Posted on 09/14/2025 2:04:12 PM PDT by ebb tide
A former professional kickboxer from Germany told LifeSiteNews his story of how he became Catholic through the Eucharist and Mary.
Gordon Haupt, who now runs a Catholic YouTube channel and co-founded the Catholic lay apostolate Christkönigtum (Christ the King), said in an exclusive interview that he was baptized in the Protestant Church in Germany but did not really practice his faith growing up.
When he was 16 years old, Haupt was playing soccer outside. After kicking the ball over a fence, it landed in front of a kickboxing gym. When Haupt went to pick it up, the gym trainer asked if he wanted to “do some real sport” and come train at the gym the following evening.
Haupt decided to go, and that was the start of his kickboxing career.
He was very talented and quickly climbed up the ranks. Even though he lost some fights, he said he was very popular with event organizers. “I had such an exciting fighting style because I always tried to knock out my opponents,” he said.
When he was in the “C class” amateur league, he did not feel comfortable with his trainers anymore and continued training without a coach.
”And then from then on, I did my own thing,” he said. “I always had a few friends; we were always a group of kickboxers.”
Despite not having a coach and working a full-time job, Haupt managed to become a professional and fight in Glory, the most prestigious kickboxing promotion in the world.
”And then I fought my way up to that point,” Haupt stated. “I fought many fights. I was in Russia, South Korea, the USA, Czechia, and Poland twice. So I’ve really seen a lot of the world.”
“ Normally, no one would take on a fight like this with only two weeks of preparation, except me, of course,” the German former kickboxer said.
He took off two weeks from work to train in Holland to prepare for the fight, which took place in Virginia. Silva was considered one of the best kickboxers in the world at the time.
Haupt lost the fight after receiving three hard shots to the liver, but ”promoters from the US all came up to me after the fight and offered me more fights.” They apparently respected him for taking the challenge on such short notice.
“I have to say, when I fought against the best fighters in the world, I wasn’t so successful there,” Haupt told LifeSiteNews. “I had a good run up to that point, but you could see that without a trainer, without that professional support, it’s hard to keep up.”
Conversion to the Catholic faith
Haupt recalled that he started to explore the Christian faith in his mid-twenties. After watching many evangelical YouTubers and reading the Bible and evangelical literature, he joined a free church.
He said when reading the Bible, “some things really hit home for me.”
“The Lord says, ‘Whoever loves their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. What good is it for a person to gain the whole world but lose their soul?’”
“And then I realized that kickboxing stood between me and God,” he said.
“Training and fighting were like idols to me. I worked and did other things, but my focus was always on training and fighting.”
“I trained every free minute I had,” he said, explaining that it had become an obsession and idol to him, even though it was not intrinsically bad.
Haupt ended his professional career, although he keeps training as a hobby to this day.
When he kept studying the Bible, he noticed that Christ clearly meant that we should eat his flesh and drink his blood in the literal sense.
“ Because in the free churches, this is seen as symbolism. But Christ says, ‘This is my body, this is my blood.’”
He then started to read the Church Fathers and realized they believed in the Real Presence.
“When I learned that the early Christians clearly described the Eucharist as what it truly is, namely the real flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, I realized that I had to convert,” he recalled.
“ For although I was ultimately converted through the Eucharist, it was the Mother of God who first inspired me to explore this path,” Haupt said.
He read a book by German priest and theologian Fr. Manfred Hauke, Mary and the Old Testament, which describes many of the prophecies about Mary prior to the New Testament.
“That’s when I first saw how much Mary is in the Bible.”
“I ordered the Apostolic Fathers, the first Christians, and then I read through them and had an inner struggle because I didn’t want to become Catholic,” he stated.
“I also had many prejudices against the Church,” he added.
“I finally had to give up, I had to surrender to the truth. As Christ says, ‘the truth will set you free,’ and that was absolute freedom.”
Catholic YouTuber and co-founder of ‘Christ the King’ apostolate
In 2020, Haupt started the Catholic YouTube channel Kathplosiv, which now has over 11,000 subscribers.
