Fist Fights and Frugality

Combat Sports and Their Place in Society

J. A. McCreery

Humanity has always shared some universal laws of ethics and morality. Everyone indulges in the notion of steadfast, unchanging and clearcut codes of conduct – The Ten Commandments, Hammurabi’s Code – the desire for fairness, morality and protection stretch back into antiquity. We seek to uphold and protect such thoughts, labelling those that transgress them as evil or inhumane; it’s simple: do not harm, do not injure, do not kill.  

Well it’s simple, until you consider the violent and bloody history of combat sport. The gladiators of Rome, perhaps the most prominent ancient example, glamourises and romanticises — even in modern media — the continued thrill and fixation on and of such violence; which at one stage allowed state sanctioned trials by combat, all for the mere pleasure of the crowd. In recent years, corporations dominate the modern gladiator’s arena, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) or the World Boxing Association (WBO), setting up and streaming their spectacles to millions across the globe. 

Is the contradiction — the hypocrisy — not clear?

It is difficult to reconcile the intentions of fighters, that is, to inflict literal brain damage on their opponent until they are unable to protect themselves with morality or acceptableness – yes that is what a knockout is, brain damage occurs, every, single, time. The culture and language surrounding these sports and especially the feuds which blossom within them again challenges their place in civilized society. Fighters will routinely promise to ‘kill’ their opponents, damage and break them, defeat them physically and mentally.

Sometimes they even succeed. In February 1995, it was estimated that “approximately 500 boxers have died in the ring or as a result of boxing” since the modern rules had been established. This number is presumably much higher today and does not include MMA related deaths. 

So how do we justify the seemingly sacred art of combat, an undeniable icon of Western culture.

First, the normal reasons, gleaned from an academic report on the subject – Carter, J., Kluck, T., & Morin, M. (2012, January 25) – Is Cage Fighting Ethical. Essentially, the goal of the sport is not actually to inflict damage on the opponent, even though much of the rhetoric points that way, it is mostly just hyperbole. The true goal is that of displaying dominance, just like any sport or game. It is not as simple as barbaric clashes, strategy and intellect are heavily involved and great mutual respect exists between fighters, who will even hug and congratulate each other after the fight. These sports also help develop strategic thinking, a community based around fitness, and remind people of the brutality and danger of combat.

Alternatively, one could propose that the true reasons combat sports persist, even amongst a new push for respect and individual right to protection, is that they sate a desire to witness ferity, to witness a primal search for dominance in a world so often sheltered from such things, such things which once defined us. They are by definition immoral, yet we embrace them, one must question – is the risk worth the spectacle?