James Brydon

Follow fight-by-fight results for MMA events with Twitter. James will do live updates during all UFC events as well as many other promotions, including Canadian ones.

Many athletes glorify God vocally after a win. For these two fighters it goes well beyond their words.

At last Saturday’s WEC event, we heard two victorious fighters do something some athletes often do that, depending on where you stand, makes you either delight in or cringe.

Anthony Pettis, following his second-round triangle choke of Alex Karalexis, was the first.

“First thing I want to say is anything’s possible through Christ.,” Pettis said after Joe Rogan asked him for comments on his victory inside the cage.

Later, after the surprisingly short main event, defending champion Ben Henderson did Pettis one better. (And not just by the fact that his guillotine choke of Donald Cerrone was accomplished in under two minutes.)

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” Ben offered, and then continued. “Can I get an Amen Sacramento? Praise His name!”

Henderson is known for doing that in his post-fight interviews. And it has sparked debate among fans (see the comments section in this article following his win over Jamie Varner when he initially became undisputed champion.)

In this case, Rogan responded like any good interviewer does -- smile and nod, and ask the next question. But you wonder if the question-poser is ever put off by this. Not to mention the fans and the viewers.

Why might this rub someone the wrong way? One possible answer is hypocrisy. A guy like Tito Ortiz talks about his faith and beliefs that someone is watching over him and he has an angel on his shoulder. And then something like Monday happens, where he gets arrested for suspicion of domestic violence. While being careful not to judge Ortiz or even draw any conclusions on the incident -- his girlfriend Jenna Jameson has apparently withdrawn her allegations against Ortiz and wants him back -- but it just goes to show that sometimes people wonder whether an athlete‘s behaviour lines up with his proclamations.

Another objection to making such “religious” post-fight comments is it feels like the fighter has an agenda and is using an inappropriate platform for it. The question is, if one person wants to dedicate a win to his earthly mother, why can’t another give glory to his Heavenly Father?

No matter where you might stand on this issue, one thing you have to understand is that Henderson and Pettis are not the examples you would use to claim hypocrisy or pushing an agenda. These guys talk the talk, but they also walk the walk. And they have more in common than just their beliefs in Jesus.

For starters, both credit their mothers for their strong faith.

Henderson, born to a Korean mother and African-American father, said his mother is a Buddhist, but she raised him and his brother as Christians.

“She wanted my brother and I to be accepted, not ostracized,” Henderson explained. “She didn't want other kids to give us a hard time because of different beliefs. I accepted Christ into my life when I was (young).”

He said he didn’t have a terribly difficult childhood -- there were little negative things here and there -- but that helped him to realize how lucky he was and to be grateful for it.

“In fighting and in everything, losing a big deal to me personally. I hate losing. I despise losing,” Henderson said. “But there's much worse things in life. Trust me, people have it way rougher -- horrible atrocities and you don't really know why it happens, and everybody asks why. … I am very grateful that God has blessed me with the life I do have.”

Great expectations

Clearly, Henderson is a humble person. But don’t let that fool you into thinking he doesn’t have the same drive that the most cocky fighter out there would.

“I want to be the best fighter on the planet man. I want to be the friggin' Michael Jordan or the Wayne Gretzky of MMA,” Henderson said. “When Jordan stepped onto the court, there was no doubt in every player's mind, Michael's the best player on the floor. I want to walk into a room … and all the fighters to recognize (just how good a fighter I am).”

People might be starting to come around on that notion. However, Dana White still thinks Henderson doesn’t get the credit he deserves, especially from the media. White feels he might need to do something drastic to get people to take notice, such as send the WEC fighters to compete in Japan.

Henderson would love to fight overseas such as Japan, or even Korea, considering his heritage on his mother’s side. (As long as it doesn’t interfere with his wedding or honeymoon plans -- he’s set to get married on Aug. 20.)

As for White’s belief that he’s one of the top fighters in the world already, he’s humble about that too.

“I'm just glad that Dana White knows my name and I'm not just some scrub,” Henderson said.

As ambitious as he is as a mixed martial artist, what’s more important to him is what people think of him as a human being.

