Ex-UFC star and social media sensation Paige VanZant will have a "coming out party" with a marquee fight on her Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship bow, which promoters hope will take advantage of the popularity of the Super Bowl.
David Feldman, the president of the promotion, has revealed that former flyweight and strawweight VanZant, who is best known for leaving little of her life to the imagination for the benefit of her 2.7 million Instagram followers, will scrap on Super Bowl weekend in February.
VanZant signed a reportedly lucrative contract with the championship following her release from the UFC earlier this year, and her prolonged wait for her first fight in the notoriously brutal discipline has now been scheduled to take place in Florida - the home of the NFL showpiece - in February.
"We’re going to do the Friday before the Super Bowl, right around the Super Bowl, where it’s going to be,” Feldman told MMA Fighting, confirming the date of February 5.
“It’s going to be a great event for us. I think it’s really going to be a really good coming out party for Paige’s debut and for BKFC in general to be around the mainstream sports media.
"Every sports media in the world will be there and I think we’re going to get the attention of a lot of them that weekend.
“It’s going to be a great weekend for us and a great debut for Paige VanZant.”
Whoever VanZant fights, the 26-year-old will be at the top of the bill in the conclusion of a build-up that will follow her training and home life through a dedicated documentary series.
"She’ll definitely be in the top two [fights],” said Feldman.
“Either the main event or the co-main event, we’re not 100 percent sure yet.
"It depends on who takes what fight. We’re going to know that in the next two or three weeks.
“Once we have that card completely solidified, we’ll make that decision, but she’s got to be near the top of it or at the top because she’s going to be in every combat sports headline around for that one.
"So we have to give her her due. She’s training really, really hard."
VanZant has portrayed herself in training and urged fans to subscribe to the championship's channel in order to watch the series, which will be called Ungloved.
She has been on more familiar form this week, modeling with husband and Bellator MMA fighter Austin Vanderford ahead of his first fight in almost a year this weekend.
"You keep me safe, I'll keep you wild," she told Vanderford, describing herself as "his bad habit" and holding his head in her hands while grinning before draping herself over his lap on a sofa while baring her buttocks. "A king only bows to his queen."
The couple have been staying in a hotel with beds that VanZant declared "tiny" compared to their kingsize one at home.
Their pet dog Dennis, who has his own Instagram account, displaced Vanderford in bed next to VanZant as she announced a new video charting his weight cut on their YouTube channel.
The account is called "a kickass love story" but VanZant is aware that the pair's exhibitionism is not universally popular, declaring them "your favorite couple to hate" alongside footage from their fight week photoshoot.
Earlier this month, VanZant claimed she was shocked when desperate fans sent her money after she invited them to send her cash in a move that she said had been a joke.
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