In Las Vegas, a Violent Sport Sparks Controversy
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
I think a thing that needs to be looked at that I don't think was mentioned is that these fighters don't make all that much money. $2000 is the minimum amount and fighters say they typically make between 2-10k per event. Selling what is almost certain permanent bodily harm for pennies is exploitive and should be fixed, given the popularity of the event.
Most humans inherently want to see violence and gore. I have seen one of these events, and it is certainly barbaric, but people love it.
Need a source on that one. I am involved in this and new professionals do not even make that much. For "on-demand" fights (where the promoter gives you 0 notice ahead of time) you will make several hundred dollars, perhaps $1000 for a win at a large venue. Even UFC pays terrible until you're a main card, and even then, you're not making much. Most of the money is made by promotional deals due to the win. I wanted to correct you here as I agree both that they aren't paid enough, and it is often exploitative. The number of fighters making a living wage from UFC and UFC-adjacent combat sports is extremely low. Of the fighters I know, 0 of them live off that money. It's a hobby that pays a little but most of them either have a day job, or more likely, live out of a van so they can travel to the next venue+camp on a moments notice.
> Selling what is almost certain permanent bodily harm for pennies is exploitive and should be fixed,
UFC-style fighting and bareknuckle style fighting have the lowest incidents of brain injury of any combat sport. This is due largely to the lighter gloves and training that doesn't involve getting punched in the head all the time. The incidence is lower than many non-combat sports as well.
> I have seen one of these events, and it is certainly barbaric, but people love it.
It is one of the few true displays of human physicality and performance. It's not all about the violence. The guys in the cage are typically the absolute peak of human performance.
I think you think my post was about the UFC? I am talking about power slap.
The type of brain damage that will make the participants more likely to commit acts of violence in the future due to impulse control issues (see the high incidence of prior concussion among violent offenders in prison, high incidence of domestic violence among people who've suffered head trauma previously, many known instances of people who became irritable, impulsive, violent after concussions/mtbi).
Even those who don't commit violent acts are likely to suffer depression, anxiety, mood swings, difficulty concentrating, etc.
Society at large bears the burden of the increased healthcare costs for these individuals later on in life. Every slap can be directly linked to future costs to medicare/hospitals, police/first-responders, judicial system, etc.
So do lots of other sports that are commonly accepted today, such as football, boxing, etc. It's difficult to make a societal argument when those things also exist in much greater numbers elsewhere - how many power slap fighters are there?
You can even go outside of sports and find a myriad of other things like alcohol, tobacco, recreational drugs that have a $X societal cost. It is not really that convincing of an argument to me, especially at the scale this event currently exists in.