Fair Play

REVISTA DE FILOSOFÍA, ÉTICA Y DERECHO DEL DEPORTE

www.upf.edu/revistafairplay

Full-Contact Improv: Aesthetic Ties

Between UFC Fight Promotion and
Action Films

Tristan C. S. Murray
Independent Scholar (Canada)
Jason Holt
School of Kinesiology
Acadia University (Canada)

Citar este artículo como: Tristan C. S. Murray-Jason Holt (2021: Full-Contact Improv:
Aesthetic Ties Between UFC Fight Promotion and Action Films, Fair Play. Revista de
Filosofía, Ética y Derecho del Deporte, vol. 20, p. 26-37

FECHA DE RECEPCIÓN: 16 de Junio de 2020

FECHA DE ACEPTACIÓN: 29 de Febrero de 2020
 Full-Contact Improv: Aesthetic Ties Between UFC Fight Promotion and
Action Films

Tristan C. S. Murray
Independent Scholar (Canada)

Jason Holt
School of Kinesiology
Acadia University (Canada)

Abstract

While there is debate about whether sport can be art, there are notable commonalities
between the two. Adding to this debate, we postulate that these commonalities are strikingly
illustrated by professional organizations in promoting sports events. Our focus is the Ultimate
Fighting Championship (UFC), where promotional practices leading up to an event can
enhance its aesthetic qualities, such that media promotion of UFC fights could potentially be
considered a popular art. The promotional practices of the UFC exemplify each level of
Burrow and Holt’s (2019) five-level aesthetic analysis in ways that are very similar to the
theatrical practices and tropes of popular sport and action films. Furthermore, the pre-fight
promotional materials typically include scripted narratives that build to the fight itself, giving
fighters the opportunity to take on a distinct actor-like persona. As a result of the framing
provided by fight promotion, we consider whether the promotional materials for UFC fights
elevate the purposive sport into art status through a transfiguration of what would otherwise
be considered strictly non-art. Within the promotional theatrical framework, the space for
improvisation within the octagon may be considered, if not necessarily fine art, a kind of
“full-contact improv” that rises to the level of popular art.

Keywords: Aesthetics- Mixed martial arts- UFC- Promotion- Action Film

Resumen
Si bien existe un debate sobre si el deporte puede ser arte, existen notables puntos en común
entre los dos. Añadiendo a este debate, postulamos que estos puntos en común son ilustrados
sorprendentemente por las organizaciones profesionales en la promoción de eventos
deportivos. Nuestro enfoque es el Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), donde las
prácticas promocionales previas a un evento pueden mejorar sus cualidades estéticas, de
modo que la promoción de las peleas de UFC en los medios podría considerarse un arte
popular. Las prácticas promocionales de la UFC ejemplifican cada nivel del análisis estético
de cinco niveles de Burrow y Holt (2019) en formas que son muy similares a las prácticas
teatrales y los tropos del deporte popular y las películas de acción. Además, los materiales
promocionales previos a la pelea generalmente incluyen narrativas escritas que se basan en la

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pelea en sí, lo que brinda a los luchadores la oportunidad de asumir una personalidad distinta
como un actor. Como resultado del encuadre proporcionado por la promoción de peleas,
consideramos si los materiales promocionales para las peleas de UFC elevan el deporte
intencional al estado de arte a través de una transfiguración de lo que de otro modo se
consideraría estrictamente no arte. Dentro del marco teatral promocional, el espacio de
improvisación dentro del octágono puede ser considerado, si no necesariamente bellas artes,
una especie de improvisación de pleno contacto a nivel del arte popular.

Palabras Clave: Estética- Artes marciales mixtas- UFC- Promoción- Película de acción

1. Introduction

There is debate within the philosophy of sport literature regarding whether sport can be
fine art. Without engaging this debate directly, however, we can acknowledge that there are
commonalities between the two domains, the sportworld and the artworld (Edgar, 2014). We
are interested in parallels between the promotion of certain sports and film representations of
those sports, specifically, film representations of the martial arts and mixed martial arts
(MMA) tournaments that intentionally elevate the aesthetic standing of the martial arts in
similar ways. To be more specific, the promotion of MMA competitions by the Ultimate
Fighting Championship (UFC), including pre-fight broadcast hyping rituals, creates a
storyline in a similar manner to action films, culminating in a unique cinematic presence that
encircles the actual combat sport itself, and intertwines with the dramatic experience of the
observer. Using Burrow and Holt’s (2019) five-level aesthetic analysis, this paper aims to
highlight the cinematic practices of UFC fight promotion to show that UFC fights, as
promoted, are potentially a form of theatre (qua popular art form), similar in notable respects
to the popular sport and action films they emulate). Although this question is distinct from
that of whether sport can be fine art, we will also trace the implications of our discussion for
the possibility that in the right institutional context MMA may qualify as a popular artform.