“To me, it's about how you conduct yourself,” Henderson said. “The biggest reason for atheism in the world today are Christians, who profess with their mouths one thing and go out and deny it by their lifestyles. I just don't want to be that guy.”

Mimicking the champ?

In Pettis, we could be looking at the next Ben Henderson in a couple of years. Both are lightweights who stand 5-foot-9, with a Tae Kwon Do background but who are completely well-rounded. At 23, Pettis is three years younger than Henderson and naturally slightly behind him in his career progression. But the similarities there are also uncanny.

Each earned his entrance into the WEC by virtue of a six-fight winning streak and by the time each had amassed 11 professional fights in under three years, each held a record of 10-1. With two more fights under his belt, Henderson (12-1) is currently on an 11-fight win streak, while Pettis’s first loss came just three fights ago. But it was a split-decision loss to Bart Palaszewski that he felt he should have won, so if not for that, he could be on an 11-win run himself.

And then there’s the other major similarity: Pettis also credits both God and his mother in his upbringing.

“I had a good dad but he was in and out of my life,” Pettis said. “He had a couple drug problems, he lived the street life. My mom was the one who took care of me and my three brothers. She did everything she could for us. She sent us to Tae Kwon Do, which got me to where I am now.”

But the childhoods of the two fighters differ in one significant way -- it took a major tragedy to shape who Pettis is today.

“When I was 16 years old I lost my dad in a house robbery. He was stabbed and that's a big part of my story,” Pettis said. “That's what made who I am today. You go through something tragic like that you've got two ways to go. The red pill or the blue pill.

“I had all the opportunities to just give up and quit and use that as an excuse. But I had a strong family behind me and I stuck with martial arts and (eventually) got signed by the WEC.”

Pettis said it definitely wasn’t easy to do that. He blamed God for what happened to his dad and went through a phase for about two years where he strayed from his beliefs. But it was eventually his mother who got him to return to church and after two or three weeks, he found his faith again.

“For a while I stopped going to church and I stopped believing in God. But things weren't going good (sic) for me,” Pettis said. “I gave my life back to God and things started happening. Little things to put a smile on my face.”

Pettis said that he also likes to think God has something to do with the blessings he’s receiving. He’s had virtually nothing but success in his fight career, but he also has a business that is doing very well. He is part-owner of three gyms in Wisconsin and he teaches kickboxing there. That includes children’s classes starting at five years old. He said he had one class in Milwaukee that had about 150 kids.

Pay it forward

He feels it’s important to him to give back to his community and others who aren't as fortunate. And he also feels the need to be a role model to the kids at the gym, as well as his brother, who is also a fighter who recently competed in his first professional fight, and others he has helped get into martial arts and out of the “street life.”

One of those guys is a 25-year-old fighter named Chico Camus who Pettis said was a friend when he was younger but used to be “a really bad gang-banger.” Camus signed up at Pettis’ gym, and Pettis helped him out and took care of him if he didn't have money. According to Pettis, Camus is all about the sport now and is pretty close to getting signed by the WEC.

Pettis is like any athlete -- he wants to be the champion, and he believes he’s only two fights away from a title shot. But his long-term goal is to have a long-lasting career.

“MMA is really young right now. Five, 10 years from now it's gong to be crazy with the skill level and I'd like to be around for that change and still be on top of my game.” In the short term, he’d like to take a bit of time off after fighting in back-to-back months. He wants to use that time to focus a bit on his businesses. Oh, and one more reason.

“I just want to take a little break so I can eat whatever I want,” Pettis said. “I'm hispanic, so I love fried food!”

That break may turn out to be a little longer -- he got a six-month suspension for a foot fracture he sustained in his last fight, pending earlier medical clearance.

Compared to the misfortunes he’s faced over the course of his life, that’s nothing.

Yes, Pettis and Henderson represent characters who have a firm conviction on what’s more important to them than wins and losses. And the purpose of this blog was not to defend or criticize their decisions to proclaim Christ after a win. It was simply to give the backstory on a couple young and promising fighters who do that and why it means so much to them.