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As Paige VanZant prepares to embark on the next chapter of her career on Friday, Feb. 5 when she headlines a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships pay-per-view card, the former UFC star was quick to share a reminder regarding her intentions just in case anyone might question her decision-making.

"I'm doing it for nobody but myself," VanZant told "Morning Kombat" last week. "I'm doing it because it sounds awesome. How many people could say that they are a professional bare-knuckle boxer? It's a huge moment for my career." 

Should VanZant (8-5 in MMA) go looking for critics, however, the native of Oregon has never had to look too far. After fighting out her UFC contract in July with a quick first-round submission loss to Amanda Ribas, PVZ's subsequent turn to BKFC was surprising at best. 

The 26-year-old retains no shortage of star power despite exiting UFC with losses in four of her final six fights. Yet she turned down multiple offer from UFC's rival promotions, including Bellator MMA, where her husband, Austin Vanderford, competes as an unbeaten middleweight. Instead, she chose to cash in on the opportunity to become the face of BKFC and a fledgling sport largely known as a last stop for faded boxers and MMA stars on the road to retirement. 

Asked whether those inside her camp counseled her against such a decision, VanZant could only respond with, "a lot of people did." 

A former "Dancing With The Stars" runner-up who parlayed her good looks and bubbling personality into multiple opportunities outside of MMA, VanZant will now risk those same cosmetic advantages in fights where cuts and the potential for scarring are par for the course.

She will do so, however, knowing that she'll be paid an amount she feels her brand deserves, which wasn't always the case in her increasingly tumultuous UFC run. 

"Honestly, at first, my husband was like, 'No, you are not doing this,'" VanZant said. "And then my mom was against it, I had some coaches against it. But once I signed the contract, everybody is on board now. They have to because they are supporting me through it all. Now, going to the fights is so exciting. My husband was like, 'This is awesome. Maybe I want to do it, too.'"

VanZant has never danced around the fact that money was a huge motivating factor. But it's not the only one. 

"The money was great and, of course, that's going to be part of it. But No. 2 was that this is awesome. For me to have bragging rights as a bare-knuckle professional boxer was a big part of it," VanZant said. "In this new transition, I think people will see that I really do love to fight. I am transitioning into this barbaric sport, and I'm not doing that to prove a point to anybody, I'm doing it because I want to. I think it looks badass and I want to.

"You might get cut open, but I have been cut open in fights before. It's no big deal for me. I get to show how tough I am."

VanZant will square off with Britain Hart in a featherweight bout topping arguably the most important PPV in BKFC's two-year history. It will take place at RF Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida, not far from Tampa, where Super Bowl LV will emanate from the same weekend. 

The pressure for PVZ to not only win but look good doing so will certainly be huge. VanZant is the crossover star still in the midst of her fighting prime that BKFC president David Feldman has seemingly coveted from the beginning while looking to make his brand a legitimate PPV competitor in the combat space. 

"For me, I feel the ending of my career in the UFC, I did feel the weight of the world on my shoulders," VanZant said. "Right now, I feel nothing like that. I'm here to take over and show the world how good I am. I feel like I am finally in a place where I can develop my striking, and I know I am so confident going into this. I know I've made every sacrifice to win, and that's what I'm going to do."

Looking back on her UFC exit, which included some unsavory words from promoter Dana White on the way out, VanZant is certainly motivated to prove the many doubters wrong. But she's motivated by the fact that this decision was all of her doing from the beginning, and one she hopes can open up more doors for her both inside and out of the ring.

"Of course, like anybody, you wish your job would do more for you. You wish that you would get paid more," VanZant said about leaving UFC. "But at the end of the day, you have to do it for yourself, and a lot of things I did get by myself. Going to 'Dancing With The Stars,' we got that. That was me and my manager. 

"I feel like the UFC does a good job building their stars -- they really do. But I felt like I needed to take control, and that's what I'm doing. I feel like I'm writing out my own destiny and am at a point in my life where I don't need an organization to be relevant. I am relevant completely by myself, and I truly feel that's why I can bring so much to these organizations."