That's nothing new.
What is new for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (or, to most, "UFC") is having the champion of a weight class defend his title, then witness to the collective live audience and millions watching Fox at the time immediately after.
The fighter is Benson Henderson, the UFC's lightweight (155 lb) champion.
When asked by Joe Rogan how he felt about winning, Benson (or "Bendo" to fans) proceeded, not to brag about his macho-ness or bash his opponent for inferiority, but to quote Philippians 4:13.
He also walked to the Octagon to the tune of a remix of "Awesome God".
Check it out
Henderson does not drink, smoke, or do drugs.
He fights for the honor of his teachers and for his mother, who struggled her way across North Korea's iron curtain and came to America not knowing any English, but determined to carve out a life for herself, and subsequently for her children.
No matter how great his success, he continues to demonstrate humility, giving credit first to God, then to his coaches.
Mentioning Henderson as a positive role model to several Christian friends brought scoffs and stern looks which may have been poorly hiding questions regarding my own faith, if I find good role models for both children and adults in the company of "those animals in the cage."
Yet the "animals" bashing their heads into one another, or cleating each other in the calves, or bashing into each other on the court, are somehow all verdant fields for the harvesting of role models, no matter how sordid their personal lives are.
As long as they say the right thing on camera, they're to be looked up to.
A horrific double standard exists between sports which are honestly combative and sports which are deceptively combative.
No one bats an eye when a fistfight breaks out in a baseball or (god forbid) hockey game, but anytime you make the fight the point and take measures to ensure both fighters' safety, you're browbeaten as a barbarian.
Thus, Christians who enter combat sports are treated by their Christian brethren as confused neophytes who have strayed from the path (at best), or apostate psychopaths (at worst).
Ben Henderson has demonstrated in word and deed that he is neither.
He is a fighter, and he is a Christian.
