Atheist Fighter

I'm a mixed martial arts fan and was catching up on the results of UFC107 this morning, since I didn't get the pay-per-view. Frank Mir, a top 10 heavyweight, scored an impressive first-round victory last night over Cheick Kongo. I've been a fan of Mir's for a while, but knew little about him outside the ring. Apparently he's an atheist.

“I read everything from war strategy, philosophy to historical science and right now I’m reading the God Delusion from Richard Dawkins and the new book from Christopher Hitchens so I have been primarily focusing on religion of late.”

Reading Hitchens and Dawkins doesn't make you an atheist, but he described religion as "the retarded stepchild of philosophy." That sounds like an atheist to me. 

It's pretty unusual for a prominent athlete to openly disparage religion or espouse atheist views. Athletes are always thanking God for wins, praying for victory, talking about their God-given abilities, thanking Jesus, etc. It's nice to see one that doesn't. On the other hand, Mir also had this to say,

why can't we have health care like Cuba in the US?... there has to be a happy medium between capitalism and socialist ideals

Like many atheists, he seems to be a leftist. Oh well.