Paige VanZant Blames ‘Not Preparing’ Jiu-Jitsu For UFC on FOX 22 Loss

Rising women’s strawweight star Paige VanZant suffered another setback, dropping a first round submission loss to Michelle Waterson in the main event of last night’s (Dec. 17, 2016) UFC on FOX 22 from Sacramento, California. The loss marked the second of VanZant’s last three Octagon performances.

Despite this recent stretch, however, the young “12 Gauge” isn’t worried about her future:

“I was meant for the spotlight, and I’m going to continue to be in the spotlight,” VanZant said during the post-fight press conference. “I will be back, and I’m going to have the belt one day. I’m 22 years old. I have a long time, so I have the best team in the world. I’ll be back.”

VanZant faced off with a former Invicta champion in “The Karate Hottie” and it’s clear to say that her weakness was exploited in the fight:

“Michelle Waterson’s a really good fighter,” she said. “She used to be the atomweight champion for Invicta FC, so I know she’s going to go very, very far in this sport. I knew it was going to be a big test for me. Gotta work on my jiu-jitsu, apparently, so I’m going to do that.”

While the No. 7-ranked strawweight blames the loss on ‘not preparing’ her jiu-jitsu correctly, she also said that she simply got caught:

“I got caught tonight,” she said. “It happens. I’m not blaming any other outside factors, no matter what went on. I got caught, and it happens in this sport.”

“Before I fought Bec, I was supposed to be in a movie, and I turned it down because it was going to mess up my fight game. This just came down to not preparing my jiu-jitsu, and that’s it.”

Who would you like to see PVZ attempt to bounce back against next?