The hype around Paige VanZant is real

SIGNED by Reebok after just one fight in the UFC, Paige VanZant appears set to join Ronda Rousey as the female faces of mixed martial arts.

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 16: Paige VanZant speaks to media and fans during the Ultimate Media Day at the Best Buy Theater on April 16, 2015 in New York, New York. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

FOR a fighter with only one fight in the UFC, Paige VanZant had a mountain of pressure going into her second bout against Felice Herrig on Saturday night in New Jersey.

Following her first win, VanZant quickly become one of the faces of the women’s strawweight division, and then on top of that, the 21-year-old upstart from Nevada got an endorsement deal with Reebok.

It would have been easy for VanZant to stumble out of the blocks in her second fight, but instead the Team Alpha Male fighter came out guns blazing and took out Herrig with a completely one-sided, dominant performance.

VanZant was brilliant in every facet of the game, from working in the clinch to her devastating ground and pound on the mat. Now she’ll officially get planted in the strawweight top 10 with a chance to potentially tackle the top five later this year.

VanZant is the real deal, and if there were any questions about where she belongs in the hierarchy of the 115-pound division, she just answered a lot of questions with her latest win.

She also received the thumbs up from a number of fellow fighters, including men’s middleweight champion Chris Weidman.

Paige is one tough lady! #UFConFOX15

— Chris Weidman (@ChrisWeidmanUFC) April 19, 2015

If u didn't know... now u know! @paigevanzantufc is the real deal! @teamalphamale @ufc congrats! https://t.co/tRX1tgWByA

— Urijah Faber (@UrijahFaber) April 19, 2015

@PaigeVanzantUFC is a beast I love her conditioning & pace

— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) April 19, 2015

Wow!! VanZant really surprised me in that fight! She was relentless in attack! Very impressed!

— Cathal Pendred (@PendredMMA) April 19, 2015

UFC president Dana White said everyone in his dressing room was asking to meet the hot prospect.

“She’s 21 years old; she doesn’t have a lot of experience, but boy, she’s a scrapper,” White told MMAjunkie. “She comes in, she fights, and taking on a veteran like Felice and doing what she did to Felice tonight, and she’s got that thing that I always talk about that you can’t teach.

“Everybody in my dressing room tonight wanted to meet her. So we brought her back, and she’s got that thing.”

VanZant was happy to earn her victory as she outworked and out-scrambled Herrig over the course of fast-paced fight.

Herrig started strong after taking VanZant’s back and looking for a rear naked choke as well as an armbar submission, but once the Nevada native slipped free, she really started to pour on the offence.

VanZant took Herrig to the mat multiple times in the second and third rounds while employing a heavy-handed ground attack with a barrage of strikes that peppered the “Ultimate Fighter” veteran time and time again.

With under two minutes to go in the final stanza, VanZant trapped Herrig against the cage and started to land short but brutal forearm and elbow shots that started to take their toll. Herrig was in survival mode for most of the final round trying to find an escape from VanZant’s crushing top game.

In the end, the judges all saw the fight in a lopsided manner for VanZant with scores reading 30-26, 30-26, 30-27.

“I started crying before the fight was over. I’m very emotional,” VanZant said after the victory. “I don’t feel any pressure. Winning makes me feel that much better.”

VanZant is now 2-0 in the UFC with her star on the rise in the women’s strawweight division.

Felice Herrig and Paige VanZant grapple in their women's strawweight bout.