We need to talk about the worst bits of the ‘best fights’
“What a fight for the fans here in Houston… An absolute classic… The stock of both women goes up with that performance tonight”. That was UFC commentator Jon Anik’s description of the fight between Angela Hill and Jessica Andrade at the recent UFC fight night 104.
It was great to watch these two perform in such a powerful and skilful manner, creating what Jack Slack has called the best strawweight bout to date. And to top it all off with great shows of respect and appreciation for one another at the end of the fight was excellent.
Best and worst
In many ways, this fight shows the best that combat sport has to offer in terms of providing fan entertainment, but also highlighting the symbolic difference between fighting and violence. Additionally, in this case it was a clear demonstration of a physically empowered vision of femininity, something that many advocates of women’s combat sports have argued can do good things for society.
Yet, within such celebrations of ‘the best’ that combat sports has to offer is often a lack of attention to the short and long-term damage that such fights can cause to the fighters. Simply put, these “absolute classics”, with their instant fan gratification, are built upon practices that can risk the destruction of fighters’ bodies. I often think that to mention this fact is akin to breaking the ‘fourth wall’ as a fan of combat sports; to do so draws into question the very premise of enjoying them to begin with. Unsurprisingly then, this fact is very often overlooked by commentators, promoters, fans and fighters alike. But with recent tragedies in the combat sports world reminding us of the inherent dangers of participation in these activities, I think we need to talk about the worst bits of these best fights.
Drawing on my ice hockey research
Alex Channon and I have explored this process in detail with ice hockey fans. We interviewed fans and purposely created tension in our discussions by highlighting to them the manner in which ice hockey has been shown to damage the bodies and brains of its players. The fans generally tried to neutralise our attempts to highlight this damage by suggesting that we were over-exaggerating things, since at the end of the day, hockey is ‘only sport’. They did this by drawing on some relatively unique dimensions of the legitimate and largely accepted ‘violence’ that is commonplace in ice hockey; these included discussions around the apparent voluntary and consenting nature of athletic participation, the financial rewards on offer and the protective measures that are put in place to enhance players’ safety. The important practical and symbolic difference between what we term ‘ritualistic’ sports violence and ‘real’ violence also played into this (see this paper for a detailed discussion of such definitions).
The ice hockey fans made some valid points, but the end result was that the very real physical damage that their enjoyment was based upon remained largely absent from their day-to-day discussion of the sport. Our goal with that research project was not to suggest that we should not enjoy or celebrate the best of heavy contact sports. Rather, we sought to draw attend to the manner in which the mortality of athletes’ bodies – bodies which all the glamour and spectacle of commercialised, professional sports are built upon – can often be ignored and taken for granted.
Damaging bodies and brains
In opening up a discussion about how we define ‘the best fights’, and how this is often done in isolation from attending to some of the worst elements of combat sports (including brain trauma, disability and potential death), the goal of this blog post is similar to highlight the fact that fighters’ bodies are broken down, damaged and can potentially be destroyed in the course of providing us fans with the ‘best fights’. While such destruction is not always immediately obvious, research in similar sports settings points to the slow, cumulative effect of apparently harmless, sub-concussive blows to the head, suggesting that even those fights that both athletes walk away from may lead to serious health implications later in life (see this paper for some of my work in this area).
Paying due attention to the potential for harm that comes with such bouts might at first seem like a sobering indictment of the enjoyment we take from them. But I would argue that it is a vital step in helping us to make sure that sport is not only enjoyable and rewarding for fans, but that it’s done in a way that recognises and respects the risks athletes take to give us this enjoyment. As such, raising awareness of the increased risks that are embedded in the ‘best fights’, upon which the fortunes of professional combat sports organisations are generally built, can help athletes to understand the role that their bodies play in the financial arrangements that exist between promoters, media and fans. After all, it is their bodies that are the commodities being traded, used and ‘consumed’ in fight sports. It is this relationship that sits at the foundation of professional sport, and this has profound implications for discussions about who ought to control the conditions of their work.
Problems in pro sport
Acknowledging this structuring of professional sports and the associated bodily risks and damage can help compel fans, fighters and promoters to realise the importance of protecting and enhancing athlete health and wellbeing. This process can help situate the worst elements of the best fights within discussions about the shape and future of combat sports. Such frank and open assessments of the short, medium and long-term consequences of participation in full-contact fighting can empower athletes to better understand their place within the potentially exploitative world of professional combat sport. And, for those fans who are serious about the ethical foundations of enjoying fights, it should provide motivation to back athletes’ calls for having a bigger say in the regulatory and commercial operations of their profession.
Therefore, this is especially prescient amidst ongoing discussions about fighters unions, the application of the Ali Act to MMA and other combat sports and the antitrust lawsuit that is currently filed against the Ultimate Fighting Championship. These cases all highlight a shift in the relationship between fighters and promoters, and what is fundamentally at stake here is the empowerment of athletes. In focusing on what we might call the potentially worst parts of the best fights, we can provide further grist to that particular mill.
Towards a solution
Instead of simply celebrating the best that fight sports have to offer then, we as fans and consumers can also appreciate athletes’ calls for better financial rewards, greater healthcare, collective bargaining rights and legal protections. Such support helps to unpick the often exploitative relationships that professional combat sports are built upon, by recognising the duty of care that we owe the athletes whose bodies are put on the line to give us the enjoyment we derive from witnessing these, the best of fights. With our love of the spectacular dramas that they take such risks to bring us, we surely owe them that much.