Over a decade ago, you wouldn’t be considered wrong for believing mixed martial arts and Mormonism didn’t mix. When Westin Wilson began practicing MMA 12 years ago as a high school student, the sport’s label of violence made it seen as something that Mormons simply shouldn’t do, according to Wilson.
Mormons’ Early Perception of MMA
“We’re not violent people and everything like that, and that’s what the perception was,” Wilson, 30, told MMASucka. “It was a little more taboo then. It was tough because people would tell my parents, ‘I can’t believe you’d let your son do something so violent,’ or they’d say that to me and treat me different, like I was a terrible person.