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The Philosophy of Mixed Martial Arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) – unarmed fighting games permitting techniques derived from a variety of martial arts and combat sports – has exploded from the fringes of sport into aworldwide phenomenon, a sport as controversial as it is compelling. This is the first book to pay MMA the serious philosophical attention it deserves. With contributions from leading international scholars of the philosophy of sport andmartialarts,thebookexplorestopicssuchaswhetherMMAqualifiesasamartial art, the differences between MMA and the traditional martial arts, the aesthetic dimensions of MMA, the limits of consent and choice in MMA and whether MMA can promote moral virtues. It also explores cutting-edge practical and ethical topics, including the role of gender in MMA, and the question of whether trans athletes should be allowed to compete in the women’s divisions. Thecontributorstothisanthologytakedown,groundandpound,andsubmitmany essential questions about this fascinating recent development in the culture of sport and spectacle. This is important reading for anybody with an interest in combat sports, martial arts, or the philosophy, sociology, culture or historyof sport. Jason Holt is Professor of Kinesiology at Acadia University, Canada, and author of Kinetic Beauty: The Philosophical Aesthetics of Sport (2020). Marc Ramsay is Associate Professorof Philosophy at Acadia University, Canada. Ethics and Sport Series editors Mike McNamee, University of Wales Swansea Jim Parry, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic The Ethics and Sport series aims to encourage critical reflection on the practice of sport, and to stimulate professional evaluation and development. Each volume explores newwork relating to philosophical ethics and the social and cultural studyof ethical issues. Each is different in scope, appeal, focus and treatment but a balance is soughtbetweenlocalandinternationalfocus,perennialandcontemporaryissues,level of audience, teaching and research application, and variety of practical concerns. Sport, Ethics, and Neurophilosophy Edited by Jeffrey P. Fry, Mike McNamee Doping in Cycling Interdisciplinary Perspectives Edited by Bertrand Fincoeur, John Gleaves, Fabien Ohl Sport and Spirituality Edited by R. Scott Kretchmar, John B. White The Philosophy of Football Steffen Borge Kinetic Beauty The Philosophical Aesthetics of Sport Jason Holt Gym Culture, Identity and Performance-Enhancing Drugs Tracing a typologyof steroid use Ask Vest Christiansen Coaching, Sport and the Law A Duty of Care Neil Partington The Philosophy of Mixed Martial Arts Squaring the Octagon Edited by Jason Holt and Marc Ramsay For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Ethic- sand-Sport/book-series/EANDS. The Philosophy of Mixed Martial Arts Squaring the Octagon Edited by Jason Holt and Marc Ramsay Firstpublished2022 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 52VanderbiltAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2022selectionandeditorialmatter,JasonHoltandMarcRamsay;individual chapters,thecontributors TherightofJasonHoltandMarcRamsaytobeidentifiedastheauthorsofthe editorialmaterial,andoftheauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeenassertedin accordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilisedin anyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafter invented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageor retrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintentto infringe. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequestedforthisbook ISBN:978-0-367-64162-7(hbk) ISBN:978-0-367-64163-4(pbk) ISBN:978-1-003-12239-5(ebk) DOI:10.4324/9781003122395 TypesetinTimesNewRoman byTaylor&FrancisBooks Jason Holt dedicates this book to Larry Holt, who appreciated MMA for all the right reasons Marc Ramsay dedicates this book to his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors and training partners, past and present Contents List of Contributors ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction: Weighing In 1 JASONHOLTANDMARCRAMSAY 1 Mixed martial arts is not a martial art 4 IRENAMARTÍNKOVÁANDJIMPARRY 2 On the martial arts status of mixed martial arts: ‘There are no rules’ 16 SARAHMALANOWSKIANDNICHOLASR.BAIMA 3 Loyalty, deference, and exploitation in traditional and mixed martial arts 30 AUDREYYAPANDCHRISGOTO-JONES 4 Violence and constraints in combat sport 43 JOSEPHD.LEWANDOWSKI 5 Experimentation, distributed cognition, and flow: A scientific lens on mixed martial arts 53 ZACHARYAGOFF,BENJAMINGWERDERANDVADIMKEYSER 6 Finding beauty in the cage: Autility-based aesthetic for MMA 66 TSZKICHOW 7 An aesthetic apology for MMA 78 JASONHOLT 8 The line of permissibility: Gladiators, boxers, and MMA fighters 88 MARCRAMSAY 9 Friendship as a moral defense of mixed martial arts 105 DANNYROSENBERG 10 MMA as a path to stoic virtue 122 MICHAELTREMBLAY viii Contents 11 Ethics of mixed martial arts 134 WALTERVEITANDHEATHERBROWNING 12 Gender, pain, and risk in women’s mixed martial arts 150 AUDREYYAP 13 Gender and ethics: Thoughts on the case of transgender athlete Fallon Fox 161 NANCYKANE Index 174 List of Contributors Zachary Agoff is a PhD student at the Universityof Pennsylvania, USA. His research is primarily on the history of early modern philosophy – viz., early modern meta- physics, ethics, and their intersection. Though much of his time is spent on figures like Descartes and Spinoza, he has strong interests in ‘non-canonical’ figures, like Elisabeth of Bohemia, Anne Conway, and Peter Sterry. Outside of the academy, Zachary is an avid martial artist, with training in hapkido, eskrima, kickboxing, and judo. Nicholas R. Baima is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College,FloridaAtlanticUniversity,USA.Hespecializesinancientphilosophyand ethical theory. His work in ancient philosophy has appeared in journals such as Ancient Philosophy, Phronesis, and the Journal of the History of Philosophy, while his work in ethical theory has appeared in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice and the Journal of Value Inquiry. He is the coauthor, with Tyler Paytas, of Plato’s Pragmatism: Rethinking the Relationship of Ethics and Epistemology (Routledge, 2021). Heather Browning is a research officer in animal sentience and welfare at the London School of Economics, UK. She received her PhD from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, with a doctoral thesis exploring some philoso- phicalissuesinthemeasurementofanimalwelfare.Sheworkedfor manyyearsasa zookeeper and zoo animal welfare officer, interested in the application of animal welfare measurement in an applied zoo setting. Her primary research areas are animal welfare, ethics, and consciousness with occasional forays into pop culture and other topics of interest. TszkiChowisaPhDcandidateinphilosophyatRuprechtKarlUniversityofHeidelberg, Germany.Her mainareasofinterestincludeNietzsche’sphilosophy,thephilosophy of mind, and the philosophy of sport. Besides her academic activities, she has also great enthusiasm for combat sports and martial arts. As an elite sabre fencer, she has participated in the Olympics twice. Chris Goto-Jones isProfessor in Philosophyat the Universityof Victoria, Canada and Honorary Professor in Asian Studies atUBC; heworksand lives on the traditional territories of the Lekwungen peoples. His interests are in East Asian (especially Japanese) philosophy, as well as questions of philosophical practice, therapeutic uses of philosophy, and performance philosophy. He is a certified Mindfulness- based Cognitive Therapist, and has trained in several martial arts over the years,