Ultimate Fighting and Embodiment

Violence, Gender and Mixed Martial Arts

Dale C. Spencer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415719551
• eBook ISBN: 9781136499159
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is an emergent sport where competitors in a ring or cage utilize strikes (punches, kicks, elbows and knees) as well as submission techniques to defeat opponents. This book explores the carnal experience of fighting through a sensory ethnography of MMA, and how it transgresses the cultural scripts of masculinity in popular culture. Based on four years of participant observation in a local MMA club and in-depth interviews with amateur and professional MMA fighters, Spencer documents fighters' training regimes and the meanings they attach to participation in the sport. Drawing from the philosophical phenomenology of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Luc Nancy, this book develops bodies-centered ontological and epistemological grounding for this study. Guided by such a position, it places bodies at the center of analysis of MMA and elucidates the embodied experience of pain and injury, and the sense and rhythms of fighting.

1 Introduction

Beginning with My Body

In 2005, I took Body and Soul by Loïc Wacqant (2004) out of my school’s library based on academic curiosity and my past interest and participation in various combat sports. What I found in the text is a narrative documenting the bodily aches and pains associated with boxing and the joys and exhilaration associated with bodily mastery gained through sport. Attentive readers will notice that I deviate from Wacquant in terms of the ontological and epistemological underpinnings of our respective projects, but his work remains the inspiration of this book. Wacquant’s embodied ethnography continually energized my commitment to experiencing my subject matter, in this case mixed martial arts (herein MMA), with my body as an instrument of data collection. Because of this commitment, this project is not without many regrets. My academic colleagues, friends, and family expressed how weary they were of the harm I was subjecting my body to, and their worries are not without substance. During this ethnography I pulled my groin twice, my knee cap popped out on two occasions (residue of a past injury), I fractured my fifth metacarpal in my right hand, I suffered the pain associated with having cauliflower ear, and I received stitches under my left eye. I limp on days when I have had a hard training session and aside from when I am wearing a hat, my ear shows the wear and tear of my participation in MMA. I am marked by this ethnography. My body tells my story for all to see.

What will become evident in the pages of this book is that by submitting my body to the sport of MMA, I was granted a degree of access into a world that some academics can only imagine. This level of access is the gift of exploring the carnal dimensions of sporting (and other body-centered) activities on an embodied level (see Wacquant 2004; Downey 2005; Allen-Collinson 2009). Moreover, the veil that masks the interior of masculine and sporting spaces is pushed aside. In relation to this study, we come to see the accumulation of fighting bodies as productive of bodies capable of both giving and taking pain. We can explore sensing bodies that smell, taste, touch, see, and hear combat. At this level the payoff may be academic; on another level there was another, often overlooked benefit of this ethnography that is evidenced in Wacquant’s inspirational work: friendship. So, this is ethnography of MMA and friendship, albeit, as the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben (2009) has argued, friendship should never be far off our considerations when we engage in discussions of sociality and ontology. The following ethnographic text engages with MMA at an embodied level and reveals the centrality of bodies to contemporary understandings of gender, race, emotions, and violence.

From the Problem of Mind–Body Dualism to ‘the Body’ and Bodies

To Descartes ([1641] 1998) we can attribute the philosophic problem of the relationship of the mind to the body. Henceforth from Descartes, the mind and the mental is ascribed a number of features, including, but not exhaustively, its ability to know itself incorrigibly, its ability to exist separate from the body, its ability to form part of our social group, and the inability of the mental to be identified with any object in the world (Rorty [1979] 2009). The body is, then, an unthinking material substance. While the problems of the Cartesian approach will be dealt with in the next chapter, it should be noted that even those advocating such a position have conceded that the mind is not separate from the body (see Kim 1995). While Cartesianism is a spectre that still haunts contemporary sociological theory (see Burkitt 1998; Vahabzadeh 2009), the additional problem of what ‘the body’ is remains hotly debated (see Grosz 1994; Bray and Colebrook 1998; Nancy 2008; Shilling 2008).

