Paige VanZant has signed a four-fight deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship after leaving the UFC.

The 26 year-old announced the news on Instagram to her 2.7 million followers and said she is looking forward to the ‘new challenge’.

VanZant, who competed in the featherweight category, completed her UFC contract following her loss to Amanda Ribas on Fight Island last month.

She left with a 5-4 record inside the Octagon and an 8-5 pro record, and is now expected to fight in early November with BKFC.

“It was an amazing contract, an amazing opportunity," she told ESPN.

She added: "I also feel like it's not a move backwards for me. 

“It's a lateral move to a new opportunity, a new challenge, a brand new sport. I really have sparked a brand new passion for it and especially for striking in general.

"And, on top of that, I feel like I still have this stigma in MMA that I'm just a pretty face, and what a way to prove to people that's not the way I see myself at all. 

"This is a sport where people probably have the highest rate of getting cut open and having long-term scars is definitely something that I'm not even worried about for me.

“It's just the love of competition and I'm really excited to go out there and show off in such an amazing sport.”

VanZant also revealed she had ‘five or six solid promotion’ offers, but that BKFC was the ‘best fit’. 

She added: "I talked to a lot of different promotions. 

"I actually had no idea that I would have so many come with such big offers. I knew I would get the big players in the game, like Bellator or ONE, but I actually had five or six huge, solid promotions that I had to decide on. 

“For me, at this moment in my career, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship was the one that fit best.”