PVZ has had a series of arm injuries over the years, which has left a plate in her arm that needs to be removed in the future.
"So the biggest problem is I need to get the plate out in my arm,” VanZant said to MMA Fighting. “Tony Ferguson broke his ulna, too, and he had his plate taken out, so that’s why he hasn’t had any complications with it. I have a plate that pretty much runs from my wrist to my elbow, and each one of those has a screw hole, so I have seven screws in my arm. Each one of those screw holes is technically a hole in your bone, so they’re all weak points. Then at the front of your plate and at the end of your plate is a weak point, too. Because your bone flexes, and it bends whereas the plate doesn’t bend, your arm bends around the plate. Each time I’ve re-broken it, I’ve broken through a screw hole. I just need to get the plate taken out, so it’s just another surgery I have to look forward to.”
Whenever VanZant does compete again, it is going to be the final fight on her current UFC contract.
The fighter says the current plan is to fight next and then get the arm surgery done afterwards.
“The timeline is fight one more time [and] I’ll be in contract negotiations at that point,” VanZant said. “I’ll be a free agent. Theoretically that could take a long time to go through that negotiation process. So it’s the perfect time to have one more arm surgery and heal it the right way. By the time negotiations are over, I’ll have a new contract. I’ll [have] a fight lined up. All of that will give me plenty of time to heal my arm correctly.”
There is no word yet on when PVZ will fight next, but the competitor did say she would love to compete on the UFC’s “Fight Island.”
