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WWE News: UFC Star Paige VanZant Interested In The WWE

By Shawn Lealos
Published on: 05:21 PST, Dec 20, 2016

The WWE has been outspoken in their interest towards UFC star Ronda Rousey. More recently, Triple H even made his interest known for Conor McGregor in the future. However, there is another UFC star that the WWE has shown interest in, and Forbes reported that Paige VanZant appears interested as well.

Paige VanZant conducted an interview with Maxim magazine, and the interviewer pointed out that the WWE wanted to bring her in for SummerSlam in August. When they mentioned there were reports that the WWE booked her for SummerSlam before she pulled out, Paige VanZant didn’t deny it.

“The WWE is an amazing organization. I’m a UFC fighter right now, but my future has no limits. Can’t wait to see what I accomplish next.”

Paige VanZant also said that she is a huge WWE fan and called Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is her favorite wrestler of all time. However, for now, she isn’t planning on jumping to the WWE, but VanZant makes it sound like she wants to eventually make her way there in the future.

The WWE interest in Paige VanZant was public knowledge at the time. Fox Sports reported that the company had contacted her about appearing at SummerSlam in some capacity. Her manager, Mike Roberts, confirmed that the WWE had contacted them about her availability.

PW Torch reported a week later that Paige VanZant turned down the offer from the WWE. While she had taken time off from the UFC to appear on Dancing with the Stars, the timing was not right for her to appear in the WWE. The problem is that SummerSlam took place in August, and she had a UFC fight on Aug. 27 against Bec Rawlings.

“Right now I’m 100-percent fight-focused and I would love to participate in anything the WWE has to offer when the timing’s right as long as it works with my fight schedule. I love WWE and if they ever reached out to me again I think I would definitely love to work with them but right now I’m focused on Bec Rawlings,”

Heading into the August fight, Paige VanZant had just suffered her first loss to Rose Namajunas in December 2015. She took time off from the UFC and finished in second place on Dancing with the Stars. After that, she returned to train for her next UFC fight.

Paige VanZant won that fight, knocking out Bec Rawlings in two rounds. This past week, Paige VanZant lost her second UFC fight, this one to Michelle Waterson in a second-round technical submission. With that loss, her record dropped to 7-3.

The timing of the August fight was interesting. The UFC and WWE worked together to co-promote Brock Lesnar’s successful return to the company. While it looked like Lesnar returning would open the door for the two companies to work together, that might have fallen apart this month.

Rolling Stone reported that the Nevada Athletic Commission suspended Brock Lesnar for a year from the UFC and mixed martial arts for failing two drug tests when he fought and won his UFC fight over Mark Hunt at UFC 200.

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This means that Paige VanZant probably won’t appear for the WWE as long as she is under a UFC contract. However, she has made it clear that she wants to work with the WWE, much like Ronda Rousey has said. Rousey fights at the end of this month in what might be her final retirement match in the UFC.

If Ronda Rousey leaves mixed martial arts and joins the WWE, she could possibly appear at WrestleMania next year. If Paige VanZant joins up after that, there is a perfect WWE feud waiting for her to show up.

[Featured Image by UFC]

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