Vasco Castela: Is MMA rewriting the unwritten rules of street fighting?
When the B.C. Medical Association called for a ban on mixed martial arts on the grounds that the sport is too dangerous due to the risk of brain injury, critics were quick to point out that there is a higher risk of brain damage in other popular sports, such as boxing or hockey. Perhaps the risk argument is misguided. Why should it be anyone’s business what two adults consensually decide to do to each other, regardless of whether we think it is dangerous or weird or kinky? Maybe we should worry more about the people who watch MMA fights. They are being conditioned to feel that it is okay to hit a man when he is down, and keep hitting him until he is unconscious or taps out. And who respects a tap out in a street fight?
There used to be in Manchester, England, an unwritten rule for street fights, which stated that once your opponent is down, you are allowed to kick him in the head three times. It seems fair to suppose that a lot of the people who have been on the receiving end of these kicks were not aware of this rule, and even if they were, perhaps they did not subscribe to the practice and in no way expressed their consent to be kicked in the head should an appropriate situation arise. For rarely do people sit down to discuss the rules by which they will fight, and therein lies the problem.
The Manchester rule probably emerged in a similar way to “The Code” that unofficially regulates hockey fights, as experienced and influential fighters try to strike a balance between the value of gaining respect by intimidating opponents and the need to avoid the escalation of violence. These rules evolve to become codes of honour, and breaking them comes to have all the feel of breaking other moral rules of thumb, such as “Lying is wrong” or “You shall not kill”.
Within the cage, the MMA rules may be adequate. Perhaps an MMA fight often is, as some fans argue, a duel of gentlemen, who are often good friends outside of the cage, and remain good friends after the fight. Unfortunately, MMA rules do not seem to stay in the cage. According to Dr. Louis Francescutti, president-elect of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and emergency medicine physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, trauma victims who have gotten involved in bar brawls and needed medical attention frequently report that they faced ultra-violent aggression and a fighting style similar to that of MMA tournaments, involving a mix of punches and kicks. He has been getting these reports for the last five years, and more frequently in the last two years. Edmonton has been called the MMA “mecca” of Canada.
Strictly speaking, MMA is illegal in Canada, according to Section 83 of the Criminal Code, which describes prize fighting as a punishable offence. Interestingly, boxing is mentioned as an exception. Perhaps this is a mistake, but adding another is not going to help. It is hard to get rid of boxing now, like it is hard to get rid of bullfighting in Spain and Portugal, as they have become a part of people’s lives and culture, and forbidding these activities has a more severe perceived impact on their freedom. The legality of boxing is no justification for making MMA legal.
Boxing is at least more conservative in drawing the line of restraint. In a bar brawl, the boxing fan may still back off when his opponent is off his feet, out of sportsmanship. The MMA fighter or fan will—if we assume that his level of self-control is identical to that of the boxer—stop later in the fight, by virtue of his “code” conditioning, continuing to hit his opponent when he is down. When things go a bit too far, as it often happens in a bar brawl, he is more likely to cause the opponent severe damage. Hockey, which is an important part of Canadian culture, is violent too, of course, but I have never heard of anyone being forced to play hockey in a street fight. There is a context to hockey fights that helps to keep the violence in the rink.
I sympathize, to a degree, with the plight of the fans. The visceral appeal of MMA is understandable, and the vast majority of the fans are law-abiding, responsible citizens, who never get involved in bar brawls or any kind of street fighting. Unfortunately, a few do. And they will break bones, cause brain damage, and kill people who never agreed to a duel by the rules of MMA. This is more important than the fans’ alleged right to watch a good fight. MMA fights should be banned in Canada.
Vasco Castela is an ethicist who lives in Vancouver. He holds a PhD in ethics from the University of Manchester.
Comments
28 Comments
J
Sep 8, 2010 at 5:48pm
I have many friends who play hockey and have seen numerous occasions where the on ice confrontations turn into off ice street fights
Morty
Sep 8, 2010 at 11:31pm
Surely there are enough facts (as in, assault rates; hospital admissions; etc.) to make arguments from anecdote unnecessary. I find it hard to believe that victims of bar brawls have ever reported anything other than violent aggression, so without numbers to back them up any claims that "things are worse today" sound like little more than nostalgia.
Richard Saint
Sep 9, 2010 at 3:43am
I agree with MMA, or "Vale Tudo" in Brasil, or K-1, or anything like it, if good rules are followed. And in most combats I've seen they are (I didn't like one with bare hands, that's maybe too dangerous). It's not street fighting. The referee interrupts the game when a KO happens, or when a fighter is badly injured. Of course sometimes a knee in the nose can be devastating, but that's the game.
I think the argument that MMA is a bad influence is more dangerous than any sport. It can be used to ban not only MMA and other violent sports, but also computer games, movies, books... Along the ages many violent acts were based on sacred texts, so why they keep being published? Because most of the people that reads them do not have a violent behaviour, and because freedom of choice is a higher value for modern societies.
Besides that, nowadays the humans of the free world have internet access. Can a country ban a sport, or something else, so the citizens are not exposed to a "bad influence", without creating another "big firewall of China"?
LisaD
Sep 9, 2010 at 4:10am
If a person's interior is of violence, then it doesn't matter what type of fight is watched.
DtM
Sep 9, 2010 at 10:48am
Right. MMA will make street brawls worse, and should therefore be banned.
The data used to support this claim is flawed, and the argument is dangerous. The instances of increased "mma like attacks" are due to an increased level of knowledge of strikes by combatants. Banning MMA will do nothing, you'll have to ban all martial arts centers where these strikes are taught.
