Ex-UFC star Paige VanZant was left red-faced after a mix-up with her booking details at the airport saw her reveal to airline staff that she and her husband had made a sex tape.
The bare-knuckle boxer and professional wrestler was flying to Texas when she ran into trouble with her travel after a booking was made under her professional name VanZant, and not her married name Paige Vanderford. She and Bellator star Austin Vanderford married in September 2018, but she was so well-known by her maiden name that she kept using it for work.
And in an effort to prove her identity after showing up with a passport displaying a different name, she searched her own name in front of airport staff. However, this plan backfired when the first result was an article detailing that she and her husband had recorded a sex tape.
She told the amusing anecdote in a tweet, saying: "So, my flight to Texas got booked under 'Vanzant', which I still go by professionally. But my legal last name is my husband's Austin Vanderford. So to prove who I am I googled myself. First article they see 'Paige Vanzant and Husband make sex tape'..."
After light-heartedly finishing her tweet with a message of 'F you' to reporters, VanZant joked that her followers search history after reading her story likely was looking for information on the tape, which is unreleased. She hasn't ruled out ever making the tape available, but for now appears content with sharing racy photos on her members-only subscription site.
She was asked by fans in a Q&A session on social media earlier this year if she and Vanderford, who recently fought for the Bellator middleweight title, would ever make a tape, and replied "Would I? We definitely already have." However, when it comes to distributing it, she was more coy, adding: "Would I ever sell it, share it, promote it? Well, that's a different story."
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VanZant is currently assessing her future in combat sports after losing her first two efforts in bare-knuckle boxing and signing with professional wrestling company AEW. She will likely compete in the sports entertainment league in matches, but at just 27-years-old, she still believes she has a future in MMA and boxing.
She has dipped her toe in a number of avenues, including cornering and broadcasting in the sport world, and makes massive money on her subscription site. But the fighter also harbours ambitions of returning to the cage, and says she will continue to compete in BKFC.
"Luckily, I’m still a professional Bare Knuckle boxer with the BKFC," she told ESPN after signing with AEW. "They couldn’t have been more supportive, so they’re actually supporting this transition is well. I’ll still be doing Bare Knuckle boxing with the BKFC and doing AEW."
