Rachael Ostovich is the fighter tasked with handing Paige VanZant a second successive bare-knuckle boxing defeat when the glamorous rivals clash in Florida tonight.
Both Ostovich and VanZant built their names during careers in the UFC, including a bout with one another in the early part of 2019, which VanZant won with a second round armbar.
And Ostrovich now has one of the biggest social media followings in combat sports with more followers than a number of boxing world champions including Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor.
Ostovich has had an inspirational life and career, including returning to the cage just months after a domestic abuse incident that saw her then-husband sentenced to four years of probation.
Here's everything you need to know about Paige VanZant's upcoming opponent Rachel Ostovich ahead of their bare-knuckle rematch...
Early life and career
Rachael Ostovich was born on February 25, 1991 in Hawaii, where not much is known about her early life.
She comes from a fighting family, and made her amateur debut in 2011, and fought six times before making the switch to pro at the start of 2014.
Ostovich started training at 'Jesus is Lord' MMA gym in Honolulu, Hawaii, which is owned by her father Robert who trained her to become a fighter.
She is a mother of one daughter, Ruby Rose, who is eight years-old, with ex-husband Arnold Berdon.
Pro career
Ostovich lost her professional debut against Jenny Liou in January 2014, but picked up her first win eight months later against Misha Nassiri.
That armbar win over Nassiri earned her a spot on the Invicta FC roster, where she went 2-2 before getting called up to appear on the 26th season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Ostovich won her first bout of the season against Melinda Fabian, but couldn't get past Barb Honchak and win the season.
She did win her full UFC debut against Karine Gevorgyan, but lost her next three before being dropped by the promotion at the end of last year.
Domestic abuse case
Ostovich was assaulted in her hometown of Honolulu by MMA fighter Arnold Berdon on November 18, 2018 in an incident which left her with a broken orbital bone and other injuries.
She filed and was granted a temporary restraining order against her husband effective until May 19, 2019 and he was arrested on November 20, 2018.
“This wasn’t a single act, it wasn’t a single punch. This was a sustained brutal assault,” Deputy Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rawson said.
“For nearly 10 minutes, the defendant assaulted the victim while she begged for him to stop.”
On May 16, 2019 in a Honolulu court Berdon was sentenced to four-year probation after pleading no contest to a charge of assaulting Ostovich.
First fight with Paige VanZant
After the incident, Ostovich decided to pull out of her scheduled bout with VanZant for January 19, although she ended up going through with it when a doctor cleared her.
The bout took place on the undercard of the first UFC card to air on ESPN+ in the United States, which saw Henry Cejudo defend his flyweight title against bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
VanZant won with ambar in the second round, which started a three-fight skid that ultimately ended Ostovich's UFC run.
