"Come for me, Swifties" - When ex-UFC star Paige VanZant called Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's relationship "100 percent fake"
Former UFC star Paige VanZant was not onboard with music superstar Taylor Swift and American football tight end Travis Kelce's relationship, even going as far as to claim it's fake.
On an episode of VanZant's podcast with her fiance Austin Vanderford last year, VanZant opined on the love story taking the entertainment world by storm. Swift's global fan following was being united with the ever-growing American football fandom courtesy of her boyfriend.
VanZant theorized that the relationship was manufactured to drive up viewership for the NFL and called on 'Swifties', or fans of the singer, to debate her:
“I think that the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce ‘love story’, I believe it’s 100 percent fake. Come for me, ‘Swifties’. You know what? I have UFC fans coming for me, and I think I can handle the ‘Swifties'. I believe it is fake, it is publicity. It’s huge for the NFL because, the NFL is big."
She continued:
"Taylor Swift is huge and now she’s getting an entirely different demographic to come watch the NFL. I think of the wives that are buying Travis Kelce jerseys now, it’s a huge publicity play on both fronts. It’s good for Taylor Swift, it’s good for the NFL, it’s good for Travis Kelce, there’s so much strategic stuff happening.”
Check out Paige VanZant's full comments below:
Travis Kelce was keen to "come home with some hardware" after Taylor Swift's Grammy win
The Kansas City Chiefs won their second straight Super Bowl by coming from behind to beat the San Francisco 49ers this past weekend.
For Travis Kelce, it was an extension of his partner's recent accolades at the Grammy Awards. Ahead of the game, he told the NFL:
"She's unbelievable. She's rewriting the history books herself. I told her I'll have to hold up my end of the bargain and come home with some hardware, too."
Swift added two more Grammys to her collection of 12 and subsequently announced a new album. She has also been instrumental in introducing a whole new fanbase to the Chiefs Kingdom and Kelce acknowledged it:
"She's definitely brought a lot of new faces to the game, and it's been fun to experience that. I don't know if I've brought too much to the game. I think I just go out there and have fun. Taylor has an unbelievable fanbase that follows her and supports her throughout her life. It's been fun to kind of gather the Swifties into Chiefs Kingdom and open them up to the football world and sports world. It's been cool to experience that." [h/t NFL]