Before beginning our analysis, a few remarks about terminology are in order. By ‘theatre’
we mean the staging of events to create or enhance dramatic significance. Following Holt
(2020), we mean ‘drama’ in the broad psychological sense rather than the narrow artistic/
theatrical sense: the property of an event the uncertainty of the outcome of which creates a

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psychological tension in an observer that becomes resolved by that outcome. We draw a
distinction between an MMA fight considered in itself (as defined by rules but irrespective of
the spectacle in which it may but need not figure) and a UFC event as promoted (describing
the entirety of the event, including the fight event and all promotional practices leading up to
and surrounding the fight). Taking a cue from Danto’s view of how ordinary objects may be
transfigured into fine art in the artworld, we propose that the case of UFC fight promotion
likewise illustrates how otherwise ordinary sporting events may be transfigured into works of
popular art. Rather than pressing analogies with the theatrical productions of fine art at one
extreme or professional wrestling at the other, it is notable parallels between UFC events and
the tropes of sport and action films that prove both provocative and illuminating. In drawing
such analogies as, for instance, that between a fighter’s persona and an actor’s persona, or
between the narratives in action films and those in fight promotion, there will, of course,
always be disanalogies as well.

2. Applying Burrow and Holt’s Analysis

Firstly, Burrow and Holt’s (2019) five-level aesthetic analysis of human movement that
was used in its original form to understand the aesthetics of the martial arts, consists of (as
the name would suggest) an analysis of the aesthetics of human movement using five levels
of increasingly abstract aesthetic properties. Briefly for now, these levels in ascending order
include physique, movement, performance, and significance (associated with all lower-level
properties). At level one, that of the athlete’s physique, we find bodies than have been
conditioned to excel in certain athletic domains. These bodies are aesthetically appealing to
the extent that their look suggests such athletic prowess. At level two, we have an athlete’s
skilled movement, which when executed reveals the athletic prowess suggested by the
physique. Level three is that of the performances—complete games or contests—comprising
various individual skilled movements. Level four, the framework level, is that of the physical
(venue), formal (rules), and social (institutional) contexts in which such bodies move and
perform, without which the movements and performances would not be appreciable at all
much less from an aesthetic point of view. Level five is that of significance, including
dramatic significance for spectators and the potential moral significance of athletic
performance.

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 In an action or sport film,1 each of these properties is built over the 90–120 minutes typical
of the genre. We see this, for example, in successful martial arts tournament movies such as
The Karate Kid and Bloodsport, often relying on variations of the training montage derived
from and perhaps best exemplified in the Rocky movie franchise. The promotional materials
of the UFC provide similar elevation of the aesthetic properties of their fights and the fighters
themselves prior to the fights taking place, although the build-up occurs over a much longer
timeframe leading up to each UFC event. Promotion of a pay-per-view UFC event often goes
on for weeks, including brief synopses of each fighter’s narrative in approaching the
upcoming fight. This typically will be accompanied by training footage, highlight-reel
moments from previous fights, interviews with the fighters themselves, and voiceover hyping
by commentators of both the fighters in general and the particular fight to come.

Applying the individual levels of the analysis directly to MMA and specifically the UFC,
the first level involving the physique of the athlete, is the most surface level aesthetic
property of the analysis and also the easiest to enhance in the case of elite sports. The
combatants have bodies of appreciable form, sculpted by the years of training that is being
hidden by their clothing, and simply reducing the amount of clothing that the athletes are
wearing will reveal those forms. While simplistically described here, the practice of reducing
the amount of clothing worn by an action hero towards the end of a film has been a standard
in the genre for decades, and there is a reason that a chiseled and muscular body comes to
mind when one thinks of the action hero physique. In a similar manner, the uniform choices
of the modern UFC, as opposed to the early days of the mixed martial arts competitions in
which the competitors wore the traditional gi of their respective martial art school, are
designed to expose much of the fighter’s physique, revealing much of their body and being
form fitting to those areas that are not revealed. In this decision, the regulations of the UFC
already act to enhance the aesthetic properties of the fights. However, when focussing on
their promotional materials, the UFC’s enhancement of fight aesthetics through the displayed
physique of fighters becomes even more accentuated. Specifically, promotional posters and
television advertisements will inevitably reveal images of the fighters in uniform with filters
and lighting to promote the physiques of the fighters. Additionally, the physiques of the

1 At least in good action or sport film. Those without this buildup typically are criticized for their pacing.

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fighters are perhaps the main event at weigh-ins, televised promotional events in which the
fighters are weighed prior to the fight and never fail to flex for the cameras.

