Former UFC fighter Paige VanZant thrilled fans last year when she posted a series of naked photos alongside her husband Austin Vanderford on Instagram.
The couple posed nude working out in their garage, baking in the kitchen, gardening and looking out over their balcony.
VanZant has since opened up about the inspiration behind the racy snaps, explaining that they were simply “trying to have fun” during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to Morning Kombat, VanZant revealed: “As husbands and wives do, we’re just naked and walking around our house, doing our thing.
“He decided, being an athlete he’s crazy, he’s like ‘I’m going to do pull-ups,’ and I go out to the garage and he’s doing pull-ups bare naked, and I’m like ‘I have an idea!’
“So I go get our tripod out, and we staged that photo. Then it just kind of became a thing, and I was like let’s just do it. It took a lot of convincing on my part to get him to keep doing those photos.
“It was supposed to be fun. It was such a dark time, the beginning of this coronavirus pandemic. [We were] trying to have fun. We’re married and like to be naked, I guess.”
VanZant is currently preparing for her first fight in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, having signed with the organisation after her UFC deal expired.
She is scheduled to face Britain Hart on February 5 and the 26-year-old is looking forward to her debut, adding: “I’m doing it for nobody but myself.
“I’m doing it because it sounds awesome. How many people could say that they are a professional bare-knuckle boxer? It’s a huge moment for my career.
“The money was great and, of course, that’s going to be part of it. But No. 2 was that this is awesome. For me to have bragging rights as a bare-knuckle professional boxer was a big part of it.
“In this new transition, I think people will see that I really do love to fight. I am transitioning into this barbaric sport, and I’m not doing that to prove a point to anybody, I’m doing it because I want to.
“I think it looks badass and I want to. You might get cut open, but I have been cut open in fights before. It’s no big deal for me. I get to show how tough I am.”
