Deadline reports that a documentary featuring MMA fighting pastors, entitled, “Fight Church,” has scored distribution deals with Lionsgate and Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets. The controversial subject and the religion-based themes are the main reasons why this film has drawn interest.
The film follows pastors that preach the Bible while moonlighting as MMA fighters. It includes clips of Benson Henderson and Jon Jones.
Lionsgate has signed on for North American Video on Demand rights and will distribute it on iTunes and other digital platforms on September 16th. It will also appear on Netflix in other regions this Fall.
Spurlock, known for his documentary “Super Size Me” and his 30 for 30 documentary on sports agents entitled, “The Dotted Line,” intends to spin-off the documentary into a “documentary/reality” series.
Payout Perspective:
This will be an interesting story to follow and see whether a reality series will come to fruition. The controversial issue of pastors actively fighting on MMA cards has to be seen as a conflict to some within the congregation. With strong distribution, it’s likely that we may hear more about this project in the future.
Please keep God out of mma.
Not sure why fighting would be a conflict of religion. I am a Christian and I don’t see how sport can be wrong. Only to those who see the sport is a violent hate filled attempted to hurt someone.
Btw, god isn’t going anywhere. He has been in mma since the beginning and is still there among most professionals especially the greats. You will find more atheist sitting on the sidelines cheering for Christians than you will find atheist fighting. Most fighters are religious. Some more than others.
I disagree with you. The loudest ones tend to be Christian, but there are plenty of atheists/agnostics. I’m not going to get into an entire religious debate with you, but I find it pretty silly when someone thanks God, specifically Jesus after they get done beating the shit out of someone.
You find it silly because you view it different than they do. You can’t claim this is a sport when arguing politically then claim it is a violent attempt to harm someone when arguing religiously. I see no issue in thanking god for the gifts you have been blessed with that have made you successful and both fighters come out safe. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
Bye I don’t think it’s even close. The big names are mostly Christians. It’s hard to know about the not so big names. But most big names are. Couture, JDs, Mousassi, Michael McDonald, Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort, Matt Hughes, just off the top of my head.