# Am I the only one who finds the battered, bloody faces of female ring fighters disturbing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 26, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657 "2015-11-26T17:38:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/1 "2015-11-26T17:38:54Z")
I guess it’s all what you’re used to. I don’t follow boxing or UFC sports much, and pics of beaten male boxers does not raise an eyebrow in me, but I found the video and pics of the Rousey - Holm fight splashed all over the media to be viscerally disturbing. I get that most of commentary was that Rousey was an arrogant ass who got too big for her britches and got the whipping she deserved, and objectively Holm was amazing in action. She was like a sinewy panther as she controlled the action and rained down shots. But the aftermath… Rousey sitting there stunned with her bloody and battered face, it was just too much like a domestic violence beating or maybe I’m not used to seeing women with that kind of damage. Even if she was a jerk I felt sorry for her. There’s just this visceral “eesh” you feel in the pit of your stomach looking at those pics. I appreciate the athleticism but I don’t think I’m ever going to be a big fan of women’s fighting. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/2 "2015-11-26T17:55:17Z")
No, you’re not the only one, but I don’t like to see the battered, bloody faces of male fighters, either. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/3 "2015-11-26T18:00:25Z")
Yes, I feel the same as as you guys. I’m a woman, too, for what it’s worth. I don’t really enjoy watching fights of any kind, but you’re right. It kind of gives you a sick feeling in your stomach to see it… ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/4 "2015-11-26T18:10:15Z")
I have a strong aversion to violence, and don’t watch fights or look at fight photos. The gender doesn’t matter. It is disgusting to me. Well maybe gender does matter because the female version does seem even worse and even creepier. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/5 "2015-11-26T18:12:04Z")
I’m a fan of MMA, but I don’t understand why the UFC has started to put women on the fight cards. I have zero interest in watching women fight. Maybe its a legal thing where they were about to be sued for discrimination. What’s next Dana, midgets? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/6 "2015-11-26T18:20:13Z")
Maybe it’s not such a sweet science after all? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/7 "2015-11-26T18:23:17Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > I’m a fan of MMA, but I don’t understand why the UFC has started to put women on the fight cards. I have zero interest in watching women fight. Maybe its a legal thing where they were about to be sued for discrimination. > > What’s next Dana, midgets? Oh I get the attraction it was a spectacle watching two powerful women go at it. It is different, women do not (IM amateur O) fight like men and they are more flexible. Some of Holm’s moves made her body look like a writhing snake. It’s the aftermath that was repelling. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/8 "2015-11-26T18:37:08Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > I’m a fan of MMA, but I don’t understand why the UFC has started to put women on the fight cards. I have zero interest in watching women fight. I’ve never understood this thought process. “I don’t have any interest in it, therefore I don’t understand why they would do it”. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean other people don’t. FTR, I’m not just talking about this, but I’ve seen people say nearly this exact same thing about all kinds of other subjects as well. You can understand, I presume, that other people, possibly even a majority of other people, like things that you don’t. It’s like saying “I don’t like coffee, I don’t understand why they keep making it”. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/9 "2015-11-26T18:41:46Z")
Many women I know are really into this. IMO few sports provide the visceral adrenaline rush of a great fight. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/10 "2015-11-26T19:00:46Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > I’m a fan of MMA, but I don’t understand why the UFC has started to put women on the fight cards. I have zero interest in watching women fight. Maybe its a legal thing where they were about to be sued for discrimination. …heaven forbid that these women actually have agency, that they actually want to fight on the world stage and that people actually want to pay to see them. Its kinda sad that your first reaction to women doing exactly the same thing as men is to think “was this all the result of a law suit?” ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/11 "2015-11-26T19:08:31Z")
When you change your perception of pain the sport is not quite as brutal as it appears to be. Pain without fear is different than pain with fear. At some point the pain will disable a fighter depending on his threshold but until he reaches that point its not as bad as it might appear. That being said it bothers me a lot to see women beat each other up. Overly brutal MMA fights also bother me. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/12 "2015-11-26T19:28:35Z")
MMA is a little too close to the spectator sports from the Roman era, which indicated a sick society looking for more and more bloody spectacles to entertain them. Boxing can be a bloody event, but MMA fighters are seriously trying to fuck each other up, it would seem. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/13 "2015-11-26T20:21:31Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Oh I get the attraction it was a spectacle watching two powerful women go at it. It is different, women do not (IM amateur O) fight like men and they are more flexible. Some of Holm’s moves made her body look like a writhing snake Women have a lower center gravity, so they bob and weave more fluidly ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/14 "2015-11-26T20:32:21Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I guess it’s all what you’re used to. > > \ > > maybe I’m not used to seeing women with that kind of damage. That’s your answer. Not long ago, people weren’t used to women wearing trousers, voting, holding positions of authority or participating in any lucrative sports. Times change, and in cases like this that’s a good thing. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/15 "2015-11-26T20:46:28Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Boxing can be a bloody event, but MMA fighters are seriously trying to fuck each other up, it would seem. From everything I’ve read, MMA has fewer serious and long term injuries than boxing. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/16 "2015-11-26T20:50:10Z")
Just so long as it doesn’t supplant the traditional womens sport of inflicting social cruelty. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/17 "2015-11-26T21:07:00Z")
I don’t like fighting sports in general. But I have a similar experience with other sports. If I’m watching women’s soccer or basketball, I really don’t like it when players get hurt. With men’s sports, it doesn’t bother me nearly as much. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/18 "2015-11-26T23:56:39Z")
I’m a woman, an MMA fan, and I watched the Holm-Rousey fight in slow-motion on a loop. I could watch it a million more times, in fact. Not only was it a technically amazing fight (well, from Holm’s end, anyway), but I will admit part of me was really glad to watch Rousey get knocked on her ass. The only fight I’ve ever seen that has pegged my disturb-o-meter is the Silva-Weidman fight where Silva breaks his leg. Watching his calf wrapping around Weidman’s, then seeing him step back onto the broken leg was pretty horrifying. The fact that he was back in the ring less than a year later was INSANE. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/19 "2015-11-27T01:09:44Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > MMA is a little too close to the spectator sports from the Roman era, which indicated a sick society looking for more and more bloody spectacles to entertain them. Boxing can be a bloody event, but MMA fighters are seriously trying to fuck each other up, it would seem. Generally not true. The majority of MMA fighters know and respect each other. They touch gloves at the beginning of the bout and congratulate each other at the end. No one is trying to do any permanent damage to the other fighter, but they are trying to knock their opponent out. The referees always jump in before serious damage is done. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657/20 "2015-11-27T01:39:23Z")
I’m a woman and I have no problem seeing professional fighters and other sportswomen in pain or bloody. Could be because I’ve played sports and sparred myself, and getting beat up is what I set out to do. And I know Rousey did too. I’m kinda squicked out by the idea that people don’t like to see professional fighters get beat up, just because they’re women. Ugh. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-finds-the-battered-bloody-faces-of-female-ring-fighters-disturbing/738657.md?page=2)