Perceived and actual fighting ability: determinants of success by decision, knockout or submission in human combat sports

Lane, Sarah; Briffa, Mark

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2020.0443

Cited by 13 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Study 3 aimed to address the debatable violation of independence of observations in overall fighter data (e.g., Fighter A's win might be Fighter B's loss). Study 3 extended Zilioli et al (2014) by examining the associations between fWHR and fighting success, aggression, blunt‐force trauma resistance, and force output, using contest data among individual fighters—the largest individual fight dataset to date (see Dixson et al, 2018; Lane & Briffa, 2020). In so doing, our third study served as: (1) a conceptual replication of Zilioli et al (2014) for the links between fWHR and fighting success; and (2) an extension, in that we further sought to examine the links between fWHR and aggression, blunt‐force resistance, and force output.…”

Section: The Present Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies laid the foundation for conducting research on human fighting ability from an evolutionary perspective (e.g., Aung et al, 2021; Lane & Briffa, 2020; Richardson & Gilman, 2019; Třebický et al, 2019). These studies were also the first to draw attention to the use of data from MMA fighters competing in the UFC©.…”

Section: Replicating Zilioli Et Al (2014): Fwhr and Fighting Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There were 4566 unique fights and 1674 unique fighters who had participated in at least one UFC fight ( M overall = 5.46, SD overall = 4.74; M focal = 3.22, SD focal = 2.64; M nonfocal = 3.19, SD nonfocal = 2.51) from March 21st, 2010, to February 6th, 2021. Fighters were assigned to be either blue or red fighters for a fight, but the fighter's color has been suggested to be associated with their abilities (Lane & Briffa, 2020). In line with Lane and Briffa (2020), we randomly assigned fighters to be either the focal or nonfocal fighter.…”

Section: Study 3: Fwhr As a Predictor Of Individual Fight Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data were drawn from a publicly available dataset by Dabbert (2021). Similar to previous research (Lane & Briffa, 2020), this data had been scraped from https://ufcstats.com. There were 4566 unique fights and 1674 unique fighters who had participated in at least one UFC fight ( M overall = 5.46, SD overall = 4.74; M focal = 3.22, SD focal = 2.64; M nonfocal = 3.19, SD nonfocal = 2.51) from March 21st, 2010, to February 6th, 2021.…”

Section: Study 3: Fwhr As a Predictor Of Individual Fight Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As in Studies 1 and 2, only male fighters who did not have nonneutral facial expressions, head tilts, or hair/beards that covered the zygions were merged. This resulted in 1367 unique fights where both focal and nonfocal fighter possessed both the automatic and manual fWHR measures—making this the largest individual fight dataset in an empirical paper to date (see Dixson et al, 2018; Lane & Briffa, 2020).…”

Section: Study 3: Fwhr As a Predictor Of Individual Fight Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Facial width‐to‐height ratio predicts fighting success: A direct replication and extension of Zilioli et al. (2014)

Caton

Hannan

Dixson

2022

Aggressive Behavior

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Zilioli et al. (2014) were the first to show an association between male facial width-toheight ratio (fWHR) and physical aggression and fighting ability in professional mixedmartial-arts fighters. Here, we re-examined this relationship by replicating (using all original measures) and extending (using 23 new variables related to fighting performance) Zilioli et al. (2014) in a statistically well-powered sample of 520 fighters using automatic and manual measures of the fWHR involving both eyelid and eyebrow landmarks, used interchangeably in previous reports (Studies 1-2). Most importantly, we successfully replicated Zilioli et al.'s (2014) central finding that fighters' fWHR, when manually calculated using the eyebrow landmark, predicted their fighting success (p = .004, controlling for body mass index and total fights). Consistent with past criticisms of using fight rather than fighter data to examine fighting success, which have argued that individual fights can be suddenly and unexpectedly determined and do not capture an individual's overall ability to succeed, Study 3 (N = 1367 fights) found no association between fWHR and singular victories. Studies 1-3 showed continual evidence that larger fWHRs were associated with grappling abilities, even after controlling for demographic and allometric factors. Strikingly, Study 3 discovered associations between all fWHR measures and grappling skill that remained robust before and after controlling for 17 different control variables. We discuss that grappling, or the act of taking down an opponent, involves a more aggressive, closecombat approach than does striking. Combined, these results offer additional support for the argument that fWHR may have been shaped by sexual selection.

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Section: The Present Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Replicating Zilioli Et Al (2014): Fwhr and Fighting Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study 3: Fwhr As a Predictor Of Individual Fight Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study 3: Fwhr As a Predictor Of Individual Fight Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study 3: Fwhr As a Predictor Of Individual Fight Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Facial width‐to‐height ratio predicts fighting success: A direct replication and extension of Zilioli et al. (2014)

Caton

Hannan

Dixson

2022

Aggressive Behavior

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Human Male Body Size Predicts Increased Knockout Power, Which Is Accurately Tracked by Conspecific Judgments of Male Dominance

Caton,

Brown,

Zhao

et al. 2024

Hum Nat

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Humans have undergone a long evolutionary history of violent agonistic exchanges, which would have placed selective pressures on greater body size and the psychophysical systems that detect them. The present work showed that greater body size in humans predicted increased knockout power during combative contests (Study 1a-1b: total N = 5,866; Study 2: N = 44 openweight fights). In agonistic exchanges reflective of ancestral size asymmetries, heavier combatants were 200% more likely to win against their lighter counterparts because they were 200% more likely to knock them out (Study 2). Human dominance judgments (total N = 500 MTurkers) accurately tracked the frequency with which men (N = 516) knocked out similar-sized adversaries (Study 3). Humans were able to directly perceive a man’s knockout power because they were attending to cues of a man’s body size. Human dominance judgments—which are important across numerous psychological domains, including attractiveness, leadership, and legal decision-making—accurately predict the likelihood with which a potential mate, ally, or rival can incapacitate their adversaries.

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Aggressive males are more attractive to females and more likely to win contests in jumping spiders

Kwek

Tan

et al. 2021

Animal Behaviour

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Perceived and actual fighting ability: determinants of success by decision, knockout or submission in human combat sports

Cited by 13 publications

References 34 publications

Facial width‐to‐height ratio predicts fighting success: A direct replication and extension of Zilioli et al. (2014)

Facial width‐to‐height ratio predicts fighting success: A direct replication and extension of Zilioli et al. (2014)

Human Male Body Size Predicts Increased Knockout Power, Which Is Accurately Tracked by Conspecific Judgments of Male Dominance

Aggressive males are more attractive to females and more likely to win contests in jumping spiders

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