The contemporary social scientific and philosophic problem of ‘the body’, in terms of its positioning in philosophic and social scientific discourse, is that ‘the body’ is posited in the singular, an object or surface to receive a plethora of externally imposed inscriptions. Feminist philosopher, Elizabeth Grosz (1994) puts the problem in more positive terms in arguing that bodies always possess the ability to “extend the frameworks which attempt to contain them, to seep beyond their domains of control” (xi). Because of the potentialities of bodies to elude definition, the quest for defining what the body is, turns to how bodies move and experience in manifold ways and what bodies can do.

Bray and Colebrook (1998) emphatically argue that ‘refiguring the problem of the body’ must involve seeing ‘the body’ as more than a semiotic system. They assert that the “body is a negotiation with images, but it is also a negotiation with pleasures, pains, other bodies, space, visibility, and medical practice; no single event in this field can act as a general ground for determining the status of the body” (my emphasis, 43). In Butler (1993), Foucault (1980), and to a lesser extent Bourdieu (1977), the body is the repository of cultural and societal norms. In such a view, the governmental management of the body sets the key parameters to the overarching external environment in which social action takes place (see Shilling 2008). The materiality of bodies disappears in such approaches to ‘the body’. The experience of and continually morphing character of bodies, then, is altogether overlooked.

I contend that the body in the singular must be analyzed continually in relation to other bodies. Bodies experience pleasures and pain with other bodies at any and all times and spaces. The emphasis on bodies, beyond an elucidation of the experience of embodiment (Leder 1990; Frank 1991), pushes us to consider continually metamorphosing and moving bodies that in many ways resignify culture. The phenomenological approach employed here, which utilizes the work of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Jean-Luc Nancy, emphasizes the sensory experience of embodied singularities.

This book takes seriously the primacy of bodies to sociality not only at the level of ontology, but also at the level of epistemology. Through a sensory ethnography of MMA, the sport became real to me at the level of embodied experience. Sensory ethnography (Pink 2009; Stoller 2004) can be seen as part of a recent fragmentation of approaches to ethnography (P. Atkinson, Delamont, and Housley 2007). As an ethnographic approach it involves the description of the senses and sociality of research participants through traditional techniques such as field notes, participant observation, and in-depth interviews, as well as photographing and audio- and video recording alongside and with research participants. Through such ethnography, I consider the embodied experience of pain and injury, habits and body techniques, and the senses and rhythms of combat. The emotional experience of battle, whereas overlooked in contemporary discussions of violence and combat (see Collins 2008), is elucidated in terms of how bodies’ experience particular emotions that lead to specific action responses. In addition, I consider how the co-mingling of bodies, especially male bodies, transgresses the cultural scripts of masculinity in popular culture.

What is MMA?

While boxing has been understood in the West as the most violent and physically demanding of sports (Wacquant 1995a, 2004), since the early 1990s a new and equally violent and taxing sport has emerged that challenges this conception. MMA competitions feature competitors in a ring or a caged-in area, inflicting pain on their opponents, inter alia, by punching, kicking, elbowing, and kneeing their opponents into submission. While initially only men participated in MMA competitions, women now enter into these contests. Countries within Europe, North and South America, and Asia regularly host MMA competitions. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain draws crowds of 20,000 or more, in addition to millions of televised viewers worldwide. This organization brings trained MMA fighters from all over the globe, offering a spectacle sport like no other. Despite public backlash against MMA in the United States, the UFC has progressed to the point of televising their competitions on the Spike TV cable network. MMA has eclipsed boxing in popularity.

MMA should not be confused with traditional martial arts like some forms of Japanese karate (see Bar-On Cohen 2006), Aikido (see Levine 1991) or Kung Fu (Li 2001). In fact, its training regimens and techniques have more in common with Western boxing, Muay Thai, or Thai kickboxing, freestyle wrestling, and sport judo. The affinities lay not so much in the strict adherence to these styles (although these particular styles are incorporated into MMA), but the fact that MMA is often practiced in live situations with a resisting opponent. This is often not the case in traditional martial arts that place emphasis on kata, technique forms that are more likened to a dance or dramatization of a battle with an invisible opponent. Most importantly, there is emphasis in MMA on integrating techniques of multiple styles together (primarily Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, judo, wrestling, and boxing) into a fighter’s technical corpus and a concentration on only the most effective techniques. In addition, MMA battles are closest to fights that occur outside the sphere of sports, as matches are fought standing and on the ground.

