UFC's Paige VanZant discusses her excitement over 'Dancing With the Stars' debut

UFC’s Paige VanZant discusses her excitement over ‘Dancing With the Stars’ debut

March 22, 2016 2:39 PM PT

Ultimate Fighting Championship straw-weight Paige VanZant shed tears of excitement following her debut on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” on Monday night, telling The Times on Tuesday that “it all went perfectly how it was planned.”

Assigned to the foxtrot with partner Mark Ballas, VanZant is in fourth place with 21 points after showing off dance skills she honed through middle school. Fan voting will determine Tuesday night who’s eliminated in a field that includes former college and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie and NFL players Von Miller and Antonio Brown.

Miller and Brown also scored a 21.

“It was just so exciting and awesome that I got the high scores,” VanZant said. “I’m just out there for the experience and to have a good time and some fun.”

Going early allowed VanZant some time to scout her competition, but she said her philosophy is: “It doesn’t matter what your opponents do, it only matters what I do. I got to perform well and watch everyone else.”

VanZant said she’s struck a dancing friendship with fellow competitor Kim Fields of “Facts of Life” fame, and she said she appreciates the friendship of Ballas.

UFC bantamweight title fighter Urijah Faber attended VanZant’s first dance.

“Urijah came out at 6 in the morning just to watch me perform and he left at 5 this morning to go back to training” for his June 4 title shot at the Forum in Inglewood against Dominick Cruz, VanZant said.

VanZant said the restrictive foxtrot will give way to a more entertaining dance style next week.

“You’re going to see something exciting,” she said.

She maintained her dancing training and success hasn’t yet tempted her to consider another career.

“No, no, definitely not, I’m a fighter first, and excited to get back into the cage,” VanZant said. “Taking a little break has been great. I’ve been training throughout this whole process to get my technique better. I just want to bring fans from this world over to the UFC so they can see that fighters aren’t meant to be locked in a cage. We’re not these violent animals.

“There’s other attributes, another side to us. So hopefully I can pick up a few fans for the UFC and go back to fight another day.”

For now, dancing is foremost in her thoughts.

“There’s still time to vote, you can get your votes in … ,” she said.

Click here to vote for Paige VanZant.

Follow Lance Pugmire on Twitter @latimespugmire