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When the Apostle Paul was penning his canonical letter to his peeps at Phillipi, do you think he envisioned his words being the inspiration for one man to beat the snot out of another?

I’m guessing he didn’t, but such is the case with Matt Hughes, the MMA fighter who will take to the Octagon in London this Saturday to fight Thiago Alves in UFC 85: Bedlam*.

Hughes, whose professional MMA record is an impressive 41-6, has Paul’s words displayed as a part of the header graphic on his blog.

(”I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13)

I don’t follow MMA very closely, but I’ve asked a few friends who do what they think of Hughes and their opinions seemed to be split right down the middle.

Some can’t stand him, saying he was a jerk of a coach on the UFC reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. Others enjoy his fighting skills and think he’s good for the sport.

Whatever your opinion, you’ll have a chance to see just what Hughes can do (through Jesus’ strength) when he tries to defeat Thiago Alves (14-3) on Saturday night.

Any PFB Readers out there plan on watching it? If so, be sure to give us a rundown of the fight when it happens.

(*when are they going to start running out of good names for these UFC Events? And when they do, what are they going to start calling them?

UFC 138: This is Really Nuts This Time!

UFC 159: Crazy, Uncontrollable, Mind-Blowing, Fighting Action!

UFC 190: Like a Swarm of Bees, only it’s People Fighting Each Other Instead of Bees Swarming)

teased this last week, and now the time has come to start unveiling the writers who will be joining me as contributors on the site.

When I decided to expand the blog, I targeted writers who I respected for their writing skillz, the books they had authored, the average number of greens they hit in regulation, the connections they had, the number of bible verses they had memorized, and whether or not they could beat the crap out of me.

The Oceanic Six Authors that made the cut are money, and I look forward to collaborating with them to make Prayers For Blowouts a better experience for you, the reader. Some of them will post more than others, and that’s okay by me. I’ve not given them a mandate for how often I’d like them to contribute, I’ve only asked that when they have something to vent or ramble on about sports, that they do it here.

I decided to introduce the writers to y’all alphabetically, and here’s the last two. (I shared the first two on Wednesday and the second pair on Thursday. Please join me in welcoming them to the team.

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Jim Palmer is the author of Divine Nobodies and Wide Open Spaces. Four-way stops stress him out, Jim hates Roller Coasters and Ferris Wheels, and enjoys people watching in malls and airports. He is a clone of the Jim Rome sports radio show, still watches re-runs of Michael Jordan and the Bulls dynasty years, and does triathlons. Jim is a nobody, neighbor, and friend of all people. Jim is married with a daughter, and lives in Nashville. He has a dog named jack, a blog at divinenobodies.com, and you can email him at jim@divinenobodies.com.

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Larry Shallenberger Larry is a native of Erie, PA and have served as an associate pastor at Grace Church since 1997. Prior to that, Larry worked in the mental health field with children and adolescents. His two books for children’s ministry leaders are Lead the Way God Made You and Big Hairy Issues Kids Face.