ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF UFC FIGHTING

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Cor 6:19-20

My goal in life is not to offend people. I feel uncomfortable when I step way out on a limb like the one I’m reluctantly venturing out on now. Nevertheless, I think it will be worth it if I cause a few people to think twice about gratuitous injurious violence. The matter I wish to blog on is none other than the inappropriateness of UFC fighting.

For those of my readers who may not be aware, UFC fighting stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship and is a very violent “sport” the pits one man against another in a bloody, knock ‘em down, hurt ‘em bad, fist/leg/head fight. Their website advertises as follows, “Broken tooth, lip ripped open, blood everywhere…welcome to the fight game” (http://www.ufc.com). One might think of UFC fighting falling somewhere between boxing and gladiator sports. No one gets killed (hopefully), but the goal is to beat up your opponent really, really bad. As with both the boxing and ancient gladiatorial events, UFC is very popular with the public, including members of the Christian community (the sleazy “Octagon Girls” also draw a crowd by the way).

Why watch UFC fighting?

Arguments for UFC fighting are usually three-fold: (1) UFC is a sport and therefore morally neutral. (2) UFC is entertaining, and entertainment is morally neutral. (3) UFC is violent, but so is football and hockey. What more can be said? The rationale is simple: if I like watching it, if my friends like watching it, if it allows me to relax and have some fun, and if other accepted sports are violent, then UFC fighting is acceptable!

Admittedly, UFC fighting is entertaining, especially for men. Which of us doesn’t like the war scenes in movies, or a good fist fight in the parking lot behind the school? There is a sense of euphoria that arises when two talented fighters duke it out to the point of collapse. Second, UFC fighting meets Webster’s definition of a sport namely, “the playing of games or participation in competitive pastimes involving physical exertion or skill.” In UFC one must consent to participate, it is competitive, it gives you a great physical workout, and it requires skill. Third, football and boxing and ice hockey are most often violent sports too.

But...these arguments are lame.

I do not think these arguments are sufficient to build a case to endorse UFC fighting. Even if these arguments could not be adequately debated based on common sense and the precedent set in other sports, there are larger Scriptural exhortations that must be denied to justify UFC. Let me suggest a few common sense/logical arguments first:

Argument #1: Just because something is a sport, does not make it morally neutral. Most Christians and non-Christians alike consider animal fighting inhumane. To strap a razor to a rooster’s feet and let it slice apart another rooster is a bit disgusting. We’re okay seeing the same rooster breaded and fried at KFC, but there is something sinister about a cock-fight! It’s not that we believe that a rooster’s life is sacred, but find it a bit abhorrent that a non-consenting rooster would be subject to suffering (even if he’s the winner). And aren’t the organizers a wee bit sadistic? Who could find pleasure in a bloodied rooster fight we ask? Yet, cock-fighting is considered by many a “sport”.

Moving away from foul, suppose we could find a couple of men that would be willing to kill each other for money? Would we justify gratuitous violence of that kind; would we call it a sport? Of course killing is illegal, but so is street fighting. But if we justify street fighting in a ring, why not justify killing in a ring? The point is, that we need a better reason to justify UFC than “its a sport”. (As an aside: I wonder how long it will be before killing in a ring does become considered a sport?)

Argument #2: Just because it is entertaining does not make it moral. This is by far the weakest of the three argument favouring UFC fighting. It should go without saying that something entertaining is not automatically right. Men who attend dog fights, people who enjoy spouse swapping, and the Columbine killers find/found a degree of pleasure and entertainment in their activities. The degree to which something titillates us has nothing to do with its moral permissibility.

Argument #3: Just because there is some violence in other sports does not validate all out violence in another sport. Most other sports (I’ll address boxing in a moment) have an objective in mind other than the injury of one’s opponent. As a side effect however, athletes sometimes get injured. Yet if a player is found to have wilfully injured his opponent, he is sidelined, fined, or removed. That’s the way it should be. In football, you may knock a player down to get a touchdown, but when was the last time you saw the crowds cheering, or a player jumping for joy when a fellow football player was removed with a broken neck? Non-injurious violence may be a part of the game but no sport condones/promotes/rises and falls on violence like UFC.

In situations where injuries are wilfully applied to an opponent, my same criticisms apply. It is unacceptable to support forms of boxing that lead to bodily injury, or to wildly cheer on two out-of-control hockey players who are punching each other in the mouth. We Canadians in particular love our hockey fights, but does that mean God thinks they are any better than UFC fights?

How about a few Scriptural arguments:

Scriptural Truth #1: UFC fighting violates every “Fruit of the Spirit”
As you read through the list of the qualities that are to mark Spirit-filled people in Galatians 5, it is evident that UFC fighting not only lacks, but is antithetical to every one. Where in the cage match do we see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness or self-control directed toward another human being for their good? (Sorry guys, "patiently" waiting to punch someone’s lights out isn’t what St. Paul had in mind!) Instead UFC advertises its fight with words contrary to the Fruit of the Spirit. Their website uses words like Rage, Pride, Rampage, and Mean. What redemptive value can we place upon a sport that would be impossible for the Holy Spirit to endorse?

Scriptural Truth #2: UFC fighting is a direct violation of “Temple Care” theology.
In Scripture, God reminds us that the human body is a Temple (1 Cor 6:19-20). We are to care for it and honour it as a place where God desires to dwell. It further speaks out against abusing your body with food (gluttony), alcohol (drunkenness) or sexual sins (immorality). The church teaches “Temple Care”; that we are to care for our bodies by not abusing them—with sins that directly affect our physicality, or ability to be self-controlled. In modern times we apply this principle to things like drug abuse. Should we not also apply this to a sport with the explicit goal of damaging your opponent’s body? Or are we so naive to think that God cares more about eating a few too many donuts, or drinking a few too many beers, than allowing your teeth to be bashed out and jaw to be broken in a sporting event?


Scriptural Truth #3: UFC fighting is “injurious gratuitous” violence.
The Bible is violent. It contains accounts of war, death sentences, rapes and abuses. Some of these it condemns, yet other acts of violence are condoned for redemptive purposes, as in cases of talionic justice (eye-for-eye theology). Ultimately the Bible also finds redemption in otherwise despicable acts like the crucifixion of Christ. Yet what redemptive value is there in brutalizing another person, even if it is consensual? Will God’s glory be advanced, will people be redeemed, or will justice be served in a blooded cage during a UFC fight? I hardly think so. Yet fascinatingly, the less interest our generation has in redemptive violence, the more it has in entertainment violence.

I have no allusions that my blog entry will sway the masses. People love violence and always will. But if I can cause a few to reconsider their support of this non-redemptive “sport”, then perhaps my entry will have some redemptive value.