UFC and Men of Color

Violence is an obvious appeal of the UFC.  A lot of men find entertainment value in seeing two men beat each other to a pulp until a victor appears, but specifically men of color are targeted toward violent entertainment.  Specifically Black and Latino men are represented in the UFC as especially ferocious fighters.  These minority groups are also the groups that see the most real-life violence and experience disproportionate legal consequences for it.  Bigger ratios of Black and Latino men make up our prison population than other races, and most crimes stem from gang violence or are drug-related.  On the home page of the UFC's website, almost all the featured fighters are men of color.

www.ufc.com as of 10/10/11

 Usually I would praise the fact that people of color are being represented, but the UFC is perpetuating stereotypes that non-white males are exceptionally more violent and it is somehow engrained in their culture to be violent, mostly toward one another. 

Another thing worth noting is the advertisement for the United States Marie Corps in the background, featuring a Black male.  I personally feel that this is broadcasting to young black men saying that they are allowed to be violent, but as long as their targets are enemies of the state.  Yes, the military is a great way for working class men of color to stop the cycle of criminal violence and rise above their current status, but the option is to still fight, be physical, and maybe even kill. 

The video clip is a trailer for a fight between Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evens, a Latino man and a black man, respectively. They compare their skills and ultimately want to be known as the best fighter in the UFC.  Two half-naked men want to pound each other until submission and "bust [the opponent's] ass".  I won't even get into the queer undertones of the UFC, but it should be noted that some of the toughest communities to be queer are the Black and Latino communities.  The UFC glorifies a standard of manhood for young men of color, which makes it harder for men in the real world to deviate from set gender roles, including lack of violent behavior and varying sexuality.