Boxing and mixed martial arts: sociocultural cues, ego enhancement, and aggression
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This work explores two sports in the world of fight media, boxing and mixed martial arts. Employing the use of social cognitive theory, cultivation theory, and critical race theory as the frameworks from which the following analysis is based, this research positions prizefighting as a sports culture in need of communicative examination. The present study investigates how the representation of concepts such as religiosity, hypermasculinity, and physical violence permeate these two sports. A content analysis examining a total of 46 pre-fight press conferences taking place between 2012 and 2017, all derived from Home Box Office (HBO), Showtime, and the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) was conducted. There were a variety of variables that proved to be significant in analyzing differences based on the racial/ethnic representation in the press conference, and the fight type. Some of these findings include Black fighters being overrepresented as displaying physical materialism as well as familial responsibility as compared to chance expectations. Additionally, White (non-Hispanic) fighters were overrepresented as perpetuating verbal aggression, a finding that was also significant for fight type; with mixed martial arts being overrepresented and boxing being underrepresented.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.