What's next for Paige VanZant following Power Slap debut

On Friday night in Las Vegas, former UFC fighter Paige VanZant made her debut at Power Slap 8. VanZant is the first former UFC fighter to make the leap from MMA to Power Slap, though she had a bit of detour before then. She left the UFC and dabbled in AEW pro wrestling, bare-knuckle boxing, traditional boxing and more. But she seems to be content competing in slap fighting as a hobby in addition to her other ventures.

“Of course, I wanted to knock her out with the first slap,” VanZant told Charly Arnolt in her post-match interview. but I was ready for it. That was really fun. … I was surprised I wasn’t really that nervous. This feels really incredible ... Honestly this is too much fun to walk away from. That was so awesome. I told you all, I’m a gangster.”

Overall, her debut was actually pretty good. Unlike the women's match earlier in the night, VanZant's slaps were on target and powerful, sitting her opponent down twice. She's got a knack for it and it was clear. And she seems to want to stick around.

3 things Power Slap can do with Paige VanZant next

There are a few options for VanZant when it comes to Power Slap. Right now as the sport is growing, there are not a lot of women competing. To date, there are only five women. Eventually, they will probably want to build VanZant up for a title shot with the Power Slap queen Sheena Bathory, but we're not sure when Bathory intends to return.

Perhaps they could send VanZant on the road to recruit women and make it even a YouTube show, something like Dana White's Looking for A Fight. She could go to gyms and recruit there perhaps?

They could also set her up for a rematch with her Power Slap 8 opponent, Christine "The Edge" Wolmarans or pair her with the winner of the earlier match of the night, Jackie Cataline. There are options for sure, I just hope they keep using her as it's only going to increase viewership to Power Slap.