Did Paige VanZant break her arm? Revisiting the recurring injury of her MMA career

Paige VanZant [in frame] is set to face Elle Brooke at Misfits & DAZN series 16 [Image courtesy @paigevanzant on Instagram]
Paige VanZant [in frame] is set to face Elle Brooke at Misfits & DAZN series 15 [Image courtesy @paigevanzant on Instagram]

Paige VanZant was once a promising strawweight contender in the UFC. Right from debuting for the promotion in 2014 with a third-round TKO over Kailin Curran, '12 Guage' showed potential.

In her almost six-year-long tenure with the world's premier MMA organization, the Nevada native raked up a promotional record of 5-4, with wins against the likes of Felice Herrig, and Rachael Ostovich among others.

Since cutting ties with the UFC she has signed with the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) where she is yet to find a win. Nevertheless, she has found immense success on social media. '12 Guage' is one of the top stars on the content subscription service OnlyF*ns.

Catch Paige VanZant's comments about OnlyF*ans below:

However, VanZant's run in the UFC was far from a cakewalk. In the latter part of her career, she was riddled with injuries that seemingly took a toll on her career.


Did Paige VanZant break her arm?

The latter part of Paige VanZant's UFC career was riddled with arm injuries. It all started when she broke her forearm after landing a spinning back fist during her flyweight debut against Jessica-Rose Clark at UFC Fight Night 124 in 2018.

Despite a broken forearm, the 30-year-old soldiered through till the closing bell but lost via unanimous decision to Clark.

During a previous Instagram Q&A with her fans, '12 Guage' revealed that she had suffered four arm breaks in her career and had undergone three surgeries for the same. VanZant chalks up the troubles with her arm to that fateful night in 2018:

"My worst injury is I shattered my forearm in the middle of a fight and then kept fighting... But after I broke it, I had a metal plate put in my arm and then broke it through my plate twice... All from a stupid spinning back fist. [H/t: The Sun]"

The former MMA star's career again suffered when her rumored UFC 236 bout against Poliana Botelho or Montana De La Rosa came undone after she suffered another arm fracture.

Fast forward to March 2020, '12 Guage's' fight against Amanda Ribas had to be postponed to July after she suffered another broken arm. Later when the pair locked horns at UFC 251 Ribas finished the fight via an armbar in the opening round.

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