Furthermore, banning it in Canada will simply drive it underground. Combat is a primal force that, while certainly diminished in many, remains strong in those with a body and mind that are attracted to it. I wonder how the reports of injuries from underground "fight clubs" will be accounted for in the future.
Mr. Castela, you've missed the boat and are merely capitalizing on a hot topic for press time. This argument is only valid if you decide to ban professional wrestling spectales as well. They promote the use of weapons, of abusing unconcious opponents, and mob attacks where individuals are swarmed. Better ban martial arts tournaments too, they certainly feature a mix of kicks and punches.
And how about the movies and television shows too? Who shall be responsible for the violence that we are subjected to daily there? Ban it all, lest we find that anvils are being used in bar brawls soon! (thats looney toons reference folks...)
MMA provides an outlet for an outmatched individual to "give up" (the tap), does not allow kicks to the head to downed opponents (an improvement on your manchester thugs), and is actually returning a sense of honour to combat that has been eroded by years of the WWF and their ilk. NOT that i'm suggesting there is much honour to a bar brawl, but young men still meet at the smoking pits after school to settle differences, (and will do so until the end of our species) and anything that brings some sense of "rules" or more appropraitely "etiquette" is a positive influence.
V Castela
Sep 9, 2010 at 10:57am
Morty:
That is an interesting point. Unfortunately, existing statistics tell us little. Assault rates do not tell us about the motivations of the people involved, or how they were influenced to think or feel like they do. A mere increase in assault rates would not show that MMA is to blame, and a reduction in assault rates could be linked to a number of factors and would not show that MMA is harmless. Reports from victims, you may argue, can be biased, but does it follow that we should just dismiss them entirely? It is a fact that there have been more of these reports, according to Dr. Louis Francescutti. Consider reports of rape, for instance, which also involve interpretation by the victim of a sequence of events. Since it is hard to use physical evidence alone to prove that someone was raped, should we also dismiss these reports, or a doctor's warning that there is an increase in the number of such reports, as nostalgia? I think not, and I assume you agree with me. I understand your worry, Morty, but I do not think that we should go as far as completely ignoring the victims’ reports.
That said, I am definitely in favor of doing more to confirm and quantify the problem. More reliable data could be obtained by studying the criminal records of MMA fighters and fans.
V Castela
Sep 9, 2010 at 12:17pm
DtM:
It is not because humans have a natural tendency for violence that being violent is OK and healthy. Without proper education, humans also have a tendency to steal, corrupt and abuse the weak. Yes, I am prepared to accept the risks of driving these things underground. The same goes for racially motivated aggression, or child abuse. I do not think they should be legalized and regulated.
I understand your disappointment with WWF fights.
V Castela
Sep 9, 2010 at 2:25pm
Lisa D:
Are you claiming that education and culture have no effect whatsoever on human behaviour?
Richard Saint:
I did not say that octagon MMA fights, with referees, are the same as street fighting, only that MMA will make, and may be already making, street fights worse and more common. But let me reply to your argument about the dangers of banning things.
I hope we can safely ban some things without the need to cry "censorship!" or "mind control!". It is difficult to know where to draw the line, but that is no reason to give up making important distinctions. Publicly inciting others to perform acts of terrorism or assault individuals from racial minorities, for instance, is going too far in exercising the right to free speech. Lines must be drawn.
Whether the influence of a particular novel, movie or game will prove to be good or bad for the public in the long run is hard to determine. I doubt that any strong correlation can be established between reading a violent novel and committing acts of violence. I do not think that many of the readers of Cormac McCarthy’s "Blood Meridian" put down the book and went out to scalp their neighbours. Watching an MMA fight, especially live, is a very different experience. There is real blood, and I believe it would be a good thing if most people were to continue to be shocked, rather than pleased or excited, by the sight of human blood.
Boon
Sep 9, 2010 at 3:28pm
"Unfortunately, MMA rules do not seem to stay in the cage."
I dont know about the writer but I would much fight under rules that state no groin strikes, no biting, no eye gouging, no weapons, 1 on 1 only and being able to tap out or submit as opposed to street fight rules which would means..........there are none.
All of the would-be intellectual and historical references mean little. Street fighting is street fighting. Its absolutely laughable to think that hitting someone when they are down started or becoming more popular with MMA. That has ALWAYS been a cornerstone of street fights.
Boon
Sep 9, 2010 at 3:38pm
the rest of my message was cut off due to length but in general, i just want to express my terrible disappointment and frustration with the lack of knowledge and perspective about MMA criticism.
Do some research about the sport and less research about what they used to have for street fightng rules in Machester so many years ago and just leave the hypothesizing about what a hockery player or boxer would do in a real fight because of how they they are dictated to play or fight in their sport.
Have you ever been in a street fight? Have you watched any before? I only aspect because it seems that your opinion seems much more versed in irrelevant books than the practise of what you are aiming to discuss.
" trauma victims who have gotten involved in bar brawls and needed medical attention frequently report that they faced ultra-violent aggression and a fighting style similar to that of MMA tournaments, involving a mix of punches and kicks."
In what time or land are a mix of punching and kicking not used in street fights?
"The legality of boxing is no justification for making MMA legal."
Then make boxing illegal. I thought the point of laws are to try and be consistent. This kind of fightin is ok but not that type....because of tradition or better yet, because people are already sensitized to it?
"And they will break bones, cause brain damage, and kill people who never agreed to a duel by the rules of MMA."
- Seriously, what is this? When do victims of an assualt every agree to any rules of the assault or fight? What, in god's name, are you talking about?