Someone needs to introduce Mark Driscoll to Shad Smith, an ultimate fighter and ex-con recently profiled in The New York Times Magazine. Smith is just the sort of man’s man that Driscoll, seeking to build his non-chickified, non-queer church, would like to bring to Christ. Hell, Smith sounds like a man after Driscoll’s own heart, what with his callused hands and big biceps.

FOR MOST OF M.M.A.’S early years, Shad Smith was oblivious to the sport—he was in prison. In 1995, he was arrested for carjacking and began a four-year sentence, the first and longest of several stints in prison. But just days after he got out, Danny Caldwell, the brother of a childhood friend, told him he had arranged a fight for Smith. Caldwell, an M.M.A. enthusiast, was a co-founder of Tapout, a clothing company that sponsors fighters. “I’m like, Whatever, I’m still partying, partying like a rock star,” Smith said. “Three weeks later, they show up at my house.”

….

We drove back to Smith’s modest-but-roomy single-story home, which he shares with his boyfriend. Recently, his parents, one of his brothers and a niece moved in—despite Smith’s adolescent fears, his family seems now to fully accept his sexual orientation. We walked into the green-carpeted den, decorated festively with a Christmas tree and other holiday knickknacks. Smith’s father, in pajama bottoms and shirtless, was sitting in an armchair in front of the television, watching football.

Smith’s boyfriend, Jesse Empey, also joined us. Younger than Smith, Empey has an angular face and dark features and looks a little like Keanu Reeves. He’s a makeup artist and used to live in New York, and he met Smith through a mutual friend.

The tape was already in the video player — Smith had called ahead and asked his mother to cue it to one of his street fights. On the video, Smith appears in a backyard, shirtless and in black pants, wearing boxing hand wraps. His opponent is a trained boxer, a much larger man. It plays out like Smith’s Felony Fights match. Smith’s opponent keeps his distance, throwing punches, while Smith tries to take the fight to the ground. After a few botched charges, Smith tackles his opponent, and when he establishes a full mount, his opponent’s father quickly intervenes and stops the fight before Smith’s punches can do further damage.

“But keep watching,” Smith told me. The camera is fixed on Smith as he unwinds the wrapping from his right hand. The camera zooms in, and there’s a long patch of white running along one of his fingers. “That’s where my bone came out,” Smith said, smiling. “It hurt like hell, but I kept fighting.”

You can read the whole profile here.