SACRAMENTO -- It was a comment which certainly caught people’s attention: Paige VanZant, the young strawweight star who rarely says an ill word about anyone, telling TMZ that she’d fight Ronda Rousey.
Ignoring for a moment that the bantamweight Rousey is a much larger fighter than strawweight VanZant, the quote went viral in recent days, catching VanZant a bit off guard.
“It’s TMZ, they came up to me and asked me about that matchup and it’s like, how many times am I going to be asked that question before people realize we’re in far different weight classes?” VanZant said at Thursday’s UFC on FOX 22 open workouts. “Now, I tell people I want to fight her, and all of a sudden it’s like the news of the year.”
VanZant, who meets Michelle Waterson in Saturday night’s main event at the Golden 1 Center in her adopted hometown, says she didn’t mean for the comment to come off as disrespectful, as she respects Rousey’s status as a trailblazer in the sport. She wished Rousey success in her return, as she meets Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 207 on Dec. 30.
“I have nothing but love for Ronda, I really do, I have nothing but respect for her and I hope she has a successful return,” she said.
At the end of the day, though, the name of the game is making money. So when push comes to shove, VanZant won’t back down from the idea of fighting Rousey, a matchup which would presumably have to be held somewhere in the middle of their two classes.
“I’m also in the business,” VanZant said. “I’ll fight anybody for the right amount of money.”