I watch a lot of UFC/MMA and the likes. Something I've always wondered is about the psychology of the fighters and the spectators. A few questions...

When you're a fighter, is your mindset to kill your opponent? It's so odd to me that these fighters show respect for their opponents, but then fight for all their worth knowing they can severely injure their opponent. Is the respect genuine? Or is it just done for a positive MMA image?

You cannot possibly be a successful fighter while restraining yourself from destroying your opponent. This all calls into question why we let this sport continue on to this day. The fights may not be killing your opponent, but severely crippling them, I would argue is worse than killing them. You cannot possibly deny there are serious brain injuries (among other things) as a result of these fights. When these fighters get knocked out, think what that means is happening with their body.

So why do sports like this continue onto this day? We all have our rationalizations, but the truth is, we humans have an extremely violent nature. We all LOVE violence. Video games, news, sports, etc. Say you're walking down a hallway and notice a fight break out. Notice how many people surround the fight and how many are truly loving the violence.

There's no doubt in my mind that all this violence leads to a worse off society. But we all justify it with "the risks are worth it - we love violence so much". I have no proposed solution. We cannot "ban" violence and people will argue against censorship under the guise of "freedom".

I agree that it is better than boxing. From what I understand (and I watch very little of either), in Ulitmate fighting you can tap out at anytime and your opponant stops kicking your ass. In Boxing, it is to your advantage to stay up and absorb as much punishment as possible as you look to recover in the later rounds to win enough points to win the match.

Of course we have a violent society. I don't udnerstand why people are not sure of this fact. Throughout human history people have settled there differences through fighting and killing one another. From cave men all the way up to now. The only difference is that we keep getting more efficient at it. Instead of spears and rocks we have automatic weopons. I don't think it ever will really stop. And it isn't always about hatred and conflict. Some people just like to break stuff. After the Red Sox beat the Yankee's in the 2004 ALCS, there were thousands of college students all over the state that were running around "celebreating" by flipping cars and breaking windows and antagonizing police officers. There is always something to fight about. People who blame video games for it are putting the cart before the horse. Video games are violent because people like violence, not the other way around.

I nominate myself to be leader of BTP's whining team. I think it's clear I am the winnar