How do you feel about fight sports? Does this influence your perception of those of us who participate?

For thousands of years humans have fought each other for sport, from the brutal fight-to-the-death gladiators of Rome to today’s Boxers and Mixed Martial Artists (UFC/MMA). Do you feel that fight sports are healthy way for people to exert their aggression in controlled environments or do they perpetuate an old way of life that no longer has a place in modern society?

How does your opinion of fight sports influence your view of people who participate (be it training, competing, or simply just watching) in them?