Extreme Fighting And The Morals Of The Marketplace

Assignment 1: Extreme Fighting

Ultimate fighting, extreme fighting, blood sport, etc. is what modern day society calls two men beating each other to a bloody pulp a sport. Sport is defined in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary as “physical activity engaged in for pleasure a particular activity (as an athletic game)” and by all means ultimate fighting fits this definition, however can we really call it a sport? In “Extreme Fighting and the Morals of the Marketplace”, George Will describes ultimate fighting as a brutal and a ‘no mercy’ type entertainment. Sport most importantly involves class, tactic, and strategy, all of which ultimate fighting fails to hold. Ultimate fighting has a few basic rules but other than that, it is as if two
Will uses many words to describe ultimate fighting, including “bloody”, “ferocity”, “vulgarities” and the like, in which he illustrates the crudeness of this ‘sport’. He explains that the world of politics see’s this type of entertainment as barbaric. Senator John McCain strongly believes that ultimate fighting should be banned from all states as it poses “unacceptable risk to the lives and health of the contestants”. This bloody entertainment puts two men inside of an octagonal ring wherein the last one standing wins. It is very much like boxing, however with less rules and less padding. Having said that, some people say that boxing is more dangerous as it allows for the contestants to throw harder punches, therefore causing permanent brain damage. Although that may be true, ultimate fighting still poses more danger for broken bones, cracked skulls and other possible physical injuries, as the contestants have very little rules to
After ultimate fighting gained some popularity, many of its viewers began to copy the basic foundation of this extreme fighting. People would rent out bars and use their homes to create their own style of ultimate fighting. This Fight Club style fighting poses obvious threat to its viewer’s health and lives. People of any age can watch ultimate fighting on the television and can engage in a similar type of fight with others. For example, a 12-year-old boy can easily watch this on his television and, without the knowledge of his parents, can organize a fight in the same manner as ultimate fighting – no eye gouging and no biting. This style of entertainment teaches its viewers that pitting two people together and dueling it out, hand to hand, is a source of entertainment when, on the contrary, it is a source of pure