MMA and the purist/partisan distinction

ABSTRACT

The purist/partisan distinction has dominated recent discussions of sport spectatorship and sport aesthetics. The focus of such discussions, however, has been sport in general or, often implicitly, team sports in particular. Here, using mixed martial arts (MMA) as a case study, we argue that specific aspects of the sport in question can significantly affect how the purist/partisan distinction plays out for viewers. MMA’s status as an individual combat sport mitigates, in illuminating ways, the partisanship displayed so prominently among fans of team sports. We also examine the role of external attitudes – in both the betting subculture of MMA and purist attitudes toward individual combat sports and martial arts – in shaping MMA spectatorship.

KEYWORDS:

• Aesthetics
• combat sports
• mixed martial arts
• schadenfreude
• spectatorship

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. MMA fighters have teams, too, but fans are predominantly fans of individual fighters or the sport generally rather than teams. Most MMA fans neither know nor care which team is in a fighter’s corner.

2. Other MMA promotions, with a knockout tournament structure, may be more appealing to partisans, since they can follow a single fighter through multiple contests in the same event. For one example, the PFL (Professional Fighters League), has a regular season followed by playoffs leading to a championship each year, and in this respect provides fans with something closer to the format of popular team sports.

3. We thank an anonymous reviewer for requesting further detail concerning the relation between aesthetics and morality.

4. This way of thinking has an affinity with the doctrine of double effect. See Alison McIntyre (2019).

5. We thank an anonymous reviewer for stressing this point.

6. By ‘pot-committed’ here we liken the sports bettor to a poker player who has bet substantially on a particular hand and so is motivated to protect their investment.

7. On this point see, for example, Moenig’s (2015, 190–91) discussion of traditional forms-based taekwondo versus modern sparring-based taekwondo.

8. For example, see Lewandowski (2021) on boxing and MMA.

9. See Holt (2019, 62–63) for a discussion of other attitudes that bear on the aesthetics of sport spectatorship.

10. See Holt (2019, 42–43) for the hypothesis that soccer’s highly restricted use of the outer physiological expression of human intelligence and uniqueness – the hands – partly explains its worldwide appeal as the most gamified sport. Similar considerations plausibly help explain why taekwondo is the world’s most popular martial art (although it may soon be replaced by BJJ if it hasn’t already).

11. We thank an anonymous reviewer for this observation.

12. We thank an anonymous reviewer for requesting further comments on striking partisanship within MMA.

13. Bowman (n.d.) sees a contrast between grappling and ground-fighting. Grappling occurs in stand-up fighting, and fans can take in or appreciate spectacular throws much like they can ‘see’ knockouts. Likewise, stand-up grappling and throws do not, perhaps, raise the same concerns about intimate contact.

14. By contrast, Russell (2012) argues for the pluralist view that there is no single ideal form of sport spectatorship.