When Max Holloway woke up a US soldier put to sleep by a Paige VanZant chokehold
Max Holloway is widely recognized as one of the best strikers in the UFC but had to rely on his grappling knowledge in 2018 to assist an unconscious soldier. Just seconds before the UFC champion came to his assistance, the United States trooper had been choked out by strawweight contender Paige VanZant.
As a part of the USO Spring Tour of 2018, Holloway and VanZant flew to Afghanistan to speak in front of hundreds of active duty personnel. During the demonstration, VanZant brought a member of the crowd on stage with the fighters and with his consent, put him to sleep with a rear-naked choke.
After he was visibly unresponsive, Holloway quickly assisted in bringing him back to consciousness.
Watch Paige VanZant choke out a US solider below:
To help the downed serviceman, Holloway lifted the man to a seated position after VanZant gently laid him on his back. The soldier regained consciousness within a matter of seconds after briefly convulsing.
At the time of the presentation, Holloway was the undisputed UFC featherweight champion in the midst of his 13-fight win streak. VanZant, though not a champion, was one of the most popular female fighters on the roster despite a 7-4 record and coming off a loss to Jessica-Rose Clark earlier in the year.
Why were Max Holloway and Paige VanZant in Afghanistan?
In the mid-1900s, the United States government looked into a funded project that would aid their struggling active-duty soldiers overseas. The organization that was eventually founded would be known as the United Service Organizations, or USO.
Per their website, the USO's mission is to "strengthen America's service members by keeping them connected to their family, home and country." In 2018, this included a celebrity tour that Max Holloway and Paige VanZant were a part of.
This trip for the two fighters involved being in Afghanistan, where thousands of American troops have been deployed since 2001.
The War in Afghanistan, sparked by the terrorist attacks now casually known as "9-11," spanned from 2001 to 2021, before US President Joe Biden pulled the soldiers from the Middle East.