Paige VanZant Places Second On ‘Dancing With The Stars’

UFC strawweight Paige VanZant has been busy as of late, competing on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ and now the No. 8-ranked strawweight has placed second alongside dancing partner Mark Ballas in the show’s 22nd season.

Throughout the show, VanZant and Ballas have received three different sets of perfect scorecards with their performances to songs such as ‘Proud Mary’,’Hip Hip Chin Chin’,’Over The Rainbow’, and ‘Little Bitty Pretty One’.

VanZant came up just short in the fan voting to winners Nyle DiMarco and Murgatroyd. UFC stars have a history of appearing on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ as Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture both competed on the show; however, neither made it as far as VanZant did.

VanZant had this to say after the results were revealed live on ABC:

“It’s amazing. I’m just so thankful I got to have this opportunity, and I’m going to remember it forever,”

Judge Carrie Anne had this to say after VanZant’s final dance of the season:

“Paige, you have delivered and set the standard from Day 1 of this competition, and you continue to set the standard”.

The UFC was visibly saddened by VanZant’s upset defeat as they posted the following on Twitter:

#DWTSFinale 😢 pic.twitter.com/hLnWFlTflw

— UFC (@ufc) May 25, 2016

Now ’12 Gauge’ will focus on her upcoming role in the Jean-Claude Van Damme “Kickboxer” sequel that she earned through her exposure on ‘Dancing With The Stars’. As for VanZant’s fighting career, no news has been made on when she might return to the Octagon.