UFC: Ethical? Part Two

The last post I made introduced the concept of why violent activities, in this case the  TV show UFC, become so popular throughout history, and in the United States. For those of you who have not read it, the main point I tried to make was that in a state that has a history of violence, that violence will be portrayed in recreational and media events. That being established, I wanted to dig deeper into this idea of commercialized, publicized fighting, and whether one can consider it ethical or not.

One of the first thoughts I had was to compare it to dog fighting, an extremely controversial activity, one that, for reasons I won't bother discussing now, I had already decided was unethical. Because of this, I began to draw conclusions that UFC would have to be immoral if dog fighting is, as they are both activities in which people watch things fight. Makes sense, right? However, as I  was looking at the similarities between the two, I couldn't help but regard the differences that I had not seen originally.
For one, UFC is more regulated. I'm no expert, but I do understand that the objective is not to kill your opponent, and there are many regulations to make sure that doesn't happen; the skill at which the combatants fight in UFC also work as a check, as both fighters will know what could possibly be lethal. Secondly, and mores strikingly, the fact that UFC is voluntary, and dog fighting is not (for the dogs, that is), had more of an impact on my judgement than anything else. A sense that volunteering justifies some actions is not isolated to this example.This idea can be seen in the military, as any outcry against military action is usually directed against drafting, while volunteers are typically considered heroes, serving their country.
The ethicality in volunteering for dangerous things, like the UFC, can easily be compared to another major part of American society:  football.
 With injury rates so high in proffesional football among other sports, it is almmost a garuantee that someone playing professionally will get hurt in his career. However, there is no opposition to football, and most regard the sport as completely moral. With this in mind, my comparison to dog fighting began to crumble. I realized that all of my remaining reasoned points indicated that despite some people's aggression towards the open violence that is Mixed Martial Arts, perhaps the history of violence that the United States possesses, if nothing else, justifies the common ethical views of the practice.