Are MMA coaches responsible for teaching ethics to their students? Do fighters have to be ethical and do ethics belong in the world of mixed martial arts? Fighters learn to destroy another human being. Fighters learn to break bones, hit pressure points, kick heads, and punch noses. In general we learn to hurt other’s beings. Having a conscience may get in the way of that. Wouldn't it be easier for fighters not to be ethical? If a fighter doesn't have ethics on his mind to worry about then he or she could be faster in his intent to hurt another person.
MMA fights are as close to actual street combat as combats can get without actually being in a real fight. In an actual street fight, a fighter should do what needs to be done to survive whatever the technique may be. If it is to protect his life or the lives of the ones he cares for then there are no rules. But what about in the realm of sport?
A coach has to teach his fighters to be honorable and to follow the rules. This is for two reasons. One, to keep the sport fair and two, to create fighters that can help perpetuate the idea of the sport as noble and not just a brawl.
MMA is a world of rules and regulations. The idea is to keep it as sporting as possible, to make it competition, to make it fair. And in this there has to be rules to be followed or the fight game just becomes another street fight. Fighters do not want mma to be seen as that. There is too much money to be had. If the rules are not followed then the fighters get hurt more than normal which means less shows, less product, less money. If the sport becomes inviolate then mma becomes nothing but a death match and that is not tolerated by the public. People like violence but not so much as it was done in Rome.
A coach of a team has a responsibility to teach ethics because it is hard to work with a person that does not play by the rules. It makes the team look bad, the coach look bad, and the fighter look bad. No one wants to train with a fighter who fights dirty and who is that way all the time. It’s not safe for all involved. If he gets angry or does not like to lose in practice and decides to hurt his teammate, the team is now down one asset. Also that type of fighter makes the coach who trained him look bad because he could not control him and teach him a better way.
Coaches also do not want to create more violent fighters that have no control over themselves. Their destructiveness reflects on the gym and coach. Fighters want to appear strong and powerful, but not chaotic. There has to be order to teaching just so the students can learn.
Coaches have to teach their fighters to be honorable, to follow the rules, and to be ethical. It is not profitable otherwise. In the street the rule of no rule is the law but in the ring fighters have to be more than barbarians. Fighters have to be sportsmen.
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