In witnessing athletes tread the path towards mastery of themselves (and in turn their opponents) the question arises: “what kind of person willingly choses this line of work”. There is no straight answer. MMA is home to countless fascinating characters, from every corner of the world and every conceivable background. Fighters like Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit, who I profiled for this weekend’s event, seem to “fit the bill” when it comes to mainstream stereotypes of what a “cagefighter” is supposed to be (I will leave those open to interpretation). Paige VanZant is fascinating for very different reasons.

“There’s a certain stereotype behind what a fighter is – It’s aggressive. It’s animalistic. I don’t fit that stereotype. It’s hard for me to communicate that’s not who I am. I’m a girly girl who happens to love punching people in the face.” –PVZ

Her story:

Paige describes herself as both a tomboy and a girly girl. Her personality has frequently been described by media members as “bubbly and innocent”. To note the obvious, she’s also very pretty, just check out her modeling gallery. One could argue Paige was born to dance, not fight. From a young age she danced out of a studio owned by her parents. By the time she reached high school, she had been dancing competitively for 13 years. As a freshman, she became a varsity cheerleader at her local high school. According to VanZant, due to high school politics this made her a lot of enemies. A timid freshman, Paige started to be harassed and bullied. Incidents of name-calling, trash throwing, and general harassment became so frequent that Paige contacted the authorities for advice. The only advice she received was to maybe learn self-defense. Shortly thereafter, her family relocated from her home in Oregon to Reno, Nevada, where she dedicated herself to MMA and fast-tracked out of high school by taking college classes. Paige recieved her GED at 16, two years ahead of time.

“I really hope to inspire young girls, especially being someone who was very bullied. I had to quit high school because it was so bad. Part of me wants them to see all my successes just to show that they couldn’t break me. But I want to be just a voice. I want to show girls, no matter how bad it is, there is a light at the end of the tunnel… there really is. Whatever happens in middle school and high school, those sorts of things, it may seem like your world is crashing down, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And there’s going to be good things that come from those traumatic experiences.” –PVZ

At this point in the story, Paige is relatable, I’m sure many of us might have even known someone like her. Fast forward a few years: Now, at just 21 years of age, she is the eighth ranked women’s 115lb fighter in the world, with four UFC fights under her belt and a 6-2 record. Outside the cage, she has found success in several other fields. She has modeled for Colombia Sportswear and Nike, and in 2015 signed a sponsorship deal with Reebok. This spring, she was a finalist on Dancing With The Stars. Prior to her last fight, Paige had the reputation to some as a “hype job” who had never been tested in the cage and was only promoted for her looks.

To me, Paige’s fight on Saturday the 27th of August represents a significant decision in her life. The decision not to quit. Her last fight, the second loss of her career, was a bloody slaughter. Facing off against “Thug” Rose Namajunas for a five round main event fight near her home in Las Vegas, Paige immediately found herself in deep, deep trouble. In round one, Rose opened up Paige’s face with ground and pound elbows and punches. Later in the same round, Rose took Paige’s back and locked in a rear naked choke, squeezing her neck tight, which forced considerable blood out of the cuts on her face. Her face became an unrecognizable red mask. I have decided not to include pictures, as they may be hard to look at if you aren’t accustomed to seeing bloody fights (if you need to see it, google “Rose Namajunas vs Paige VanZant”, y’filthy animal). The fight was a mismatch, plain and simple. Paige was the less experienced fighter and simply had nothing to offer against Rose. Being a main event, the beating did not end with the mercy of a three round time limit, it was five. It became a long series of slicing ground strikes delivered by Rose to Paige’s face, and attempted chokes that caused torrential bleeding. Even as a huge fan of the sport with a stomach for bloody fights, it was painful to watch. After every round both women would return to their corners covered in blood, but Paige was the only one doing the bleeding. Over the course of five rounds, Paige not only refused to tap to several tightly locked submissions, she used her own blood to lubricate several chokes and slip her chin free. The word “heart” is tossed around a lot in fighting, I think using the blood from one’s own lacerated face to escape chokes gives Paige a big check to that box. At one point, Rose caught Paige in an armbar that almost certainly popped Paige’s elbow, and still, she did not tap. In round five, Rose finally got Paige to tap to an inescapable choke, much to the relief of those watching. It had been a painful 22.5 minutes to watch.

Here’s my point of fascination and reason for this article: At this moment in her life, Paige does not need to continue being a prizefighter. Since her brutal loss, she went on Dancing With The Stars and made it to the finals. Her popularity has exploded. She is young, attractive, articulate, and personable. A whole world of opportunities has opened up around her, all of which do not include slipping out of chokes with her own blood, yet she choses to return to the octagon. Paige has been handed an opportunity. An opportunity to quit. In her case, it is probably a very appealing option. What would you do?

So we return to the question, “what kind of person willingly choses fighting in a cage as their line of work?” Paige is not the answer but she is an answer. In writing this piece I did a frustrating amount of searching for a word that does not exist. The word I was looking for is “the opposite of a quitter”. There is no satisfying antonym in any thesaurus. Some might say the opposite of a quitter is winner, but nowhere is it more evident than in fighting that humans can fail to win without quitting. In the grand scheme, Paige’s return to the Octagon represents a time when an extraordinary person didn’t quit, and I hope reading about it brightened your day.

A week after her bloodbath with Namajunas, Paige posted this on Instagram:

#NinjaBarbie#goodgenetics So I’m basically a transformer 😏 day after my fight to today!! #bruisedisbeautiful

UPDATE: Paige’s Last fight against Bec Rawlings was an emphatic comeback for her career. She won by jumping switch kick. Video: