Twenty-One-Year-Old Paige VanZant Draws Her First UFC Main Event

Twenty-one-year-old Paige VanZant may not be ready for her first UFC title shot, but she’s ready to take the spotlight in her first main event bout.

Hot on the heels of VanZant announcing that she had inked a new deal with the MMA juggernaut, UFC officials announced that she would headline UFC Fight Night 80 on Dec. 10 in Las Vegas. Ranked No. 6 in the strawweight division, VanZant will square off the No. 8-ranked Joanne Calderwood.

Emanating from The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, UFC Fight Night 80 will stream live on UFC Fight Pass. It’s the first in a trilogy of back-to-back-to-back UFC events in Sin City. The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale takes place the following night, and culminates with UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor on Dec. 12.

RELATED > Paige VanZant Wanted a New UFC Deal… She Got a New UFC Deal 

In addition to announcing VanZant’s first headlining gig, UFC officials also confirmed several other bouts for the UFC Fight Night 80 card.

The Ultimate Fighter 15 winner Michael Chiesa faces Jim Miller in the night’s co-main event. Other bouts include Sheldon Westcott vs. Edgar Garcia, Danny “Hot Chocolate” Roberts vs. Michael Graves, Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Andreas Stahl, John Howard vs. Tim Means, Lyman Good vs. Omari Akhmedov, Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Kevin Casey, Thiago “Marreta” Santos vs. Elias Theodorou, Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Phillipe Nover, and Kailin Curran vs. Emily Peters Kagan.