Not even the lure of Hollywood can take Paige VanZant's focus away from her upcoming fight.
The UFC fighter is set to return to the Octagon, which caused her to turn down a movie role she previously committed to. VanZant's star is rising now that she was a finalist on "Dancing with the Stars," but her budding acting career will be put on hold as she pursues her next fight.
VanZant was set to star alongside the likes of Mike Tyson and others for the upcoming "Kickboxing Retaliation" film, but she's opted to turn down the role in favor of her UFC career.
The blonde bombshell is set to face Bec Rawlings at "UFC on Fox 21" in a straweight battle on Aug. 27 at the Rogers Arena in Canada.
"I've recently declined to be in the 'Kickboxer' movie because I want to be 100 percent for this fight and train 100 percent," VanZant told ESPN (via TMZ). "That movie filming was kinda gonna get in the way. We couldn't get a date set that worked with my schedule."
The 22-year-old star recently finished up on "Dancing with the Stars" and was anxious to return to the MMA realm, but was having some difficulty initially finding an opponent until the bout was announced.
"We're actually talking about a fight lined up with the UFC right now," VanZant told 'UFC on Fox' (via MMAMania.com) earlier this month. "It's hard, the straweight division is still small, still growing, so we have to see who doesn't have a fight, who isn't injured, who didn't just come out of a fight. I plan on staying at straweight; I plan on staying there as long as long as I can, it's definitely where I fit."
VanZant's last fight was a loss at the hands of Rose Namajunas via submission with a rear-naked choke at "UFC Fight Night" on Dec. 10, dropping her record to 6-2.
There have been rumors that the WWE had interest in using VanZant for its SummerSlam event, but the scheduling could conflict with her training. The company has used Ronda Rousey in the past.
VanZant is set to enter the Octagon just six nights after the "Biggest Event of the Summer," which takes place on Aug. 21 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
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