Thesis
And new: the UFC Match as a neo-bourgeoise novel
University of Iowa
Master of Arts (MA), University of Iowa
Spring 2026
DOI: 10.25820/etd.008455
Abstract
The UFC is the largest mixed-martial-arts organization on earth. Hosting events around the world, they have elicited a global following that eagerly tunes in to displays of violence. What causes their fans to keep returning is not the mere spectacle itself: it is the subliminal catharsis delivered in seeing others ostensibly reclaim ownership over their means of production in the form of an individual fighting body. As a cultural expression of bourgeoise society, the UFC match incorporates and modifies conventions of novels observed by literary historians. Georg Lukacs’s Novel as Bourgeoise Epic and The Theory of the Novel and Mikhail Bakhtin’s Dialogic Imagination catalog these tropes while finding the novel genre in opposition to the epic. Customs of the epic concerning heroes, settings, and fate are reconjured in Roland Barthes’s analysis of wrestling matches in The World of Wrestling. In contention with epic tradition, the novelistic UFC match is a product of bourgeoise institutions adapted for the furtherance of philosophies that stymie class-consciousness. These adaptations embellish a fight’s bloody mien with romantic and chauvinist attitudes that beguile fans into perceiving the UFC as a refuge from wage-slavery. Serving as a human representative for his corporation, UFC CEO Dana White is the author who brings these novels into existence. His rhetoric conditions fans and fighters alike to revere acts of self-sacrifice, masking an ulterior motive of dissuading collective action. Aligning itself further and further with conservative politics, the UFC reflects bourgeoise desires for the dilapidation of radical art forms and championing of activities that cozen the working class.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- And new: the UFC Match as a neo-bourgeoise novel
- Creators
- John Lande
- Contributors
- William Rhodes (Advisor)David Wittenberg (Committee Member)Harilaos Stecopoulos (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Arts (MA), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- English
- Date degree season
- Spring 2026
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.008455
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- vii, 37 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2026 John Joseph Lande
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 04/17/2026
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 34-37).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
What makes people fans of the UFC? Do mixed-martial-arts matches articulate prevailing societal moods? This thesis answers such questions using the framework of UFC matches as Neo-Bourgeoise Novels. Through this lens, UFC fights become unscripted performances presenting audiences with the indignity of modern life. Fighters punch, kick, and wrestle to acquire their daily bread, all in service of entertaining a panoptic audience. By incorporating the learnings of literary theorists, this thesis argues UFC matches are watched not only due to their violence but because of a resonance fans feel through the actions of fighters. Mimicking the novelist, UFC executives are authors who organize bouts as a way of communicating to people the values they hold. I argue this resonance is consciously aroused through the implementation of aesthetics that mystify a fighter’s existence. Ending with a conclusive declaration, I propose the UFC match as a looking glass that reflects bourgeoise influence on contemporary media.
- Academic Unit
- English
- Record Identifier
- 9985177273802771
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