It’s been six months since we last saw Paige VanZant compete in the Octagon. And when she did so it was when she broke her arm on Jessica-Rose Clark‘s forehead with a spinning back fist.
VanZant hasn’t won an MMA bout since August 2016 when she TKO’d Bec Rawlings with a wild jumping switch kick. Since then she’s dropped an L to Michelle Waterson and moved up to the new UFC flyweight division.
After breaking her arm her last time out vs Clark, VanZant underwent surgery to get things all fixed up. Unfortunately for VanZant, she updated us with the news today that it hasn’t panned out.
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❗Arm Update❗ I unfortunately and sadly have to inform all of my fans who have been standing by my side that my arm surgery has failed. For whatever reason my bone still is totally broken in my arm and shows no sign of healing or progression. All that we can guess is that I went back to training too quickly and didn’t give my arm the proper time to heal without any motion. This is the downfall of athletes, pushing through pain when they should not. I will be going in for another more serious surgery next month where they will take bone fragments from my hip to fill the break and put another bigger plate in. I will take the time off to heal this go around. I will be back to the UFC and I will fight many more fights in the future. Send some prayers up for me for recovery. Thank you.
A very crazy and unfortunate situation it is for VanZant. But still, at just age 24, she has plenty of years left in her if she can put these injuries behind her once and for all.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/12/2018.