UFC

Urijah Faber says 20-year-old Paige VanZant's been absent from Team Alpha Male, won't represent the team in UFC debut

Aug 11, 2014 - 3:25:28 PM Urijah Faber says 20-year-old Paige VanZant's been absent from Team Alpha Male, won't represent the team in UFC debut

20-year-old Paige VanZant will become the youngest female competitor in the UFC when she makes her UFC debut in October at UFC Fight Night 54. However, while she's spent time training with Team Alpha Male in Sacramento in the past, she's been absent from the team for several weeks, and won't be representing them in her fight against Kailin Curran.That's according to the head of that team, UFC bantamweight Urijah Faber. In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour on Monday, Faber said they haven't seen her in Sacramento in a while, and he's not sure exactly what she's doing to prepare for the October 4 fight. He's got no ill will towards her, though, and would welcome her back whenever she's able to return, but he believes some outside circumstances have taken her out of the city."You know what, Paige has left," Faber said. "She hasn't been around at all. I guess she, I don't know, I asked what was going on. She was renting a room in Sacramento, and the person who she was renting from got evicted and took all her money, and I don't know, she hasn't been around. I told her, let me know if there's any way I can help. I think she's out in Reno training with her jiu-jitsu people or something. I don't know where she is, man, for like the last month and a half or so, so I haven't seen her.""I just texted her yesterday to ask her how training is going. I haven't heard back from her, so I don't know, man. She's 20 years old, she's young. She's a very good athlete, she's still developing as a fighter, she believes in herself, she's a great looking girl. I think she's got a lot of potential. I mean, I would feel most comfortable if she was on the team. If she's going to represent the team, she needs to be in the gym. And so as of right now, she's not going to be able to represent the team when she fights."VanZant's age kept her off The Ultimate Fighter 20, and it seems some outside life events are affecting her training as well. We don't have her side of the story here, and Faber's still quite positive on her as a competitor, but something's kept her from working with that team here this last month. Hopefully that's not a negative omen for her performance in October, but I suppose that's something we'll find out soon enough.[Urijah Faber art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]