Trading Shots: What do we make of Rory MacDonald's admission that it's harder to hurt people with God in his life?

Rory MacDonald cited the influence of the divine in his life when explaining why he felt like he didn't have the same fire he once did.

Rory MacDonald wasn’t pleased with his performance at Bellator 220, and he attributed it in part to his relationship with a divine power. What do we make of that, coming from the Bellator welterweight champion? Retired UFC and WEC fighter Danny Downes joins MMA Junkie columnist Ben Fowlkes to discuss in this week’s Trading Shots.

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Fowlkes: Journey back in time with me, Danny, to the very recent past. It’s Saturday morning, the day of Bellator 220. I’m clicking around on MMA Junkie, and I come across a story about Rory MacDonald finding God in a Pentecostal church. There’s joy and peace in his heart now, he says. He’s a changed man.

Now it’s later that same evening and I’ve got DAZN open on my laptop, watching MacDonald fight to a majority draw against Jon Fitch in the first round of the welterweight grand prix. MacDonald retains his title and even moves on in the tournament, and afterwards he gets on the mic and says he had a hard time being his old violent self in the cage, which he attributes to his newfound religious faith.

“As a man, I feel like God has really called me the last little while,” MacDonald said. “I don’t know. He’s changed my spirit, changed my heart. It takes a certain spirit to come in here and put a man through pain. I don’t know if I have that same drive to hurt people anymore. I don’t know what it is. It’s confusing, but I know the Lord has something in store for me. He was speaking to me in here tonight. I don’t know. It’s a different feeling.”

Two things here:

1) As a non-believer, this perspective actually makes a lot more sense to me than the one we usually hear, where deeply religious fighters of all faiths thank the almighty for helping them beat up other people in a cage for money. So why is it so much less common to hear a fighter say that religion has made him less violent, which, in normal society, we might regard as a positive change?

2) If you take away the divine element, this is not so different from what we’ve heard other fighters say about changes in their lives that have made them happier, but also less effective as fighters. Whether it’s God or drugs or therapy that gets them there, several fighters have drawn a link between ridding themselves of a certain angst and in so doing accidentally extinguishing the fire that drives them in the cage. Is that a real thing, in your view? And if so, what does it tell you about this sport if you can’t be too happy and still do it well?

Downes: Not sure if I’ll be much of a help with your first question. I don’t think we have enough time for a long discussion about American Protestantism and theological and historical underpinnings. What I will say, is that if you think MMA fighters thanking God for helping them beat people up is weird, you should check out some of these “prosperity gospel” hucksters.

As for the second question, it makes a lot of sense to me. Fighters have a number of different styles and psychologies. Some are stone cold assassins, others fight with more emotion and fire. Not every competitor can be Robbie Lawler, stepping into the cage with stoic intensity.

MacDonald’s newfound faith aside, a lot of this has to do with age. He’s been competing in MMA for a long time. He has 26 professional MMA fights and that doesn’t include all the abuse he’s endured training in the gym. It’s hard to stay passionate for anything that long, especially if you’re comparing it to how you felt when you made your professional debut at 16.

While MacDonald’s current situation may not be the norm, there’s a certain level of universality to it. At the same time, there are plenty of people who this existential crisis doesn’t resonate with. Neiman Gracie is already out there calling BS, but that sounds like opportunism to me.

Speaking of which, do you think MacDonald should fight Gracie in June? You always say that if MMA fighters are talking about retirement, they should probably go ahead and do it. Is it time for the “Red King” to call it quits?

Fowlkes: Never thought I’d have to say this, but I think you might be confusing me with Dana White. He’s the one who says that fighters talking about retirement should probably go ahead and do it (especially if the reason they’re talking about it is because they’re not getting paid enough or didn’t get the fight they wanted).

I’ve known a lot of fighters who have said they think about retirement after nearly every fight, which might actually be a healthy method of re-evaluating and checking in with yourself. I can see how cage fighting is the kind of business where you want to be all in or all out. Halfway committed is a good way to get hurt.

But you’re right, surely aging and piling up more miles on the old odometer is playing a role here. Remember what Georges St-Pierre said at his retirement press conference in Montreal a couple months ago? He just didn’t have the same anger anymore. It wasn’t a divine presence in his life that took it from him, either. It was a natural progression. Kind of like when our mutual friend Julie Kedzie explained that she felt compelled to retire after “working out” her issues using MMA as a kind of therapy.

I can see the logic in it. People who pursue this sport professionally, there’s got to be some powerful force driving them. Money isn’t a good enough reason, if only because there’s so little of it to be made, especially early on. And if it’s fame you’re after, maybe you’d choose some path that didn’t make people look at you like you’re borderline insane when you explain what you do for a living.

This is an extreme thing, this business of prize fighting. Most people get generally less extreme as they age. And when someone works through the stuff that made them want to do this in the first place, maybe we should view it as a positive step.

I mean, good for them, right? They used MMA as a means to an end, a path to coming out on the other end as a better and happier person. So happy, maybe, that they don’t really feel like hurting their opponents the way they once did. Or does that just pathologize the other people in this sport, as if they must still have something broken in them to want to stick around?

Downes: I would be wary of universalizing a few people’s experiences in the sport. Some fighters (myself included) used hate as fuel. When that tank gets low, it’s difficult to adapt. Others never have that issue. Some treat MMA as a job and go through the motions as professionals.

Being a professional fighter is certainly a unique profession, but it’s still a job. Would you be willing to pathologize other professionals as readily as you are MMA fighters? Is every NFL defensive lineman a psychopath who enjoys hurting people (btw, what did you think of Greg Hardy’s fight last night)? What about dentists? Have you ever met an insurance salesman? In the last 24 hours, I’ve had to deal with a couple different veterinarians at a pet hospital. I’m starting to become suspicious of them, too.

People remain in jobs for a variety of reasons. Psychology may be one of them, but I’d assume having bills to pay is another. Prize fighters and lots of other workers may want to change course, but that’s easier said than done. Whether you’re a coal miner or a cage fighter, it takes a lot of effort to overcome status quo inertia.

MacDonald has been a professional fighter for over 14 years. He may decide to hang the gloves up. He may take a week off to clear his head and go right back to training like he’s been doing his whole adult life. Perhaps St. Bernard of Clairvaux will appear to him and he’ll become a Cistercian monk. Either way, he’s asking himself, “What am I doing with my life?” and there’s nothing wrong with that. Maybe we all should do that more often.

Ben Fowlkes is MMA Junkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Danny Downes, a retired UFC and WEC fighter, is an MMA Junkie contributor who has also written for UFC.com and UFC 360. Follow them on twitter at @benfowlkesMMA and @dannyboydownes.