I've been meaning to take this issue up with my Evangelical Christian friends...

...but how do you square an interest in Mixed Martial Arts with your Christian morality?

In his review of "Warrior," Steven Greydanus writes:

Warrior is being marketed to Christians as well as MMA fans. If that strikes you as a counterintuitive combination, think again. MMA is becoming increasingly popular in evangelical circles as a way of connecting to men. Churches organize outings to fights, and, in some cases, even have programs for training fighters. From an eye-opening article by a former cage fighter who went on to enroll in divinity school, I learn that there are companies with names like Jesus Didn’t Tap that market Christian MMA apparel, while websites like AnointedFighter.com promise to help you “master your walk with Christ while mastering the martial arts.”

It must be said that pugilism has a long history in Catholic culture: boxing in Catholic boys’ clubs, for instance. Given sufficient safeguards to minimize the risk of serious injury, pugilism and martial arts are compatible with Catholic morality.

Professional boxing and MMA, though, raise serious moral concerns. The fundamental goal in boxing is to degrade your opponent’s capacity to defend himself, either by battering him into an impaired state or, if possible, delivering a knockout blow. MMA adds grappling techniques and allows for other ways of winning, such as submission holds and tapouts, but incapacitating one’s opponent remains a highly desirable goal.

This is morally different, for instance, from injuries incurred in football, which may be serious enough to warrant moral concern but are not a direct goal of the game itself. In football, a tackle trying to prevent the quarterback from making a throw may have to knock down a guard to do it, or he may be able to dodge past him; either way, in principle what counts is whether or not the quarterback makes the throw, not who does or doesn’t get hurt in the process. (That’s not to say that players never directly try to harm one another, or that serious injuries don’t occur regardless of intentions — only that points aren’t awarded based on who has been harmed.)

In professional boxing and MMA, incapacitating your opponent means you win and he loses. I see no way to avoid the conclusion that this is repugnant to the Fifth Commandment and the obligations of charity, potentially gravely so, particularly when multiplied by the incessant punishment and harm that professional fighters endure over years of training and competition.

Though concessions to safety have been made in MMA’s development from the early days of Ultimate Fighting, there is still too much of the spirit of the Roman gladiatorial blood sport in both MMA and professional boxing. One can respect the skill and courage of the fighters, but the big winners are corporate bosses who grow wealthy on fighters, trading away their well-being for the entertainment of patrons whose money drives the whole machine.

MMA disturbs me.  As Greydanus points out, its violence is the antithesis of Christian charity. Further, it disturbs me as a sign of a possible return to a "blood and circuses" mentality.  And it particularly disturbs me that Christians are embracing MMA when early Christians opposed gladiatorial games on Christian principles.  It's as if we are rejecting Christian distinctives in our rush to embrace Pagan values.