Paige VanZant recently spoke to UFC.com about her upcoming main event bout against Joanne Calderwood at UFC Fight Night 80. Here are some highlights:
On her style in the octagon:
“For me to be a fighter, it’s different, it’s unexpected,” she said. “You wouldn’t expect someone like me to be a fighter, and I think that’s what draws people to watch me. It’s the same thing if you saw Roy Nelson in ballet tights all of a sudden performing in Juilliard; people would want to watch. It’s something unexpected, it’s something you would have never imagined, and I think that’s why I’m getting so much attention.”
On her desire to be a champion:
“I’ve always had the desire to be the best athlete I could ever be, and I think some people just don’t have that. They don’t have the heart, and I think that’s something you can’t teach; you can’t learn that. You can put the most technical person out there, and if they don’t have the heart, they’re not going to be successful. I definitely have the heart. I’m still developing as an athlete and I’m new to MMA, but I have the heart to be a champion and my skills are getting better and better every day.”
UFC Fight Night 80 will be held on December 10, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will kick off three days of events that will end at UFC 194.
