Fan Favorite Strawweight Paige VanZant will headline UFC Sacramento

Good news, fight fans!

Fan favorite strawweight “12 Gauge” Paige VanZant (7-2) is poised for a return to action. The 22-year-old will be taking on former Invicta atomweight champ Michelle Waterson (13-4) in the main event of UFC on Fox 22. The card will emanate from Sacramento, California on December 17.

VanZant announced this matchup on her Instagram account.

Last December, VanZant experienced the first loss of her UFC career, surrendering to a rear-naked choke in the fifth round of a gory encounter with top-ranked contender Rose Namajunas. After this tough loss, VanZant took a hiatus from the perilous world of mixed martial arts, competing on the hit ABC program Dancing With the Stars, where she and partner Mark Ballas emerged as the season’s runners up. In August, VanZant made her long-awaited return to the Octagon, bouncing back in the biggest way possible with a second-round, flying switch-kick induced KO of a game Bec Rawlings.

As always, VanZant will prepare for this bout amid monsters like Cody Garbrandt, Andre Fili and Teruto Ishihara at Sacramento’s Team Alpha Male.

Her newly announced opponent, who trains out of  Greg Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has not seen in action since she made her UFC debut in July of 2015. On that night, she defeated Angela Magana with a third-round rear-naked choke.

Are you excited for this newly announced strawweight scrap? Who are you picking to win? Sound off, PENN nation!