WWE eyeing UFC’s women fighters
NEWARK, NJ – APRIL 18: Paige VanZant celebrates defeating Felice Herrig in their women’s strawweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at Prudential Center on April 18, 2015 in Newark, New Jersey. Alex Trautwig/Getty Images/AFP
With the news of Brock Lesnar making his return at UFC 200, the line that divides the mixed martial arts promotion to the WWE is slowly being chipped away.
And it looks like Lesnar will not be the last to tread on both rivers.
In a report of WrestlingNews.co, WWE is exploring talks of having a number of UFC women fighters appear at SummerSlam on August 21 in Brooklyn.
Most notably, the company is eyeing 22-year-old strawweight contender and Dancing With The Stars runner-up Paige VanZant.
VanZant’s manager Mike Roberts also spoke to FOX Sports and confirmed that the WWE has reached out to their camp for a possible appearance in the August event.
Still, UFC could shut this proposal down, as VanZant earlier stated that she wanted to return to the Octagon sooner after wrapping up her stint at Dancing With The Stars.
She could also be booked for the undercard at UFC 200, which will be headlined by the rematch between UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor and lightweight contender Nate Diaz. That will be held on August 20 in Las Vegas, a day before SummerSlam, and if that happens, VanZant’s schedule just wouldn’t align with that of the WWE.
She is also set to have a film role in the upcoming “Kickboxer: Retaliation” sequel, which will shoot in Thailand later this year, easily making her a prime target for WWE.
But VanZant will not be the first UFC-signed fighter to show up at WWE events.
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made an appearance at WrestleMania 31 last year, when she and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had a stand-off against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