A Commentary on the Development of MMA

In a general sense, martial arts are behaviors commonly practiced by warriors, or associated with them (Jones 2002: xi). Jones (2002: xi–xii) has identified three aspects of all martial arts that are present in varying degrees: combat, ritual, and performance. Combat is the techniques and practice of a specific martial art. Ritual is the element that consists of repetitive patterns, bodily movements, breathing techniques, visualizations, chants, or vocalizations of a martial art. Performance is the stylized forms of dancing and gymnastics. Whereas nearly all societies have some type of martial arts tradition (Sidky 2002: 11), Western visions of martial arts are usually associated with Chinese and Japanese styles (Chan 2000; Krug 2001). Western popular and dominant conceptions regarding martial arts have first been of the ‘deadly’ nature of martial arts, and secondarily, of the spiritual dimension (Donohue 2002: 66).

Many authors have commented on the introduction and diffusion of Asian martial arts into the English speaking cultures and its impact on the philosophical and spiritual elements of martial arts (Chan 2000; Krug 2001; Villamon et al. 2004). Krug asserts that post-World War II, the cultural appropriation of Okinawan karate and integration of this martial art into American culture had the effect of removing many of the knowledges and meanings systems of karate and replacing them with American meaning systems. Karate became converted into a sport, free of its original bunkai(explanations) of kata and a considerable portion of its esoteric philosophies. Also, the underlying sciences of ch’i, healing, and health enhancing aspects were removed and replaced with individualized competitive sport form of karate, more closely aligned with the American ethos (Krug 2001: 403). According to Villamon et al. (2004), judo has undergone a similar translation in its ascendancy into an Olympic sport. Drawing from Anthony Giddens’s concept of reflexive modernization, these authors show the dis-embedding of the philosophic and moral aspects of mutual prosperity integral to traditional forms of judo developed by Jigaro Kano, and a re-embedding of a philosophy of meritocratic individualism central to Western sports. The effect is the conversion of judo as a way of life into an efficiency-based, winner-take-all mentality sport (Villamon et al. 2004: 146).

If we were to follow the trajectory proposed by the previously discussed authors, we would assume that the development of MMA is a testament to the Western cultural appropriation of martial arts and the conversion of various styles into a synthesized martial art sport. However, the history of MMA presents a counterargument to the Westernization thesis. In the North American context, MMA came to prominence with the first contest of the UFC in Denver, Colorado in 1993, whereas considerably earlier, Japan and Brazil featured similar MMA contests. In Brazil, fighting competitions like ‘Vale Tudo’ precedes the UFC by over fifty years and Japan’s ‘Pancrase’ predates the UFC by over a month. Furthermore, it was the Brazilian ‘no-holds-barred’ version that was brought over by Royce and Rickson Gracie (Gentry 2005). It should also be noted that despite illuminating some of the negative effects of the diffusion of Asian martial arts into the West, Krug (2001) and Villamon et al. (2004) offer a romanticized vision of what comprised Japanese martial arts prior to Western cultural appropriation. Specifically, by enunciating what was lost (the spiritual and moral aspects), the authors overlook the fact that traditionally women were excluded from karate and judo in Japan, a practice that was dismantled in the conversion of these arts into Western sport.

Initially, the UFC pitted fighters of different martial art styles to see what form of martial art was superior. For example, in the first UFC a karate practitioner fought against a sumo wrestler, and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner against a shootfighter. In these ‘no-holds-barred’ elimination tournaments, martial artists fought bloody wars by kicking, punching, elbowing, and kneeing each other or forcing their opponents into submission through arm bars or choke holds. There were very little rules aside from prohibitions on eye gouging, fish hooking¹ and biting. Competitions ended in one of two ways: A fighter was left unconscious due to a blow or an opponent ‘tapping out’ (submitting to their opponent by tapping the ground three times). However, what is particular about this period is that individual fighters remained practitioners of a particular style and MMA at that time was not considered a sport, only a fighting contest.

