Products You May Like
Exclusive
TMZSports.com
Paige VanZant says Mackenzie Dern is a HUGE inspiration — showing that women CAN still have a career in the UFC even after giving birth!!!
Of course, Dern lost her comeback fight to Amanda Ribas just 4 months after giving birth to her baby daughter … but the fight went the distance and Dern still looked pretty dangerous.
Ribas rocks Dern, then takes her down here in round 1! #UFCTampa pic.twitter.com/b7HyvayaBw
— UFC (@ufc) October 13, 2019
@ufc
25-year-old VanZant says watching Dern fight “put things into perspective for me” about the reality of starting a family with her MMA fighter husband, Austin Vanderford, while maintaining a career as an MMA fighter.
“I always thought that I was going to have kids once I’m done fighting but now seeing that, I’m like no you don’t have to.”
“[Dern] legitimately, in the time I broke my arm, she had a baby, came back and fought. So, now I’m like okay there’s hope for me!”
“Me and my husband, I can have a few more fights, maybe have kids and then still continue to fight. I don’t have to give up my dreams, just because you go through childbirth.”
“It’s really inspiring and I hope other women can see that too. She’s still young and she’s going to have a really successful UFC career, it’s awesome.”
Paige also says people forget how BADASS it is to have a kid “It’s a very traumatic, intense experience. You can die giving birth. It’s a big deal. So, for her to go 4 months later and come back? That’s huge and inspirational.”