The Ulysses Gomez Experiment: Religion and MMA

“Religion and MMA”

So I’ve been told many times that if you bring up one of these three things that you will automatically start a fight. Politics, Abortion, and Religion.

Well my goal in this blog isn’t to start a fight, I just want to give people an insight on my beliefs and how it pertains to MMA. Whatever you believe in is your business; you can believe in Allah, Zeus, Jesus, or no one at all.

Whatever you believe is your decision and your business I’m not one to try to change your mind to believe in “My God”. This is just my beliefs on God and what he has to do with MMA. With that being said, here goes.

When people find out that I fight MMA they give me a funny look, but when they find out I fight MMA and I believe in God they give me a shocked look.

I think a lot of people still consider this sport barbaric, sad but true. Anyways, I consider myself religious, especially when I’m in the sauna cutting weight. Ha-ha.

I try to go to church once a week and I also try to read the bible daily. “Try” is the keyword because sometimes I get so tired from training that all I want to do is stay in bed and let my body rest.

I believe that there is a God, some people don’t and like I said earlier that’s fine, your beliefs are your beliefs.

One of my good friends, David Bollea, isn’t that religious. We’ve had numerous talks about God and how he pertains to fighting. He asked me if I pray for victory before every fight.

I looked at him and kind of chuckled and told him that I don’t pray for victory. I explained to him that I would love to win my fight but that I didn’t think God looks at it that way.

Like I don’t expect for me to win the fight just because I’m more religious than my opponent. I expect to win the fight because, well frankly, I believe that I’m the better fighter.

I told him that all I pray for is that both me and my opponent stay safe during the fight. Even though this is a competition, we both can seriously get hurt.

You hear a lot of fighters saying they would rather die than lose a fight, but let’s be realistic, most of the time they are just talking out of their well you know.

Anyways I told Dave that I do pray for other specific things but that I don’t pray specifically for victory. He asked me what things I pray for and I gave him my list.

Besides staying safe, I told him that I pray that I can go out there and perform to the best of my abilities. I pray that the better man will win the fight.

If someone beats me because they are better than me than there is no shame in that. But if I lose because I didn’t live up to what I am capable of then that’s no one’s fault but my own.

I also told Dave regardless of the outcome of the fight, I will be able to accept it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t make an excuse when I win and I don’t ever plan on making an excuse when I lose.

I pray that whatever the outcome is, I will be able to live with it and most importantly learn from it. You’ll never hear me say, “I want to thank God for giving me the strength to beat the crap out of my opponent.” That’s not how I roll, but you will hear me say, “I want to thank God for keeping me safe throughout the fight.”

I’m a firm believer that God cares more about our character than he does about our convenience. I might win my next fight; I might lose my next fight, who knows?

I cannot control the outcome of the fight; it’s out of my hands and in God’s hands. I just have to go out there and be his instrument. All I can control is how I react to the outcome.

-Uly

P.S. My nutritionist Eric Triliegi from NEWtrition for Life shows how to make a delicious Paleo style crab and cucumber salad in this new video. Hope you enjoy.

P.S.S. – You can follow me on Twitter @uselessgomez.

P.S.S.S. – Here’s some of my trainers that you should follow for more updates and training advice:

• @EricTriliegi for nutrition info
• @Mastermitter for striking
• @SimGo for grappling

“The Ulysses Gomez Experiment” is a weekly ProMMAnow.com blog series written by world top 10 ranked flyweight Ulysses Gomez as he prepares for his Aug. 5 fight at Tachi Palace Fights 10. “The Ulysses Gomez Experiment” is part of our ongoing series of exclusive content written by individuals involved in the mixed martial arts industry.