Moving on to the second level of the five-level aesthetic analysis, the aesthetics of the
movements performed, action films will emphasize the movements of the hero with
deliberately chosen camera angles in the editing process. While some camera work is done
during UFC fights, the live filming and unpredictability of the fight limits the ability of the
camera work to dynamically emphasize any particular movement. Instead, the use of camera
angles again becomes particularly prevalent within the marketing of the UFC, as promotional
clips and montages will use tighter shots from previous fights that can be more meticulously
arranged with the foreknowledge of what is going to happen. Additionally, many films also
use editing processes to highlight the aesthetic qualities of movements, including slow
motion and flashes or cuts to emphasize the grace and power of a particular movement, a
practice that is duplicated within promotional montages of UFC fights.

For the third level, that of athletic performance, Burrow and Holt (2019) are specifically
concerned with what is done and how. There is some degree to which athletic maneuvers are
planned within films and allowed to speak for themselves, particularly with regard to what is
done. This is obviously prevalent within the combat performances of UFC fighters as well,
but there are also times within film in which performances are given background, or an
understanding of the how, prior to their occurrence to elevate the audience’s appreciation of
the athletic performance. The crane kick at the end of The Karate Kid would still have been
significant if the move were allowed to speak for itself, but it would not have been nearly as
significant had Mr. Miyagi not described the move to Daniel in a way that emphasized its
difficulty. (It is interesting to note here that in the UFC Lyoto Machida’s crane kick knockout
of Randy Couture seems to derive at least part of its significance from the cultural precedent
of The Karate Kid.) This exposition is especially important for those that are unfamiliar with
the movements, and a similar form of this emphasizing of the quality of a performance is also
present within the UFC in the form of the commentators. The commentators’ exclamations
may be entertaining for the added excitement they bring to the fight, but they also fulfill this
role of providing exposition with additional background information and analysis of how to
interpret what is going on in the fight.

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 The framework of the competitions, representing the fourth analytical level, represents the
rules, conventions, competition structure, venue architecture, and design of uniforms within
an athletic event. While all the points brought forward so far can have some element that
contributes to the aesthetic of the framework of film and the UFC, the venue architecture is
one element that has yet to be spoken to. Films will create a set that dictates how the
performers will move within the world, and provides an element of story to the observer in
laying out the situation that they are in. While more abstract in this sense, the octagon
provides a similar role to UFC fighters. The design of the octagon obviously limits the
movements of the fighters to within the cage, but more important in this sense is the design of
the octagon itself. As Holt (2021) mentions, the octagon has appreciable geometry, but the
material choice in the construction of the octagon also enhances level four in a similar way to
film in that it provides a layer of context for the fights that occur within it. As opposed to a
boxing ring, in which the fighters are kept in the competition area by cables, the steal bars
and chain-link cage of the octagon tell the story of the raging battle that is going to occur in
that setting and must be contained. Similarly, the fact that MMA gear is stripped for battle:
shorts (and tops for women), cup, and fingerless four-ounce gloves, helps reveal and so frame
the level-one physicality of fighters’ physiques.

3. Elements of Dramatic Significance

In understanding the ties between UFC promotion and theatre, the fifth level of Burrow
and Holt’s (2019) aesthetic analysis is perhaps the most important as it includes dramatic
significance, an element at the very core of theatre. As such, the fifth level starts to provide a
bridge between the promotional material of the UFC and theatre, whereas the use of the
aesthetic analysis up to this point has provided only commonalities and has not tied the two
together. The buildup and framing of each fight in UFC promotional materials and broadcasts
—not to mention color commentary during the fight—provide dramatic significance to the
fight itself (otherwise none would watch pre-fight interviews and weigh-ins), and also serve
to build psychological tension, two key elements of drama, as described by Holt (2020).
Regarding the dramatic significance created by these events, while there surely is drama
within UFC events, as is illustrated by the practices designed to emphasize that drama, there
has been some contention within the philosophy of sport literature as to whether sport can
provide the same kind of drama that is present within theatre.

