time on Dancing with the Stars, VanZant returned to the cage to face Bec Rawlings on August 27, 2016, at UFC on Fox: Maia vs. Condit.

She won the fight via KO in the second round after landing a flying head kick and a flurry of follow-up punches.

The win earned VanZant her first Performance of the Night bonus award.