“I thought to myself, ‘It can’t be that so many Protestants in German-speaking countries are making YouTube videos where they talk absolute nonsense,’ to put it bluntly,” he told LifeSiteNews. “They have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of subscribers because so many people are confused and there is hardly any Catholic alternative.”
So he decided to launch his own channel.
In January 2025, Haupt co-founded the traditional Catholic lay apostolate Christkönigtum (Christ the King), which engages in street evangelization, works of charity, pro-life activism, and organizes various Catholic events.
According to its website, the apostolate is “dedicated to the social kingship of Christ.”
“Our mission is to bring the radical love of Jesus into society, particularly through charitable work,” the website continues.
“We support elderly people in their daily challenges and are there for them with advice and assistance. We are also committed to feeding the needy and providing them with basic support. With a clear mission, we work to spread the message of Christ and to give love and hope through our actions. Together, we want to create a world in which charity is visible and the Gospel is proclaimed to our neighbors.”
In July 2016, Haupt stepped in to fight Anderson Silva on just two weeks’ notice because Silva’s original opponent dropped out due to injury.
Ping
Goddess worship bump
Not a goddess, but our advocate in Heaven who draws people closer to her Son.
To borrow a line from John Wayne: NOT HARDLY.
Justify that Biblically.
Mary never suggested any such thing. A demon slipped in behind her memory—the Queen of Heaven (Ishtar/Astarte/Asherah)—and you have fallen for her seductive message.
Our beloved Mary never said any such thing. Bishops, priests, and popes fell for this heresy because she is so seductive.
And you invite this demon into your souls.
But I hate what heretics and greedy fools have done to it.
The Apostles were constantly adjusting the message to keep it true to Jesus.
Marianism is not Biblical. And it has been perverted by demons.
If you aren't at least open to exploring the possibility, you are nothing but a brain-dead cult member.
You obviously don't love Mary. Just above, you have disparaged her by calling her a "goddess", as if she was a pagan idol.
Coulda fooled me. Accusing Catholics of "goddess worship" is an old anti-Catholic canard.
I’m not accusing Catholics of goddess worship. I am saying that the constructive deification of Mary is unbiblical and heretical. Not all Catholics believe that she should be deified, but a significant part of the Church leadership does. And they have been seduced by a demon.
Goddess worship ping
Possibility of what--becoming a Protestant? Been there done that sideways and forward. I probably know about Protestantism more than you do, including it's errors and all the tired anti-Catholic fallacies in the book that have been refuted over and over. No thanks.
"you are nothing but a brain-dead cult member."
LOL. Same to you, buddy!
Protestants often disparage Mary due to a misunderstanding of the Catholic Church's veneration of her. They may perceive that Catholics worship Mary in the same way they worship God, which is a misconception. The Catholic Church teaches that while Mary is honored as the Mother of God and holds a unique dignity, the honor given to her is not divine worship, which is reserved for God alone (V3 Challoner The Catholick Christian Instructed 1737 309:1).
Catholics believe that Mary's exalted position as the Mother of Jesus Christ warrants great respect and devotion, as she is "full of grace" and "blessed among women" (V3 Challoner The Catholick Christian Instructed 1737 307:2). Protestants, however, may view her as merely an ordinary woman, which leads to their disparagement of her role and significance in salvation history (V17 Cafferata The Catechism Simply Explained 1932 209:1).
Additionally, some Protestants may hold a belief that any form of devotion to Mary detracts from the glory of Christ, leading them to criticize the Catholic practice of seeking her intercession (V3 Challoner The Catholick Christian Instructed 1737 312:3). This misunderstanding can stem from a broader context of theological differences regarding the role of saints and the Virgin Mary in the life of the Church.
You're a liar because those were your very words. Stop wasting my time.
Yes, you did. In your first post to this thread:
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I hope he came to saving faith and has eternal life.
No church saves
Mary does not save.
Only Christ saves.
In 1865, white protestant southerners hated Catholics, Negros, Jews and Republicans.
In 2025, white protestant southerners hate Catholics, Negros, Jews and Republicans.
The difference is obvious.
He's done it twice now:
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