Horrific injury has forced Paige VanZant out of making history on International Fight Week in just a few weeks’ time.
Since leaving the UFC, Paige VanZant has taken her talents to several combat sports, including BKFC, Misfits Boxing, and more recently, Power Slap.
The former UFC star has seemingly found a home in Power Slap, having competed three times, winning on two occasions.
’12-Gauge’ was then scheduled to return to MMA when it was announced that she would fight for the new promotion, GFL, however just a few months later, the GFL canceled all of their upcoming events due to a lack of funding.
Paige VanZant out of historic Power Slap fight
Following the cancellation of the GFL events, it was announced that VanZant would make history by becoming the first woman to compete for a Power Slap title, rematching Michelle Brown on June 27, International Fight Week.
Despite that, VanZant revealed this past Tuesday on Instagram that she has been forced out of the history-making fight due to a ‘severe’ neck injury.
“My upcoming Power Slap match for the title is postponed. Unfortunately, I had to pull out. I have a pretty severe neck injury,” VanZant began to explain.
“If it was not such a big deal, I definitely would still compete, especially because I was just really excited. It’s such a big deal and I was excited for Power Slap to give me the opportunity to fight for a title.
“I have what is called a spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma. It actually didn’t come from training. It’s a one in a million, freak, crazy injury that happened in my neck,” she continued.
VanZant claims she could have been paralyzed from severe injury
After discovering her injury during an MRI, VanZant decided to seek out help from a neurosurgeon. According to the former UFC star, the neurosurgeon was shocked that she hasn’t had any neurological issues.
“Basically, the neurosurgeon at this point, one is surprised that I don’t have any neurological issues because it’s extremely serious, a lot of times people become paralyzed, start losing function of their arms pretty quickly. I don’t have that, which is a good sign,” she explained.
It is unclear as of now when VanZant’s title fight will be re-booked for but Dana White‘s Power Slap will likely wait for her return before crowning their first-ever women’s champion.