When they're not busy cracking heads inside the Octagon, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stars Chad Mendes and Paige Vanzant are weekend warriors looking to get a good rush and workout.
That's just what they did a few weeks back, when "Money" and "Shotgun" competed in the grueling challenge that is "Tough Madder" in Lake Tahoe.
Director of Communication for Tough Mudder, Ben Johnson, talks about the military-style obstacle course and what it's like having two world class athletes go through it side-by-side with the average Joe.
"Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile military-style obstacle course. It's designed to test participant's teamwork, comradery and mental grit. We had about 12,000 participants from all around the country, around the world on site today. The beginning of the course is three miles straight up hill. Tough Mudder is designed for everybody, we are not a timed event, so instead of going out and worrying about your pace, you're worried about the people around you, having fun and pushing themselves beyond normally what they would in a weekend. Having Paige and Chad here is an incredibly intimidating presence on site for everybody else. But, having them here, and helping out her people out inspires a lot of Mudder's. We saw them come out and just crush the course, despite all the incline, despite all the tough obstacles that were in front of them. A lof of people were really excited to have them on site. It's always inspirational to have them out and about and running in the mud with us."
Paige will return to the Octagon next weekend (Sat. Sept, 5, 2015) as she takes on Alex Chambers at UFC 191 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mendes, meanwhile, will take on former UFC Lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar, in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 22 Finale on December 11, 2015, also in "Sin City."
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