Expressions of religious faith are a common, oftentimes controversial, occurrence in mixed martial arts. How do fighters view their faith in the context of such violent occupation? And what role does belief play in the career of a fighter?
The invocation of God's will in victory is a divisive feature of mixed martial arts. For many fighters, a celebratory shout-out for the Almighty is as intuitive as acknowledging the input of a strength and conditioning coach. But expressions of faith in such a violent, relatively trivial context tend to be polarizing, as a cursory glance at Twitter on any given fight night will confirm.