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 Best (1978), in his argument against the idea that sport can be a form of theatre, argued
that the drama present in sport is fundamentally different than the drama created in art, and
that artistic drama is more robust in that it can cover more diverse topics than sport can.
However, Mumford (2012) argues that the drama in sports is real drama felt by the audience
the audience, whereas the drama in theatre is representational and relies on an empathetic
response to the drama experienced by depicted characters. Holt (2020), in his review of the
literature, argues for a distinction between psychological drama (felt, as in sport) and generic
drama (made, as in film), prioritizing neither form of drama as Best (1978) and Mumford
(2012) do. However, regardless of the form of drama, the combination of sporting activities
and promotional activities are present within UFC events, with elements of generic drama
being present in promotional materials, and thus enhanced psychological drama in the sport
itself. An MMA fight in itself may be dramatic in the psychological but not the generic sense,
whereas a UFC event, with crafted narratives and other enhancements, may have elements of
both.

While drama is present within UFC events, the other aspect that is crucial in equating the
UFC and theatre is the aspect of scripting. Mumford (2016) highlights the rules of a sport as
having some commonalities with scripting in theatre, yet this has drawn criticism in the
philosophical literature (Holt, 2020) and is minimized within mixed martial arts competitions
regardless. Instead, the UFC promoters write storylines for competitions in the way that
fights are arranged. Unlike many other sports, the UFC and other combat sport organizations
will intentionally choose fighter matchups based on the history of the fighters to create
storylines and build psychological tension. In this way, the UFC will build the history of their
fighters and selectively choose future matchups in order to script storylines for their
organization in every sense other than what occurs within the ring. That storyline is then
further built and expressed in their marketing of the upcoming fights of each contender.

Thus, the UFC enhances the aesthetic of their events in similar ways to popular film, in all
five levels of Burrow and Holt’s (2019) aesthetic analysis, notably building dramatic
significance and psychological tension through the crafting of storylines representative of
scripting. Yet despite all of this, there is still one major component that is required to assert
that UFC promotion is a kind of popular theatre. Specifically, one of the largest points of
contention among the philosophy of sport literature as to whether a sport can be theatre is the

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element of imaginary objects or representational content (Best, 1978). For Best, there is a
distinction between the actor and the character that does not exist for the athlete, with the
classic example that where a character can be harmed without harming an actor, if an athletic
character is injured so too will be the athlete (1978). Mumford attempts to counter this
argument, describing the athletic role as comparable to the dramatic role, but this comparison
does not break Best’s distinction. Instead, we believe fight promotion in the UFC goes a step
further, creating dramatic personas similar to those developed by actors. Just as an actor’s on-
screen and public persona may differ significantly from the person themselves, so too may a
fighter’s. One example is that of “bad boy” Nick Diaz, whose disrespectful trash talk was on
full display in hyping a recent return fight with Robbie Lawler, only to evaporate in the post-
fight interview in which he expressed genuine respect for Lawler along with a sincere hope
that they had put on a good show for the fans. For promotional purposes, fighters are given
the chance to build personas for themselves that do not necessarily represent who they
actually are when off-camera. Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey are other notable cases
where fighter persona and fighter personality are potentially strikingly different. In this sense,
the fighter persona becomes something akin to a character that exists when a celebrity plays
themselves in a film, or at the very least a caricature of themselves. Indeed, it may be hard for
actors with distinctive personas to disappear into their roles even though the person the actor
is could be markedly different from the persona they exude (as noted famously by Cary
Grant). In the extreme case, the fighter/persona distinction allows for similar person/persona
discrepancies. When contender Holly Holm defeated the inaugural female UFC champion/
persona Ronda Rousey, Rousey herself was only knocked out while her “Rowdy Ronda
Rousey” persona was virtually murdered, as her media presence was severely diminished
afterwards (although it was later resurrected in a professional wrestling context). Weaving
(2014) offers a complementary analysis of the heavily gendered and socially constructed
elements in Rousey’s UFC persona. As such, fight promotion in the UFC, and potentially in
other combat sports as well, provides a unique case in which representational content is
possible within the realm of sport.

