Paige VanZant appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show today where she became the latest UFC star to complain about money and the latest female athlete to address the gender pay gap. VanZant revealed that she makes more money sitting home on Instagram than fighting.
VanZant has one fight left on her contract and it doesn’t sound like negotiations have been promising. In the UFC’s defense, VanZant has only fought twice since 2016, going 1-2 in her last three bouts. However, VanZant was a finalist on Dancing With The Stars and is one of the sports most high-profile faces. If the UFC doesn’t want to pay VanZant what she’s worth, they better make some new stars and then pay them enough to fight.
As far as social media goes, she has 2.2 million followers to promote various supplements and lifestyle choices.
Nevertheless, VanZant could conceivably be a draw for Bellator, so it’s plausible that despite her recent losses she could still have some leverage when her deal is up.