As MMA contests progressed, it came to be recognized by practitioners and enthusiasts that elements of certain styles were susceptible to the strengths of other styles and vice versa. Rather than remaining tied to their styles, martial arts practitioners began to train in other styles. As competitors became more versatile in a range of martial arts, less emphasis was placed in pitting one type of martial artist against another (Krauss 2004; Gentry 2005). Competitors came to be recognized as having strengths in particular fighting styles and elements of styles that were shown to be ineffective in scoring a knockout or forcing a submission on an opponent were dismissed. In the late 1990s a shift occurred from a focus on martial arts to a focus on individual fighters. It was not until this point that MMA became thought of and referred to as a sport, moving away from the quest to determine what martial art was superior (Krauss 2004; Gentry 2005). A byproduct of this shift was the dismissal of kata as it was seen as ineffective and therefore useless.²

Fighting styles in MMA have now coalesced into three basic tendencies that have effaced the firm distinctions between different martial arts. One tendency, ‘ground and pound’, is when fighters use techniques associated with freestyle wresting or Russian Sambo and, as the name implies, take their opponent to the ground and then pound their opponents into submission using their fists, elbows, and knees. Another tendency, ‘striking’, in which fighters draw from karate, tae kwon do, Muay Thai and while standing they utilize kicks, punches, elbows, and knees against their opponents. A third fighting tendency is ‘submissions’ in which fighters utilize techniques associated with judo, Japanese and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and shootfighting and while on the ground try to make their opponents submit³ by putting them in arm bars, choke holds, and leg locks. Whereas these fighting tendencies serve as indicators of particular styles, there are innumerable cross-articulations of these styles in which MMA fighters learn to defend against and utilize techniques from other tendencies. For example, a fighter who favours standing up will need to learn how to defend against being taken down by a ‘ground and pound’ specialist through learning wrestling and grappling techniques (Krauss 2004; Gentry 2005). Also, the evaluation of MMA fighters comes to be articulated in terms of her/his talents as a striker and ground fighter and not as representations of any particular style.

The Morality of MMA

In a chapter entitled ‘The Morality of Representations’ in Telling about Society, Howard Becker (2007) considers the morality of social scientific research. In accessible language, he discusses two ways in which misrepresentation occurs in sociological research that are pertinent to this work. These two interrelated misrepresentations are of the facts and the research subjects being studied. These moral matters are pertinent to MMA on a number of levels.

The history of MMA is saturated with examples of journalists (primarily) and moral entrepreneurs (Senator John McCain)⁴ misrepresenting facts regarding the sport. ‘Bloodsport’, ‘bloodbath’, and comparing MMA events to Roman gladiators in the coliseum are but a few examples of how MMA is still depicted. A relatively recent charge against MMA has been from New York Assemblyman, Bob Reilly. During an interview with Sherdog.com’s Josh Gross on the popular online show Fightweek (Sherdog.com 2010), in reference to MMA, Reilly stated that “violence begets violence and it is not something we want in our society” as one justification for the banning of MMA in New York. Here Reilly is presenting a latent behavioural affects argument, suggesting a link between watching violent behaviour and increased inclinations toward aggressive behaviour. The reality is that despite over seventy-five years of research and over 10,000 studies investigating possible linkages between watc...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Phenomenology and Bodies
• 3. Time, Space, and Sense of Fighting
• 4. Difference and Bodies
• 5. Being an MMA Fighter
• 6. Habit(us), Body Techniques, and Body Callusing
• 7. Narratives of Despair, Loss, and Failure: Pain, Injury, and Masculinities
• 8. Emotions and Violence
• 9. Homosociality, (Homo)eroticism, and Dueling Practice
• 10. Conclusion
• Author Biography
• Glossary of Terms
• Appendix: The Senses and Ethnographic Research
• Notes
• References
• Index