Team Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber confirms that Paige VanZant has not formally left the gym, but that the strawweight is relocating to Oregon.
Faber cleared up rumors up of departure, following former UFC contender and Bellator fighter Chael Sonnen’s comments over the weekend this past Saturday that Paige VanZant will be training with Gracie Barra in Portland, Ore. Faber recently spoke with MMAJunkie and stated:
“She’s probably going to set up a home camp in Oregon, and I imagine she’ll probably travel for her camps. “I don’t know if she’ll travel here, or travel to L.A. But she’s welcome here, obviously.”
Faber added that VanZant’s other interests and varied schedule means that she only trains circa six weeks at a time at the gym:
“I’m not sure if she’s planning on doing that here or not,” Faber said. “We spoke briefly about it. I told her she’s always welcome. That’s a better question for her.
“She hasn’t officially said, ‘I’m never coming back.’ If it were up to me, I’d have her training in here all year ’round and having guys watch over her. But she’s got a unique setup, being a girl that’s from Oregon, living in Reno (Nev.), coming to Sacramento, being in the limelight so much.”
VanZant has yet to announce if and when she will be returning to the UFC, following her loss to Michelle Waterson in her last bout.
