DISPOSITIONS OF A FEMALE MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST

Abstract

With extreme sports becoming popular on a global level, there has become increasing interest in their place and purpose within modern society. Leading the growth in professionalised extreme sports, mixed martial arts (MMA) has become surrounded in controversy and receives increasing attention with academic literature. In this vein, this paper focuses on the experience and practices that MMA inhibits upon a professional female within the sport. Documenting the key dispositions of one female MMA fighter through a life history approach, the construction of habitus is evident. Highlighting how the habitus of a female MMA fighter is structured and structuring the evolving scene of MMA this paper elucidates the character of a professional fighter and how the female MMA habitus is comprised of a pursuit for danger. While Fighter‟s dispositions highlight the generative principles of judgements and practices that create habitus, her stories of training and fighting in MMA are unique. However supporting previous academic works, her dispositions mirror a wider set of beliefs within the MMA scene and ultimately comply with the masculinised practices of the sport.