Create a free account to unlock this article! Get Started Already a subscriber? Log In

By Elias Cepeda



Looking toward this week's celebration of his nation's independence from Britain UFC lightweight star Joe Lauzon recently recounted to FloCombat a trip visiting members of the United States' armed services as they worked abroad. Lauzon and other elite fighters like Jake Ellenberger and Diego Sanchez recently traveled together to visit a number of U.S. military bases in Iraq.



The trip was not Lauzon's first time visiting troops or even traveling as far as Iraq to try and help boost moral. Back nearly a decade ago Lauzon visited other service men and women in Iraq along with heavyweight Heath Herring and middleweight Jorge Rivera.



Despite traveling with those two big men, back then, Lauzon says he ended up carrying much of the load when it came to training with the troops. The UFC record-holder loved the experience, but it wore on his body a bit.



"That first trip was great, I got to train with so many of the troops," Lauzon recalled.



"Jorge had a hurt hand so he couldn't train and Herring, I think he just didn't want to roll with people (laughs). So, I ended up training with everyone myself, person after person. It was a lot of fun but I'd go with 15-20 people, then go to another two bases in the day and do that again each time. After a while I asked the people organizing the trip if I could take control of the training a little bit more and so I ended up more teaching a class, a seminar, and then afterward rolled, so it wasn't just an hour of rolling, straight."



[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BVkNmv8n2dN/?taken-by=joelauzon" hide_caption="0"]



With the knowledge gained from that experience, Lauzon planned ahead on his most recent trip, organized by Pro Sports MVP.



"This time, off the bat, Pro Sports MVP told the people, 'Hey, just hand it over to this guy, he has a good handle on how to run things,'" Lauzon continued. "I asked the other fighters if they were cool with it and then we ran it like a class and then divided up rolling among us all. We were all different sizes and weights as well, so we could give some of the bigger soldiers a different look than some of the smaller ones. It worked out really great."



Lauzon said that the experience and skill level he and his fellow fighters encountered among the servicemen they trained with at the bases they visited varied a great deal, but that they all showed an eagerness to learn and had great attitudes. "Some of them had no experience at all grappling but wanted to try it out. That was fun," he said.



[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BVClblTlwVW/?taken-by=diegonightmaresanchezufc&hl=en" hide_caption="0"]



"Others had done a little or had wrestled. Others were combative instructors and were really great."



Lauzon said that he and the other athletes got some decent quality time with military members, who hailed not just from the United States, but also from many other allied nations. "We did a lot of sitting, eating, talking. That was probably the best part," he went on.



During those conversations Lauzon said he just asked about soldiers' lives in Iraq, so far from their loved ones. In just over a week of travel and time spent with them, Lauzon said he was reminded in subtle but powerful ways just how good he had it.



"There's little things about their lives living out there that make you realize how much you take for granted," he began to explain.



[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BVG-dBfF7sF/?taken-by=diegonightmaresanchezufc&hl=en" hide_caption="0"]



"Some of the bases are nice, have bathrooms and all that. Some are more bare-bones, have outhouses. Even things like inconsistent internet and phone service show you how much we have and little bits of what they have to go through. My first night there I'm stressing because the internet signal isn't great and I'm wondering, 'How am I going to FaceTime with my wife? How am I going to say goodnight to my son? How can I let them know I got in alright and am fine?'



"That's something soldiers out there have to live with every day. Their families are far away, for years. Even small things like internet service shine light on the big things they sacrifice to serve in the military."



In the end, that is precisely why Lauzon found it a pleasure to briefly visit with military service people abroad. It wasn't in support of or opposition to any military policy, war or exercise that Lauzon went to Iraq.



Those decisions had been and continue to be made. Lauzon recognized that, regardless of what any of us may think of policy or even what individual soldiers may think of it, military personnel trust all of us and their nation deeply and sacrifice greatly to do as we ask them to.



That phenomenon deserves recognition, and the living embodiment of that sacrificing philosophy deserve some humanity showed back to them. "I just wanted to go there to spend time with them, show them that we think of them, that we care about them, and to show them we appreciate that they gave up a lot when asked," he said.



"A lot of the bases we went to were smaller ones and we were told some of the people there had never really gotten visitors before. A lot of times entertainers get sent to the larger bases. So you could tell they enjoyed just having visitors, being so far from home. For me, it was great and humbling to see how they live and an honor to spend even just a little time with them and try to show them that we're thankful for them."

