UFC fighter Nate Marquardt recently shared his experiences on being a Christian in mixed martial arts, how Lecrae helped him turn his career around, and the power of perseverance.

In his interview with Rapzilla, the fighter shared that he prays for his opponents before entering the octagon, and keeps his confidence in being backed by the Lord, not cockiness.

"[MMA] is a very tough sport to be a Christian in," Marquardt said to Rapzilla, "People are always giving you praise "¦ Not only praise, just doing interviews with the UFC, if [reporters] ask you before the fight, "How are you going to win?' there's no humble way to answer that. If you give an answer that they don't like, they'll continue to ask the same question over and over until you give something they like for a sound bite."

He shared that his fighting career began to be the number one priority in his life, and God kind of fell on the back burner as he let his ego build.

"When I was young, I didn't have the courage to say, "I'm not going to say that. That's prideful.' Over time, it slowly eroded away my humility and pumped my ego. At first, you're saying these things that you don't mean. But pretty soon, you start to mean them," he said.

Things began to spiral downward for Marquardt as he went to a lower weight class to try to get an advantage as a bigger fighter. However, this proved both difficult on his body and his home life. He often found himself hungry, injured, and exhausted as he was trying to drop weight rapidly while also putting in long sessions at the gym.

When he was knocked out in the first round of a bout, and began to suspect his career was coming to end as losses piled up. His life was not as glamorous as he once thought, being constantly mentally and physically drained.

"God really showed me where my heart was," said Marquardt, "I started to idolize my career "¦ And he showed me that he's been protecting me my whole life, and he's going to continue to be with me. Once I realized that and how bad the condition of my heart was, I decided to change everything"”not just certain parts of my life, but everything."

Marquardt was introduced to Christian hip-hop, and started to take in the life affirming lyrics and positivity. This was the "heart change" he was talking about. Previously he listened to Eminem, Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang, and others to get pumped up. He realized that music just fueled anger and did not affect his spirit.

With his new attitude he entered the ring to Lecrae's "Boasting" and still lost. This time however, he knew he could not give up, "I was able to have a smile on my face the next day, get home and say, "I still have my family. I have my wife who supports me, loves me and doesn't think any less of me because I lost the fight. I still have friends. Praise God,'" said Marquardt, "That's where God wanted my heart several fights earlier."

However, despite his positive attitude, Marquardt was in danger of losing his career with the UFC because if he lost again it would be his fourth straight. His next match was against James Te Tuna on June 28. The fighter decided he would go back to his original middleweight class to compete, and had no fear about it.

Coming out to a 116 Clique song, he stood confident, and won his battle just four minutes into the first round.

"I've given my life to God and I don't have anything to lose. It allowed me to go out and fight without reservations."