MMA star Paige VanZant has announced that she’s up for an OnlyFans side bet with Elle Brooke, her next Misfits Boxing rival. The athlete is set to take on the UK model in a mixed game at the MF & DAZN: X Series 15 event, where they’ll compete for the middleweight championship.
Both contestants are making their way back to the ring, with VanZant’s last fight taking place in 2021 at the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. Similarly, Brooke has participated in four Misfits bouts to date and holds the middleweight title after triumphing over Andrea-Jane Bunker earlier this year.
As the title hangs in the balance, the rivals are gearing up for a blockbuster showdown in Houston, Texas, with VanZant ready to raise the stakes even higher. Prepping for her first fight since her loss to Rachael Ostovich at BKFC 19, she’s now thrown down the gauntlet to her opponent.
While on the MMA Fighting podcast on YouTube, she put forward an enticing proposition of a side bet. She remarked: “There should be. There should definitely be a side bet to this. But I don’t know. She wouldn’t shake my hand (at) fight week. So we’ll have to touch back on this conversation after the fight.”
In a previous conversation with MMAFighting.com, she expressed her desire to return to the ring, stating: “I don’t know if it’s down the road in six months, I don’t know if it’s down the road a year. I really just haven’t decided yet. I’m going to leave a lot of that up to my manager and my coaches. Just work on this time to get better and enjoy the training and not worry about signing a fight contract right away.”
“I love bare-knuckle boxing. I’ve now gone 10 rounds in bare-knuckle boxing and I’m searching for that victory,” she continued, speaking passionately about the sport and the promotion. “I’m searching for a lot of things in bare-knuckle boxing that I haven’t accomplished, and it will be with BKFC again.”
On the other hand, her next potential opponent seems to have backtracked on some of her earlier statements, having previously ruled out a match against a competitor like VanZant. Speaking to the Mirror, Brooke said: “]Maybe a crossover boxer next but I don’t think I’m prepared for that yet.”
“Hopefully there’s another influencer boxer in the scene, I don’t want to be too big for my boots and be like ‘Let’s get a UFC fighter in that’s well hard’,” she added, before admitting that she was enjoying her transition into combat sports. “No, let’s take my time and build, I enjoy fighting and enjoy processing in boxing.”
Prior to this, VanZant had been scheduled to fight in the BKFC versus Charisa Sigala back in August 2022, with that contest having been cancelled. With a long interim period between that abandoned fight and her upcoming bout with Brooke, stepping back into the ring will help to absolve her frustrations after the breakdown the previous plans.
Expressing her disappointment at the fight with Sigala being shelved, she previously admitted: “The real frustration, I guess, was the lead-up to the fight – I worked so hard, going on to add: “For me to get the call that the fight got pulled – a fight I was so ready for, and I was so excited about. It was depressing.”