Three years ago, Britain Hart was effectively touted as “the other girl” when matched up against Paige VanZant after VanZant defected from UFC and signed a lucrative deal with BKFC.
Hart may have started that night as the B-side to VanZant, but she put on a largely dominant showing over five rounds to secure the unanimous decision win. On Saturday, Hart defends her BKFC strawweight title against Taylor Starling in the main event for the promotion’s first card in Sturgis, S.D., which takes place during the famous week-long motorcycle rally where nearly a half-million bike enthusiasts descend upon the unassuming small town.
While Hart has cemented herself as one of the faces of BKFC, VanZant only returned for one more bare-knuckle fight, losing to fellow UFC veteran Rachael Ostovich. Since then, VanZant has made a lucrative career for herself through online modeling, but also jumped into the influencer boxing scene with a fight against Elle Brooke. Most recently, VanZant competed in Dana White’s Power Slap, where she scored a win in her debut.
Whatever rivalry brewed between VanZant and Hart leading into their fight has long since expired, and Hart admits she’s found herself rooting for her former foe to find success.
“I’m not even going to lie — I watched that sh*t,” Hart told MMA Fighting about VanZant’s Power Slap match. “It was so fun. It just says haters are fans too. But seriously, I like Paige. I’ve actually been, to be quite honest with you, not that I pity her, because I know that’s the last thing she wants, but she’s somebody that I keep an eye on and she’s not quitting.
“But people are really f*cking mean to her. People are mean and put it on her. Paige really isn’t mean to anybody. I don’t see her putting people down. I really want to see her do good in life, I really do.”
Slap fighting isn’t for everyone, but even Hart admitted there was a moment where she considered participating until her coaches decided otherwise.
She still enjoyed watching VanZant do her thing, and Hart sees no reason to hate on her former opponent for doing nothing more than whatever she wants to do.
“I was offered to do [slap fighting] years ago and I wanted to,” Hart said. “Maybe it wasn’t Power Slap, but it was slap fighting in general, but my team gave me their reasoning on, ‘Hell no, Britain, not happening.’ Seeing her do it and a lot of people were mean about her flinching and maybe her performance on it, but she did get the win. You know what I liked seeing from her? Her reaction. I loved seeing her reaction to winning something so bizarre and crazy as getting slapped in the face. Her reaction brought a smile to my face. It made my day just a little bit better.
“I don’t judge on people too much anymore. I’ve really been putting the blinders on and just focusing on me and my direct people that love me. I’m happy for other people when they’re happy and they’re good people.”
As far as VanZant ever returning to BKFC again one day, she’s been adamant that she still wants to fulfill the final bout on her current contract.
Hart doesn’t necessarily buy VanZant returning for another bare-knuckle fight, but she certainly welcomes it if it happens.
“I think in this time it’s so crazy, everybody’s about the celebrity boxing, the OnlyFans. Everybody’s about the clickbait,” Hart said. “She will always be clickbait so she set herself up well for that. I could see [her coming back to BKFC] if she wants, but I don’t see why she would. I think her contract is expired. There’s a timestamp on that thing.
“What I like about Paige, if she comes back, I welcome it because she’s not sitting there bragging, ‘Oh, I’m the best fighter in the world, I’m the toughest, I’m dangerous, I’m going to show bare-knuckle what’s up.’ You see that from other fighters that come and go, that make excuses like, ‘They don’t pay me enough … I’ll come back when they pay me but I’d wipe out every girl there.’ You can’t say that.
“You can’t say you can beat every girl’s ass in the organization but say you’re not coming back unless they pay you. Put your money where your mouth is. Come in and prove you can beat us, and then maybe we’ll talk about the money later.”
Whether VanZant comes back to BKFC or not remains to be seen, but Hart won’t fault her for whatever choices she makes with her career.
“If she comes back, I think she’s done it in a respectful way,” Hart said. “And if she comes back, it’s only great for the organization. Maybe she’ll be redeeming for herself.”
