If only they could have danced to "Face the Pain."
Paige VanZant and partner Mark Ballas cut quite the rug Monday night inside of a makeshift Octagon on "Dancing With The Stars." Their paso doble was complete with fake elbows, kicks and knees. The ending came when VanZant "landed" a Superman punch, dropping Ballas. Fitting for a team nicknamed #PowRightInTheKisser.
VanZant might not have avenged her loss to Rose Namajunas in December, but this was quite the performance, even if the punches were pulled.
MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani reported Monday on The MMA Hour that VanZant would be honoring MMA on the ABC show and that certainly qualified. The danced earned a very good score of 23 out of 30. That was down from VanZant's 24 last week.
"DWTS" judge Len Berman criticized the performance for not being enough like a paso doble, giving it a 7. VanZant earned all 8s last week for a Latin dance with fill-in partner Alan Bersten. Ballas was out due to a back injury, but he returned Monday.
VanZant, 21, is one of the favorites to win this season of "Dancing With The Stars." The women's strawweight fighter is a former dancer who transitioned as a teen to mixed martial arts.