To martial artists, wrestlers, and other people participate in combat sports, the feeling of fighting can be exhilarating and rewarding.
There are several reasons why this. For one, combat sports require a great deal of physical exertion, which leads to the release of endorphins and other 'feel-good' chemicals in the brain. Additionally, the intense focus and concentration required during fights can be a form of meditation, helping fighters to clear their minds and achieve a sense of inner peace.
Finally, many combat sports are also highly strategic, and to the fighters, this can be mentally stimulating.
Among other reasons, these people may find losing a tooth, fractured or broken a bone, or getting bruised and cuts during fights, a thrill on its own.
To these adrenaline-junkies, risking bodily damage is a challenge worth accepting.
But in terms of financial goals, this is where things get subjective.
Paige Michelle VanZant is a 1994-born American woman, known for being a mixed martial artist, bare knuckle boxer, professional wrestler, and author.
Having fought inside the octagon in Ultimate Fighting Championship, VanZant is known for her aggressive grappling, ground-and-pound, dirty boxing, and a wide variety of clinch striking.
With a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, VanZant is also expert if choking and submission moves.
As a popular and successful fighter in the ring, does come with a good paycheck. But apparently, the money VanZant makes from fighting pales in comparison to the money she makes on OnlyFans.
By altering her body from physical contact to another form of "physical contact," she claims to have earned more money in 24 hours through the platform, than she earned in more than a decade fighting.
The former UFC star opened this up in an interview with Barstool Sports' Glenny Balls.
Through her OnlyFans account, she uploaded photos and videos that include partial and full frontal nudity, to sex acts, and more.
And doing so makes her richer than ever.
Long story short, sex sells.
The more famous a person is, the more likely the person will get more audience for their nudity.
Paige VanZant utilizes this fact, and embraced her new career with pride.
"Yeah. I definitely have. I would say when I made the switch to OnlyFans—there’s a lot of stuff I’ve done in my career. I’ve been really fortunate about my career," VanZant said. "Even outside of the UFC and out of fighting has been pretty successful. I’ve worked pretty hard in other industries and trying to cross over, I guess [to] a more mainstream personality."
"But yes, OnlyFans has definitely been my largest source of income. I would say combined, in my fighting career," she said.
"I think I made more money in 24 hours on OnlyFans than I had in my entire fighting career. Combined. Yeah."
She once said that six years in the UFC has given her $40,000 to show, and an additional $40,000 to win.
She captioned this in an Instagram post, where she said that:
And on the same post, she showed that she doesn't even care about haters, that she even taunted them to reply in the comments.
Born in Oregon, both of her parents were owners of a dance studio.
Because of this, VanZant knew how to dance from an early age.
However, VanZant was already considered a tomboy since childhood, and this fact helped her towards embracing her passion as a martial artist.
VanZant's first victory as a professional fighter was at the age of 18. VanZant then made her professional MMA debut on June 30, 2012.
In all, her professional mixed martial arts earned her 4 wins and 4 losses.
It's worth noting that at first VanZant was worried that her career as a model at OnlyFans would deliberately change the image she built over the years.
But once she saw the money coming in, she changed her mind.
"I was nervous about the stigma but now it's like, you know, it's hard to walk away from that," she admitted.
It's worth noting that VanZant hasn't fought in a ring since 2022, and with her career change, she's active on OnlyFans posting photos and videos for her paying fans to see and enjoy.
While she uses OnlyFans a lot more than her other social media accounts, she frequently posts photos on Instagram to promote her new career by revealing more of her skin than ever before, and post on X, formerly Twitter, by sharing links to her OnlyFans account.
"When you're one of those people that you were born poor, you grew up poor, and then you become rich, it's almost like you always just feel poor, so you always want to continue to work hard," she said.
"I am lucky I'm in a position where I have been able to help my family, my husband and I help our family and we do everything we can to bring everybody up to the table. So I guess for me, it justifies doing, you know, exclusive content knowing that I'm helping take care of everybody around me."
It' worth noting that VanZant has been sharing raunchy content, both photos and videos, for quite some times, many of which are shown on her exclusive fan website, which was founded in 2021.
She also admitted back in 2021, that she had a sex tape with her husband.
"Would I ever sell it, share it, promote it? Mhmmm, that's a different story," she said at the time.
Besides VanZant, there has been a number of people who shifted their professional works to modeling on OnlyFans for financial reasons.
One of the most famous before this, is Brianna, who quit her work as a teacher, and earned $1 million from OnlyFans in just a few months.