@Arya: while you’re looking forward to sitting around, obese, on vr headsets, some people will be driven to success in a sport that requires physical prowess to succeed, and which excites the spectators and participants. While some combat sports have a history in barbarism and slavery, these guys do it because they are good and want to succeed.

@Renton Burke: so you accept that these have a history of barbarism right? That was my point. All the babbling you just did on obesity and VR is irrelevant to your point.

@Arya: they’re sports because they meet every definition of being one. Sportspeople die in motor sports, horse racing, rugby…I could on for a bit! So risk can’t preclude something from being a sport unless every sport that involves some is also excluded. The physical damage/contact can also happen in other sports so again you can’t omit combat sports without following suit with so many others. As for the fact that some degree of physical harm is almost always involved in a full-contact combat sport? That’s down to taste and preference. Every competitor at every level is well aware of this reality. You not liking it is your own business but it has no bearing on the fact combat sports are undeniably sports.

One of the oldest sports in the world, practised in almost every culture. If you don’t like boxing, I suggest you don’t watch it or engage with articles about it, cause it’s really not going anywhere.

@O Swetenham: opinions are like arsssholz…everyone is got one right.? Let me use mine :-)

@GrahamMManning: No it doesn’t. The only intrinsic way of winning is to cause brain damage, and if ypu don’t do that then it has to be judged by 5 extrinsic judges. If it has to be judged by outside agencies it is not a sport.

I think you are talking through it.

@sean o’dhubhghaill: U don’t get to change the meaning of words.It is a sport.If I’m wrong explain how it & other combat sports don’t meet the definition?That’s not the only way to win in combat sports & really clarifies ur ignorance about what ur talking about.In boxing u can stop someone with body shots or the ref/corner can stop it before a KO.vast majority of KO do not cause “brain damage”, even more so with TKO which you can also win by. Jiu Jitsu wins come by submission/points and result in no “brain damage”.Wrestling by pins/points.Should I go on?Also think you mean external judge? Like skating, surfing, diving, dressage, gymnastics of all kinds…I could go on…which are all Olympic sports and involve decision victories in one capacity or another.entitled 2 ur opinion not ur facts

@Arya: no reply to facts?

@GrahamMManning: this is always such a pointless arguments, who cares if it’s a “sport” or some other category or competition. By any reasonable definition, mma and boxing are sports. but in my opinion they are not just sports, they are something more. They represent the ultimate form of primal competition.

They need not be for everyone, and everyone should not be encouraged to partake or expected to enjoy it. The insistence on making combat sports mainstream is the reason why fighters wrap hands and wear gloves, so the contests look more civilised but fighters suffer way more brain trauma.

I for one love watching mma and boxing, but would grimace at the sight of a loved one taking blows to the head with what we now know about cte.

In the words of Max Holloway, it is what it is.

@Celia Murphy: it’s the risk they take. It’s also their own choice

@GrahamMManning: to be fair the objective of the other sports you mention in your comment is not to intentionally hurt your opponent(s), I think that’s the biggest objection most people feel. The word sport also has a meaning synonymous with competition and fairness and respect for your opponents. With MMA for example I struggle to see it as sporting when you can sit on your opponents chest and smash their face with your elbow while they’re flat on their back. For me that’s unsporting. As a kid if you saw a fight in school and something like this happened then others would step in and say “its over”. I recognise the skill and dedication of the combatants and know my opinion is not shared by everyone but I think it’s very understandable how people could react adversely to combat “sports” whilst also understanding peoples attraction to them. At the end of the day it’s the choice of the participant. As long as people are willing to do it and also consume it as a sporting product then it will continue.

@Michael Herron: agreed. Though mma hand wraps were to stop broken hands ending fights and smaller gloves and consequently, on average less shots, mean less chance of CTE etc and no one competing is oblivious to any or this anymore. Felt the same watching my brothers fight but no lasting damage, thankfully. So…blessed or the answer this wkend?

@Gerard Smith: agree the objective is different and not to everyone’s tastes. My argument was with those who claim they’re not sports when they demonstrably are. Re MMA, taking flush elbows from full mount as you described will lead to the ref stopping it virtually immediately. Elbows also tend to look worse because of the cuts they cause as opposed to more serious damage. An elbow KO is v v rare though not unheard of. And again all stuff every competitor is well aware of. Completely agree re not being everyone’s cup of tea. Personally I’m a huge mma fan, my wife not so much. My kids will have to wait til they’re older but will definitely have some basic BJJ.

@GrahamMManning: except should be prefeced by the word ” Blood” more accurate then.

@Gerry Campbell: feel like I should be charging for English lessons from here. A “blood” sport involves the hunting or killing of animals not tow people voluntarily competing against each other to see who skills are superior. Is there blood involved at times? Yup. but it’s not the point. From now on I’m charging

@William Ruane: it meets every definition of a sport. Not to your taste? Fine. But every competitor knows this could potentially be the tragic outcome. Plenty of other sports also involve a level of risk. Are they not sports either? RIP

@William Ruane: What a dreadful and stupid “contribution”

@GrahamMManning: definition of a sport… trying to hurt an opponent…. not

@John O Reilly: unsurprisingly that’s not the definition, this is: “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” Which part do boxing/mma/jiu jitsu/wrestling/ etc not meet?

@William Ruane: If you genuinely don’t understand the concept of ‘Combat sports’ as a thing and why they’re so revered the world over then you have a poor understanding the human condition. If you’re against it based on some sort of moral high ground however, I think you’ll find yourself in the minority. This is a tragic event which will be felt deeply by athletes all around the globe as they get reminded once more the dangers of high level sport yet you decided it’s better to virtue signal. How passé.