Last month it was reported that Paige VanZant would be making her return to competition at the ESPN debut event in January of 2019 to take on Rachael Ostovich, but that was quickly shot down by VanZant, who posted that she had not even been cleared yet. Earlier today (September 3rd), on VanZant’s new YouTube channel, she chronicled where things went wrong prior to giving an update on the status of her injury:
“Step one was, I broke it in the fight, which was awful,” VanZant said. “So I broke it in the fight, and it was supposed to be just a normal break. I go in, have surgery, and it was supposed to get fixed. They put a plate in, had seven screws, and in six weeks, I was supposed to be cleared to train again. So six weeks, post-surgery, I go in, and my arm is still totally broken. And then it was, all right, let’s wait another month, and let’s see what happens. And so I wait another month, I go back in, get X-rayed again, still broken. And I went back in three months after surgery: still broken.
“And then, they gave me this thing called a bone growth stimulator, put it on my arm, hope that stimulates some bone growth and that this actually heals it… didn’t work. So six months goes by, and my arm is still broken. So I still had a completely broken arm.”
VanZant would then go on to have a second surgery on her arm earlier this summer. Later in the video, VanZant issued some good news for her fans:
“The verdict is: I can go for it!
In six weeks, I can punch people. But I can start training, and working out again, and I’m gonna be fighting in January!”
VanZant did not provide any word on her opponent, but it seems safe to expect it to be against Rachael Ostovich as originally reported.
Are you excited to see Paige VanZant make her Octagon return?
