{"id":298341,"date":"2019-01-16T07:04:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T15:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=298341"},"modified":"2019-01-16T07:04:03","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T15:04:03","slug":"paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Paige VanZant explains why UFC Brooklyn bout is &#8216;more important than any fight&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This Saturday, when the UFC makes its debut on ESPN with the stacked UFC Brooklyn card, fan favorite flyweight contender Paige VanZant will make her long-awaited return to the Octagon opposite Rachael Ostovich.<\/p>\n<p>Paige VanZant believes this fight is one of the most important of her whole career \u2014 more important, even, than her UFC debut. She feels this is her opportunity to reintroduce herself to UFC fans using the massive ESPN platform and prove she belongs amongst the flyweight division&#8217;s best fighters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"VdS8U1\">\u201cThis one is more important, I feel, than any fight,\u201d VanZant told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2019\/1\/16\/18180530\/paige-vanzant-rachael-ostovich-fight-is-chance-to-remind-fans-why-i-belong-in-ufc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMA Fighting<\/a>. \u201cThis one is as just as important as my very first fight in the UFC ever. I need to show everybody who I am and why I belong in the UFC. I feel like fighting is a career where athletes are easily forgotten. If you\u2019re not in front of the crowds, then people don\u2019t remember your name. I\u2019ve been out for a year and I still have those fans who have stuck by me. But I need to show everybody and the new fans of the UFC why I belong there. I feel like this is the fight I have to prove myself with. And of course it couldn\u2019t be at a more exciting time, being the first ESPN card, being able to fight in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paige VanZant added that this was a card she&#8217;d been eyeing for some time.<\/p>\n<p id=\"wcrlRA\">\u201cI knew this was my card \u2014 I was meant to fight on the first ESPN card,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s monumental. It\u2019s huge. ESPN is the biggest sports network in the world. When you think of sports, you think of ESPN. I want to be the face of ESPN and I hope that me fighting on this card will help solidify and help prove that I belong on this network. It\u2019s huge. And on top of that, fighting in New York is a dream of mine.<\/p>\n<p>VanZant is also excited about the matchup with Rachael Ostovich itself.<\/p>\n<p id=\"kpWlvc\">\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting fight for me,\u201d she said. \u201cShe has such a big name within the UFC. I think that obviously this is a fight a lot of male fans really like. I\u2019m excited that me and her can go out there and put on a show. I have met her in person and she\u2019s a super, super nice person. So I\u2019m excited we get to share an Octagon together and try to rip each other\u2019s heads off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paige VanZant is currently on a two-fight skid, having recently come up short to Michelle Waterson and Jessica-Rose Clark. Do you think she&#8217;ll return to winning ways in Brooklyn this Saturday?<\/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 1\/16\/2019.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Saturday, when the UFC makes its debut on ESPN with the stacked UFC Brooklyn card, fan favorite flyweight contender Paige VanZant will make her long-awaited return to the Octagon opposite Rachael Ostovich. Paige VanZant believes this fight is one of the most important of her whole career \u2014 more important, even, than her UFC [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":298344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10124,39610],"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>Paige VanZant explains why UFC Brooklyn bout is &#039;more important than any fight&#039; | 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\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paige VanZant explains why UFC Brooklyn bout is &#039;more important than any fight&#039; | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This Saturday, when the UFC makes its debut on ESPN with the stacked UFC Brooklyn card, fan favorite flyweight contender Paige VanZant will make her long-awaited return to the Octagon opposite Rachael Ostovich. Paige VanZant believes this fight is one of the most important of her whole career \u2014 more important, even, than her UFC [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/\" \/>\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=\"2019-01-16T15:04:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Paige-VanZant-4.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\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Paige VanZant explains why UFC Brooklyn bout is &#8216;more important than any fight&#8217;\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-16T15:04:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-16T15:04:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/\"},\"wordCount\":475,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Paige VanZant\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/\",\"name\":\"Paige VanZant explains why UFC Brooklyn bout is 'more important than any fight' | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-16T15:04:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-16T15:04:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/paige-vanzant-explains-why-ufc-brooklyn-bout-is-more-important-than-any-fight\/#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\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Paige VanZant explains why UFC Brooklyn bout is &#8216;more important than any fight&#8217;\"}]},{\"@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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