Fighters’ Wives: the World of MMA

The participants prefer to call it ‘mixed martial arts’, but what kind of a title is that? Therein lies the problem with this generally good-natured and sometimes touching doc: it presupposes a ghoulish tabloid fascination with the murky doings of the cage-fighting world, then presents us with a succession of personable young couples. In each, the lady is concerned about her partner getting bashed about, and he’s concerned that MMA isn’t a very secure calling. Even Colin ‘Freakshow’ Fletcher, who dresses like a clown, isn’t a particularly extraordinary individual out of the ring. The fact that one fighter’s other half is a doctor should be reassuring, we suppose, but it’s hard not to feel that amid all the cauliflower ears, broken noses and blokes getting kneed in the head, the emotional wellbeing of those involved may not be the biggest problem facing the sport down the line.