From Cage Fighter to Christ Follower The Story of Doug Black
My name is Doug, I am an only child. I went to a Catholic school, where I learned about religion, but very little about Jesus Himself. The focus was on Mary and the saints, and whenever we went to church at school, Christ was still on the cross. I never understood why He died or why it should matter to me. The science classroom next door taught me about the Big Bang and evolution, which only added to the confusion. My parents weren’t religious; we never went to church. I had no belief that God existed. In my mind, He wasn’t real.
As a child, I was severely overweight, and food became my comfort whenever I felt low. By the age of 13, I had blown out to 107 kilograms. Because of my size, I was constantly bullied. One day, I snapped. I got into a physical altercation, and during the fight, my shirt was ripped off, exposing my body to the whole school, I was so ashamed of how I looked. I went home angry—bitter at the world and bitter at myself. I opened the Yellow Pages and looked up two things: self-defence and a gym. The first ad I saw was for Krav Maga, described as “the most aggressive martial art in the world,” developed in Israel. At the age of 14, I began my fitness and martial arts journey, not to get healthy, but to fight back. I wanted to hurt the people who had hurt me.
After a few months, I started to lose weight, my confidence grew, and I began to learn how to fight. The same people who bullied me now welcomed me in, and I became their tool, their instrument of entertainment. The bullied became the bully.
Eventually, I opened my own gym. My physical transformation was real, but inwardly I was spiralling. I started cage fighting, got into Mixed Martial Arts, and found myself surrounded by the wrong people. I became a stand-over man, involved in crime, addicted to drugs, alcohol, pornography, and steroids. I was emotionally and physically abusive to my partner. I had intense anger issues and zero compassion. I hated myself. I considered suicide more than once.
At this point, I was a militant atheist. I mocked Christians, saw them as weak, and thought religion was a crutch for the broken. I had built this hard exterior, but inside I was empty, broken, and dead. I was spiritually dead in my trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). I had no life, no light.
One night, after another episode of drinking, fighting, and destruction, I came home and lost control. My partner Jen came out and told me she was done. She was leaving. Then came another blow; my dad was diagnosed with cancer. I pushed aside the crumbling state of my relationship and threw myself into research about how to help my dad naturally. I kept stumbling across dietary concepts that pointed back to the Bible. Each time I read that something had biblical roots, I dismissed it.
One day, I remember yelling from my office, “Do we have a Bible in the house?” Jen said, “Why would we?” But then she remembered—her brother had bought me one the previous year for my birthday but was too afraid to give it to me. I rang my brother-in- law late that night and said, “I heard you got me a Bible last year. I’m coming to get it.” To my surprise, he was excited.
When I got home, I threw the Bible on the kitchen table and in frustration, flung the Bible open to a random page, dropping my finger on a verse. I didn’t know it then, but God was about to reveal Himself. I read from Ephesians 4:
“..Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; ..Neither give place to the devil. .. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God..” (Read Eph. 4. 17-32)
Every word hit me like a sledgehammer. I saw my reflection in those verses, darkness, rage, impurity. I broke. I began to cry uncontrollably. Years of anger and pain poured out. I wasn’t just emotionally broken; I was under conviction.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword..”
I called a Christian friend from the gym, and he took me to Church the next morning, but I almost backed out. I looked in the mirror and hated what I saw—tattoos, a mohawk, 130kg of intimidation. The moment I entered the Church, people greeted me with warmth, hugs, and joy. They didn’t care how I looked. I felt like they’d been waiting for me.
During worship, I stood still, reading the lyrics on the screen. The song was “In Christ Alone.” When I read: “Till on that cross, as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied… For every sin on Him was laid… Here in the death of Christ I live…” That was the first time I heard the Gospel. It hit me like a wave.
In the sermon Scripture after scripture hit my heart, I accused my friend of telling them I was coming! He smiled and said, “That’s not how this works. That’s God speaking to you.” The pastor gave the Gospel.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24).
We all deserve judgment, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived a perfect life and took our punishment on the cross, dying at Calvary and rising again on the third day (1 Cor. 13. 3-4). I publicly confessed Christ, asked Him to forgive me, to come into my heart, and make me new. I cried tears of joy.
Ezekiel 36:26 came to life: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh”.
Week after week, I went to church and eventually told my partner Jen that I was getting baptised. She came along to my baptism and after placed her hand on my shoulder, and said, “That was the most powerful thing I’ve ever seen. I get it now.” Soon after, she gave her life to Christ. We abstained from intimacy for eight months, wanting to honour God. Then we married. We now have five beautiful children and continue to serve at our local church.
God didn’t just clean me up. He made me new. He took a man dead in sin and gave him life. He turned hatred into
love, addiction into freedom, pride into humility, and brokenness into purpose. Jesus saved me. And if He can save me, He can save anyone.
Salvation is offered freely to all who will trust in Christ as their Saviour. Salvation is not something you earn (Eph. 2. 8-10) it’s something you receive, and my life is living proof of that. If you’re lost, hurting, or searching, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He’s not waiting for you to clean yourself up, He’s waiting for you to come home.
Every one of us is in a FIGHT! There is a battle raging between good and evil all around us, and only in Christ can we have the victory.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. (1 Tim 6:12)
Doug Black serves the Lord at West Lakes Independent Baptist and is available to share his testimony at churches. Please email Vince Wall: vwallhoh@gmail.com
This article was originally published in August 2025 issue of the Herald of Hope Magazine
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