After winning her Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut on Saturday, Paige VanZant is shoved to the limelight in the mixed martial arts (MMA) world. With just five fights under her belt, there is a growing interest in the 20-year-old model-turned-MMA fighter now, not only for her good looks but actual skills on top of the ring.

VanZant, who is from Newberg, Oregon in the United States, got the attention of fight fans with her performance against Kailin Curran, whom she beat via technical knockout (punches) in the third round in the UFC Fight Night event over the weekend. That performance earned her “Fight of the Night” honours and a cool $50,000.

What made the UFC debut victory more special is the fact that VanZant was supposed to be one of the fighters competing in the MMA reality show, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). However, because VanZant was under-aged and rules stated that she had to be 21 or older, the UFC turned her away and did not allow her to join the “A Champion Will Be Crowned” season of the TUF show.

As fate would decide and what VanZant described as “a blessing in disguise”, it was for the better as VanZant was signed outright to a fight contract set for Oct. 4 and was rescheduled to last Saturday, Nov 22, 2014 when she rained down a flurry of punches on her opponent three years her senior.

Paige VanZant Profile: More Than A Pretty Face

Nicknamed “12 Gauge” and associated with Team Alpha Male, the 5-foot-4 115-pound strawweight fighter was aggressive from the opening bell against Curran. In the post-fight interview she admitted that she knew Curran’s aggressive style and that fighting fire with fire was her main game plan.

“She’s a really tough fighter and I watched all her fights. I knew we had similar styles, we both come out swinging and brawling,” Vanzant (4-1-0, 1 submission, 1 TKO) stated in the same interview after the fight. “And i just figured, if one of us is going to get the first hard punch it was going to be me.”

Paige’s UFC page is expectedly short and sweet but already she’s getting the attention of the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) world and UFC fans. Paige is a former model and cheerleader who had her first MMA fight in the amateur division on Apr. 13, 2012. With just one amatuer fight under her belt, she turned pro two months later.

She made her MMA debut on June 30, 2012 in the UWF-Tournament of Warriors Finale with a three-round split decision victory over Jordan Nicole Gaza. She made it back-to-back to start her career with a three-round unanimous decision over Amber Stautzenberger in the Premier Fight Series 2 event on September 22 the same year.

VanZant’s then lost her first MMA match to Tecia Torres, who won in a three-round unanimous decision win on Jan. 5, 2013 but bounced back months later with back-to-back wins against Courtney Himes in the BCP Cage Wars 15 via submission (rear-naked choke) and in her UFC debut.

Watch VanZant’s interview post-fight in her UFC debut and the highlights from the TKO win:

(YouTube/UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championship (Sports Association))

And here is VanZant's appearance in a Nike ad in 2012:

(YouTube/APOCALYPSE MMA)

Paige VanZant's official website, 12gaugepaigevanzant.com had one message on Tuesday: "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded. The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."-- a proof that VanZant's popularity is rising.

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