By David Mayeda, PhD, FightTicker.com contributor

Earlier this week I read the second half of one of the best interviews in quite some time on mixed martial arts – an interview carried out by Pramit Mohapatra of Dr. Johnny Benjamin (2008 May 12). While this interview covered a variety of important topics, a major thread running through their discussion focused on the topic of fighter safety and the way mixed martial artists are treated, or more pointedly, the way they are defined. At one point in the interview, Mohapatra bluntly stated to Dr. Benjamin, “If these promoters look at their fighters, even in the most callous terms, as commodities they should want their commodities to last longer.” Benjamin replied, “The problem with it, after knowing enough promoters, [the promoters think], ‘I’ve got to pay for that’ ... They think about this bout alone. The shortest of short-term. How do I fill up the arena tonight? And, guess what, if a guy gets hurt, I got 15 guys that will take his place…How do I put butts in seats tonight for the least amount of money possible?”

Part of the fallout of living in a capitalistic society is that darn near everything gets turned into capital. Furthermore, within a capitalist system, class conflict is inherent and exploitation is probable. It is the nature of capitalism. Marxist theory is not terribly complicated: “...the capitalist class makes its profits by paying less in wages than the value of what the working class actually produces” (Messerschmidt, 1986, p. 32). It affects athletes in all sports to varying degrees, and mixed martial arts is no exception – athletes are dehumanized and reconstructed as human capital.

It’s a practice that too many promoters virtually admit, even finding it difficult to circumvent terminology that exemplifies this coarse reality. In a discussion on steroid use in MMA, UFC President, Dana White, flat out said he was managing a problematic business of selling humans: “When what you’re selling is human beings competing against each other, there are always going to be issues, man. Personal problems. Contract issues. There are always problems” (Hockensmith, 2007a). This notwithstanding, White also claimed in a separate interview, “At the end of the day, we don’t want guys who are unhappy fighting with us” (Hockensmith, 2007b). And some have argued that within MMA’s most dominant organization, its athletes, on average, are paid relatively well (Iole, 2008).

Obviously, not all agree with this stance. It is something Tito Ortiz has openly dissented with for years. But even Ortiz could not get away from defining himself in dehumanized terms. A little over a year ago in a March 2007 article by Dave Doyle, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy referred to himself as a commodity: “I know I am a commodity ... I know I am worth money, and the UFC makes money off me.” Reiterating his unease with the UFC’s compensation levels, the outspoken Ortiz more recently stated of other UFC fighters (current and former), “There’s a lot of guys who don’t have voices as big as mine, and who want to speak out, but they don’t” (Wagner, 2008). Fighters Ortiz mentioned, perhaps unfairly (Caplan, 2008), included Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, and Georges St. Pierre.

The real problem is Ortiz, Couture, Sylvia, and GSP do not by any means represent most MMA fighters. In fact, the vast majority of MMA fighters in North America, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, and so forth do not even compete in the UFC, which again, arguably compensates its athletes fairly well, or at least well above the average. Most MMA fighters, in fact I would argue the vast majority, get paid very little (and sometimes nothing at all) for stepping into a ring or cage to compete, not to mention all the training that precedes competition, where injuries more commonly occur. When I interviewed fighters for Fighting for Acceptance, numerous interviewees who were competing at the lower levels expressed their discontent on this issue. In separate interviews, I asked interviewees if promoters were looking out for their best interests. Said two interviewees, whose identities shall remain anonymous:

Interviewee 1:
No, promoters are exactly that, you know what I mean? They’re promoters, so they figure you know, they’re gonna look out for themselves first and foremost because, and I can understand that because if I put all my hard earned money into doing a show, I wanna make a profit on it because it’s a business venture, so you know, I feel they’ll look out for us just to make sure we’ll make it through the fight, but beyond that point, there’s not too much love from promoters.

Interviewee 2:
...they do just enough to get us you know, comin’ back, that’s it. You know, they’ll put our picture on a piece of paper. You know, that’s about all the promotion we get out of it. It’s their show, not ours, you know. They’re makin’ the money, and we’re getting’ a little living out of it.

This is not to say that all MMA promoters are unethical or do not care about fighters. In fact, I have come to know a few promoters who run smaller shows that truly do care about the athletes competing in their shows, as well as other social issues relevant to MMA. However, smaller organizations often lack the monetary capital to provide top tier safety measures, insurance, and facilities. Thus, it is in these shows that certain precautions are even more critical (actually, they are critical in all MMA competitions). Rookie MMA fighters and older fighters need to be properly conditioned by their coaches. Research shows that in MMA, injuries increase with the number of rounds that transpire, as well as with fighter age (Bledsoe et al., 2007). Mismatches, in which one fighter is significantly more experienced than another, cannot happen. Referees who are working in the smaller shows should actually be more experienced and/or be more aggressive in stopping matches quickly, given that the athletes tend to be less experienced and skilled in defending themselves. And in perhaps the hardest part, fans and corners need to respect referees when they stop matches immediately after flash knockouts (Trigg, 2008; Avila, 2008; see also interview with Dr. Benjamin, cited above).

And of course, the larger MMA organizations cannot be absolved. Organizations such as the UFC, EliteXC, Affliction, and HDNet Fights need to set the tone by providing top-tier safety measures, while also promoting a culture that does not define athletes as inhumane and expendable commodities. I anticipate some people will respond by thinking, “That is unrealistic, it will never happen. Everybody is out to get theirs.” Well, keep thinking that, and guess what ... you're right. It never will.

Non-internet sources:
Bledsoe, G.H., Hsu, E.B., Grabowski, J.G., Brill, J.D., & Li, G. (2007). Incidence of injury in professional mixed martial arts competitions. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, July, 136-142.

Messerschmidt, J. W. (1986). Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Crime: Toward a Socialist Feminist Criminology. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield.

David Mayeda, PhD, is author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, a sociological and politically-based book based on interviews with 40 mixed martial arts athletes, including Randy Couture, Antonio McKee, Guy Mezger, “Rampage” Jackson, “MayheM” Miller, Chris Leben, Travis Lutter, and Frank Trigg.