MMA fighter Paige Van Zant reveals that use of banned substances are not limited to just men fighters; some women in the MMA sport also use it as well.
The popular strawweight fighter says that it looks like some women in her division are using performance-enhancing drugs because of how their body physique looks like. Good thing the UFC has now implemented a stricter, more efficient drug testing procedures to make sure all of the athletes are playing in a fair ground.
“I will say some of the girls in my weight class have very masculine physiques, and I don’t know if you can get those naturally. I’m not a nutritionist, though, so I don’t really know. But I am happy that USADA is here and implementing the drug-testing policy,” Van Zant said in a recent interview in Downtown Los Angeles.
Van Zant says, however, that she wouldn’t bother dropping names on this issue even though she believes they are out there. “12 Gauge” also revealed that she isn’t letting the activities of other people compromise her preparations for her MMA fights and her strategies inside the octagon.
“I think about those things, but also the whole thing doesn’t affect me, so I just look at whoever my opponent is. If the strawweight division changes, it doesn’t matter as long as I keep continuing to win fights. Whatever my other opponents do, it has no affect on me,” she said.
Van Zant is scheduled to go up against Alex Chambers this Saturday in Las Vegas at the UFC 191 event and she is hoping for a three-win streak in the promotion company. The 21-year old is reportedly one of the much-awaited and biggest up-and-coming stars in the women’s MMA division today. Van Zant, who has a record of 5-1, is a CrossFit athlete at present and admittedly a former dancer. She is also proud to say that she doesn’t use any performance-enhancing drugs. She doesn’t even use IV rehydration. This is actually a good practice for her because USADA will not be allowing this technique anymore come October.
“If you’re relying on IVs, that’s obviously going to be a problem. Some changes are gonna have to be made. I think that’s really going to be hard, because for the strawweights you can’t go up since there’s no 125-pound division in the UFC,” Van Zant said.
Van Zant is taking some criticisms because of the extra incentives she is receiving from the UFC. As of the moment, Van Zant is currently sponsored by Reebok even though she has only managed to get six pro MMA fights, unlike other fighters who did not get any individual deals with the sponsor even though they are already veterans; take Demetrious Johnson for instance. Johnson is one of the top pound-for-pound mma athletes in the entire industry and yet he doesn’t have any individual deals with Reebok. Van Zant admitted that dealing with these kinds of issues can sometimes be tough, but she doesn’t let the issues get to her.
“I think people only hate what they love, what they can’t be and what they don’t understand,” she said. So it’s one of the three. For me, I have too many positive things, too many amazing things in my life to care about how my opponents feel about me. Of course they’re not gonna like me. We’re gonna fight each other,” she said.