Paige VanZant has made it clear she will be testing free agency following her UFC 251 fight against Amanda Ribas.
VanZant will be fighting for the first time since January of 2019 due to a broken arm. She will also test free agency after where she says she’s eager to see what her value is.
“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.”
For VanZant she has been open about her UFC pay and the fact she could’ve made more on Instagram than fighting. She also says it was important for her to honor the fight and then get paid what she is worth.
“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.”
