{"id":274420,"date":"2018-04-10T11:49:46","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T18:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=274420"},"modified":"2018-04-10T11:49:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T18:49:46","slug":"ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC flyweight Paige VanZant opens up about being raped in new book"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In her new novel, <em>Rise: Surviving the Fight of My Life<\/em>, UFC flyweight Paige VanZant shares a heartrending account of the time she was raped at 14 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during an appearance on Good Morning America, the flyweight opened up on this harrowing ordeal, which occurred when she was invited to a party by an older guy.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently, there were red flags from the moment she walked through the front door.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Paige VanZant says &#039;MMA fighting saved my life&#039;\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CGCZO-5pNEs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt like I was a smart girl,\u201d she said on the show, recounting the night of her sexual assault (via <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2018\/04\/ufc-paige-vanzant-bullying-sexual-assault-rise-new-book\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMAJunkie<\/a>). \u201cMy parents raised me well. They raised me to know better and to have some intuition, and it all went out the window just because I was so lonely, and I was in so much pain. All I could think about is like, \u2018Wow, I have somebody that wants to be my friend.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I walked in the door of their house, I was like, \u2018This probably isn\u2019t a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>VanZant continues in a distressing passage of her novel:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThey move me around. They change my position. I fail each time I try to resist, my limbs like wet cement on my body, my brain a heavy fog. I am awake and conscious, but my body feels dead.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI know what is happening but can do nothing to stop it. I have no voice or choice but to submit and pray that it ends soon.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When her schoolmates found out what had happened at the party, VanZant says she was bullied with such severity that she contemplated suicide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t see any other way out,\u201d she added during her appearance Good Morning America. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in that position, when in you\u2019re feeling that much pain, it\u2019s not that you want to die. You just don\u2019t want to be in pain any more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today, when Paige VanZant is an established MMA star, she says that the sport played a central role in saving her life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMMA fighting definitely saved my life,\u201d she said. \u201cIt saved who I was as a person, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-entry-content\">\n<p id=\"ybxLUm\">Her goal, at this stage, is to use her station as a public figure to help others struggling with similar situations.<\/p>\n<p id=\"78Vq7M\">\u201cA huge reason I\u2019m getting the book out is because I want to be an advocate for anti-bullying, I want to be an advocate,\u201d VanZant told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2018\/4\/10\/17218364\/ufcs-paige-vanzant-opens-up-for-the-first-time-about-being-raped-in-new-book\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMAFighting<\/a>\u00a0in an interview this week. \u201cThat\u2019s the main wave I want to start from this. The hardest thing for me was the bullies. That just really sunk me even lower, that no one was even there for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Learn more about Paige VanZant&#8217;s new book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hachettebookgroup.com\/titles\/paige-vanzant\/rise\/9780316472265\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 4\/10\/2018.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In her new novel, Rise: Surviving the Fight of My Life, UFC flyweight Paige VanZant shares a heartrending account of the time she was raped at 14 years old. Speaking during an appearance on Good Morning America, the flyweight opened up on this harrowing ordeal, which occurred when she was invited to a party by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":274422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10124],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UFC flyweight Paige VanZant opens up about being raped in new book | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UFC flyweight Paige VanZant opens up about being raped in new book | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In her new novel, Rise: Surviving the Fight of My Life, UFC flyweight Paige VanZant shares a heartrending account of the time she was raped at 14 years old. Speaking during an appearance on Good Morning America, the flyweight opened up on this harrowing ordeal, which occurred when she was invited to a party by [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-10T18:49:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Paige-VanZant.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"UFC flyweight Paige VanZant opens up about being raped in new book\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-10T18:49:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-10T18:49:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/\"},\"wordCount\":472,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Paige VanZant\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/\",\"name\":\"UFC flyweight Paige VanZant opens up about being raped in new book | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-10T18:49:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-10T18:49:46+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/ufc-flyweight-paige-vanzant-opens-up-about-being-raped-in-new-book\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Paige VanZant\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/paige-vanzant\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"UFC flyweight Paige VanZant opens up about being raped in new book\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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