AH Challenge: Make Violent Sports/Martial Arts More Popular

Generally along the lines of football (The proper sort) and other mainstream sports, how can we get stuff like martial arts tournaments, MMA and bare knuckle boxing much more popular than they are now, to the point of a part of common culture? This was rather brought up by playing Super Street Fight IV in a tournament earlier (XBOX-360 controls are bloody awful) and how in that Universe, an underground Tournament got one character a fair bit of fame.

Anyway this can be achieved in any POD from the twentieth century, not including fireballs and green people from Brazil of course.
 

The Vulture

Banned
Hmm. Well, people will have to be greatly desensitized to blood and violence and having fewer legal regulations on sports. Not to mention a greater respect for martial arts in the West.

Maybe if the Kumite actually existed from the 1500s as noted conman Frank Dux claimed and was a huge public deal, so traditional as to be unimpeachable, there could be a fair number of imitators, both legit and underground.
 
Boxing

Early boxing was pretty bloody and had different sets of rules (today's sport is gloved with Marquis of Queensbury rules being standard). Have boxing evolve different remain bare knuckled and use the rule set that only knockdowns count as round enders and you are well on your way.
 

Dialga

Banned
Well, in order to have bloodsports be more popular in the West, then you're gonna need a POD from way before 1900. For example, a Roman Empire that never fell, although I'm not sure if that's ASB or not.
 
Well, in order to have bloodsports be more popular in the West, then you're gonna need a POD from way before 1900. For example, a Roman Empire that never fell, although I'm not sure if that's ASB or not.

Bear-baiting and bull-baiting were pretty popular in the 19th Century US; they're origin of "bear market" (bears struck downward with their paws) and "bull market" (bulls tossed the attacking dogs using their horns).
 
I imagine the trick would be to fake martial arts the way they do with professional wrestling - less holds, more impressive leaps from halfway across the room. Make all the gestures more pronounced and shout battle cries liberally. Involve martial arts tournaments with elaborate storylines and rivalries.
 
Well, in order to have bloodsports be more popular in the West, then you're gonna need a POD from way before 1900. For example, a Roman Empire that never fell, although I'm not sure if that's ASB or not.

I wasn't thinking along the lines of Gladitorial games but rather a general acceptance and fondness of fighting in public culure.
 
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