Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Strawweight contender, Paige VanZant, is gearing up to make her highly-anticipated bareknuckle boxing debut, taking on Britain Hart at the upcoming Bare Knuckle FC KnuckleMania event this weekend (Fri., Feb. 5, 2021). And she is doubling down on her stance that she isn’t afraid of getting cut open by her opponent’s bare knuckles. In fact, the ex-Sports Illustrated swimsuit model says stats shows that scars can make people more attractive.
“I think the hard thing is the regular fan, not necessarily educated in martial arts or educated in the medical field. They see blood and immediately see it as a terrible injury,” VanZant told MMA Fighting. “Whereas for me, I would much rather be cut open than break my arm or break my knuckle or tear my shoulder or tear my knee.
“Those are all things that take a very long time to heal whereas a laceration, I got cut in my face in one fight — one you can barely tell, and two I heard statistically that scars make you more attractive,” she continued. “It’s not a big deal. Those heal and you just continue on. Faces heal really well, your body heals itself really well.”
VanZant has earned numerous opportunities outside of the cage such as the aforementioned Sports Illustrated swimsuit spread, a stint on “Dancing with the Stars” and various other high-profile photo shoots. But, potential scars to the face possibly scaring sponsors or future opportunities away don’t seem to bother VanZant.
Despite her move to BKFC, VanZant doesn’t rule out future mixed martial arts (MMA) fights since her contract allows her to continue to fight in the sport that helped make her a household name.
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