‘… The only way I'm gonna learn is if it's done properly’: Gendered embodiment and contradictions of ‘control’ in mixed-gender mixed martial arts

This article draws from several months of ethnographic research on gender, embodiment and violence, offering insight into situated (and contradictory) definitions of violence in mixed martial arts (MMA). Analysing interview data, violence is defined conceptually by members of one MMA club in the UK through specific frameworks, in which MMA fighting is regarded as ‘controlled’ violence. MMA skills are expected to be embodied relative to those definitions through bracketing processes, with regulating emotions, the significance of context and power dynamics between individuals fighting being key in categorising distance to ‘real’ violence. Analysing field notes and my own felt difficulties as a participant–observer, however, the navigation of women's bodies in mixed-gender sparring interrupts these categorising features of frame. Despite the acknowledgment of intersubjective and reflexive work to embody physically violent skills appropriately, men distance themselves from women in training. The contributions of the article identify how women's gendered bodies – as performative, normative and regulatory – interrupt the everyday orderliness of ‘control’ and expectations of who ‘does’ violence more broadly. The consequences of these gendered expectations are noted, with indications as to what other forms of violence might be ongoing in this highly gendered space.