4. Framing and the Art Question

The discussion so far is in some ways analogous to, but in others divergent from, Roberts’s
view (1992) of what he calls “the making and remaking of sport actions” (p. 15). We are

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interested, as is Roberts, in the frames of reference imposed on the world that promote
representations of sport in serving various purposes. Unlike Roberts, however, we are
interested less in representations of particular sport actions and more in their overarching
frames of reference: the narrative frames in which the drama of a fight can unfold on an
octagonal stage. That is why the narratives of typical fight promotions are set up to be
consistent with any outcome. Will favorite A solidify their case for a title shot, or will
underdog B become the new top contender? Will champion C cement their dominance of the
division, or will top contender D usher in a new era? Any result can be seen as the
denouement of both storylines.

A potentially useful analogy then will be found in parts of preplanned artworks that
mark off sections for spontaneous creativity: improvised scenes in movies, for instance, or
cadenzas in musical works. There are admittedly important structural differences here. The
fighter’s essential aim is to win whereas the artist’s is to create beauty. A fighter’s “Take that”
is far less collaborative than an improviser’s “Yes and.” Likewise, a fighter’s sphere of
possibilities is more narrowly constrained than the improvisor’s, at least typically, though
both are tasked with creative problem-solving. In the octagon, creativity does not come from
the breadth of choice, but rather in the flow of choice in response to a prompt that, while it
may be anticipated, cannot be entirely predicted. This plays out similarly to improvisational
theatre in that the actors are cyclically forced to react to the actions of the other and build off
them to further their end goal. An undesirable outcome will result if their creativity fails and
they cannot generate an appropriate response, but there are a multitude of viable responses to
choose from, which provides room for creativity.

More in keeping with improvisational acting, fighters are often motivated to produce
highlight reel–worthy moments and to put on a good show. Aesthetic intentions may be
prominent for fighters even if MMA counts as a purely purposive sport.2 Aesthetic
considerations inform both judges’ decisions about who won a fight (e.g., quality of strike,
degree of aggression, etc.) but also a fighter’s performance insofar as major professional
bonuses and opportunities for moving up in the ranks depend on producing beautiful and
showstopping moments, spectacular finishes in particular. But this alone does not imply that

2 On MMA as a purposive/aesthetic hybrid sport, see Holt (2021). Knockouts and submissions are purposive,
yet decisions require partly aesthetic and partly aesthetically informed judgment by the judges at octagon-side.

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MMA fights, as fought, count as art, at least not as fine art. Nor do we contend that UFC
fights, as promoted, count as fine art. If they were to count as art in some sense, however, it
would seem to be by what Arthur Danto (1981) calls the “transfiguration of the
commonplace” (p. v). Just as the artist Marcel Duchamp “transfigured” an ordinary urinal
into art by presenting it in a gallery for an audience, so too, plausibly, might fight promoters
present an otherwise “ordinary” sporting event in an arena for an appreciative crowd, thus
transfiguring it into a work of popular art. Ratification of art status may lie in the purview of
the artworld rather than the sportworld, but at a certain point this institutional distinction
seems blurry at best.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, the promotion of the UFC enhances the aesthetics of the sport of MMA in
ways similar to action films, combines the drama present in sport and theatre, involves the
creation of orchestrated storylines, and provides avenues for character-actor interactions in
the form of fighter personas. As such, the promotional activities around the UFC provide a
framework that is at least theatrical, with the potential perhaps of transfiguring the entire
event into a form of art. However, this still in a crucial sense leaves out the fights themselves,
and what good is an action film without the climactic showdown at the apex of the film?
While the fighter personas extend into the ring, scripting becomes the major issue in this
regard, especially since unlike many sport films both fighters will be framed as potential
“heroes” and not pigeonholed into hero(ine) and villain roles as is typical of antagonists in
action films. Aside from Mumford’s (2012) concept of rules as scripting, and the related
observation that fighters often follow a game plan, what happens within the ring is entirely
unscripted. Still, instances of unscripted creativity exist within the realm of theatre, and it
may be more appropriate to describe UFC fights as a kind of full-contact improv. Improv, like
MMA fighting, has minimal rules, but the performers are typically given a setting and an
activity. In this case, the UFC fills the role of providing these two things, telling the fighters
where they will be fighting and when (setting) and who they will be fighting with what stakes
(activity). Additionally, in response to Holt’s (2020) assertion that improv typically involves
working together to achieve some goal, in the context of the UFC as an organization, the
fighters are in competition as athletes, but as extensions of the UFC they are working together
to create dramatic content for the organization. As a result, with the context of UFC

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promotions, the fighters can be seen as acting out the role of their personas within a created
dramatic setting, at the culmination of directed storylines, which is at least theatrical in its
promotion and potentially itself a theatrical form of popular art.3

3 We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions.

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