UFC’s Paige VanZant on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Season 22
Paige VanZant defeated Felice Herrig by unanimous decision in a women's strawweight bout at UFC on Fox 15 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on April 18, 2015. Credit: Mario Gonzalez
Paige VanZant, a UFC strawweight fighter, will be on the next season of “Dancing With the Stars.”
ABC revealed the cast for Season 22 of the reality competition series on Tuesday’s “Good Morning America.” Van Zant will be paired with Mark Ballas.
VanZant is the third mixed martial arts fighter to be on the show, but the first active one. Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture both were retired when they appeared on the show. Liddell made it to Week 4 in Season 9, and Couture was ousted in Week 3 of Season 19.
VanZant, 21, is one of three active professional athletes on “Dancing With the Stars” for this season, which begins March 21. She joins Von Miller of the Denver Broncos and Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
VanZant (6-2) has won three straight UFC fights until losing in the fifth round to Rose Namajunas last December.
The rest of the “DWTS” cast includes:
Ginger Zee and Val Chmerkovskiy
Antonio Brown and Sharna Burgess
Doug Flutie and Karina Smirnoff
Wanya Morris and Lindsay Arnold
Von Miller and Witney Carson
Nyle Dimarco and Peta Murgatroyd
Jodie Sweetin and Keo Motsepe
Mischa Barton and Artem Chigvintsev
Marla Maples and Tony Dovolani
Paige VanZant and Mark Ballas
Kim Fields and Sasha Farber
Geraldo Rivera and Edyta Sliwinska
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
