These two profiles of battle tested veterans show how faith in God
can be a source of strength in hard times:
Jens Pulver. The man known as lil evil.

Jens “Little Evil” Pulver was born December 6th, 1974 in Seattle
Washington. He is the oldest son (3 siblings) of a licensed horse jockey
and grew up in a five-bedroom, two story home in Maple Valley Washington.
Despite his fortune to grow up with money he often refers to his childhood
as a “daily hell” as he was constantly surrounded by violence, usually due to
his abusive and alcoholic father. The violence had gone to such extremes
that when he was 7 years old his father had threatened him and a sibling
with a loaded fire-arm. The gun was even placed into his mouth at the
time, and removed as his father said, “You aren’t worth the bullets”.
A family friend, Jack Ventress, would encourage the young Pulver to
joining a youth wrestling program. Pulver took to it very quickly and
during his education at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley, Washington,
he would earn two state championships. He would attend Boise State College
but his amateur wrestling career would end due to an injury
(bilateral fracture of the wrists). His interests would shift from wrestling
to martial arts and he would graduate BSC with a degree in criminal science.
After participating in “underground” fights he would befriend Lowell
Anderson who owned a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy north of Boise.
Through Anderson, Pulver would be introduced to official MMA
competitions. The Bas Rutten Invitational would be the largest
stepping stone of his career. In April of 1999 he would only
win one of two fights, but when he returned later that year for the
third Bas Rutten Invitational he would win both fights easily and
earned the attention of John Perretti, a matchmaker for the UFC
at the time.
In September of 1999 he would step into the octagon for the
first time. One draw and three consecutive wins later within
the UFC he would get a title shot against Caol Uno,
winning via decision. He would defend his title twice within a year.
The first time would be against Dennis Hallman, who was famous
for his two wins against Matt Hughes. Newcomer BJ Penn was also
given a shot at Pulver’s title, but despite a strong opening a left hook
from Pulver would disorientate him for the rest of the match,
giving victory to Pulver by decision.
biography taken from wikipedia.com
Pulver vs. Penn 1

Pulver – Penn 1 was a war, with Penn dominating Pulver in the early rounds.
Though Pulver was being dominated for the first half of the fight, he
says he looked over at Penn in his corner in between rounds, and
said ” i’m going to ruin his day ” and went out and changed the
course of the fight.
The following is an account of the fight also from wikipedia:
Pulver battled back in the third round. Successfully defending Penn’s
attempts to take him to the ground, and even scoring defensive takedowns
on Penn. Pulver frustrated Penn with nothing more than sheer will power,
not only winning the rounds but out grappling the world-renowned Penn
in the third and fourth rounds. In the fifth round; Penn, frustrated and
down on points, chose to stand and trade with Pulver. For the entire
five minutes of the fifth round the two stood toe to toe exchanging
kick boxing techniques. At one point a left hand from Pulver
staggered Penn, but the round drew to a conclusion and the fight went
into the judges hands.
Pulver would take a majority decision win. Breaking into tears during
the post fight interview Pulver shouted “On the ground again!…
I’ve been beat on my whole life, this is nothing.”
In the testimony section of his website, www.jenspulver.com,
he says:
“ In my heart I found God
Through God I found strength
Through strength I conquered all “
~ Jens Pulver
Taken from his website.

I don’t know how serious Pulver is about his faith, but one thing
Is sure, for him God is a source of strength
“Relentless” Lamon Brewster, former WBO heavyweight champ

A former Olympic bronze medalist in the 1996 Olympics, and silver
medalist in the 1995 Pan American Games,Brewster won the title from
Wlad Kiltschko in a very dramatic all action fight. Brewster continued
on despite being knocked down five times to win the fight in the fifth round, by
TKO. After the fight, Brewster, who’d taken heavy punishment – power
punches to the face and head during the fight, was unmarked and
when it came time to deliver the post fight interview Brewster said
” I wanted to show him that Americans don’t just lay down,” and
that ” God had been his source of strength ” during the fight. In
subsequent fights Brewster proved his character, no matter how
overmatched or how far behind he was on the scorecards, he never
stops trying to win the fight. We need to be more like Brewster.
Though Brewster is a small heavyweight, his always positive mental
attitude – always looking for ways to win no matter how bleak the
situation looks – and devastating left hook guarantee a tough fight
for anyone who steps in the ring against him.