Aisling Daly: Girls like Paige VanZant seem to be really protected

Aisling Daly v Paige VanZant?

The only Irishwoman competing in the UFC wouldn't shy away from a shot at the young Team Alpha Male fighter who the UFC are pumping marketing dollars into.

Paige VanZant is currently ranked seventh in the strawweight division but Aisling Daly believes that the American is being protected by the promotion as they look to build a star and that the current 115 lb rankings aren't entirely correct.

"Girls like Paige VanZant seem to be really protected," Daly told SportsJOE. "They (the UFC) are touting her as a big prospect but they're not really throwing her into the mix with the top girls.

"They're still building her up so it's not a very accurate depiction of how the division sits.

"Depending on who they give me after Almeida, it will probably be more telling as to where I will end up in title contention."

Not being one to publicly call out opponents, Ais the Bash made it clear that she wouldn't actively pursue a fight against VanZant but that she would be ready to take the bout should the UFC offer it.

"I would 100% fight Paige VanZant," Daly said. "I wouldn't like to see it as calling her out because obviously I don't care that much about her.

"For me, which is kind of a silly attitude to have, I always want to fight the best in the world.

"So I'm looking at the Joanna's (Jedrzejczyk) and the Claudia's (Gadelha). These are the girls I want to fight. I don't look at Paige and think of her as that kind of fight but I would definitely take the fight along the way.

"I've a whole ton more experience than Paige as well so you'll have these people who'll be like 'you've had over 20 fights, she's only had a handful, why are you calling her out?' and I'm not calling her out.

"I just see her road to title contention being slightly different to some of the other girls so I do think she's being protected and more publicised which is fine. I don't really care about that. I've my career to focus on and I've got Ericka Almeida which is what I'm looking at right now but if they give me Paige at some point in the future then that's cool too."

Tickets to UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Duffy go on sale Friday, September 4th via Ticketmaster