Predictors of Fighting Ability Inferences Based on Faces

Abstract

Facial perception plays a key role in various social interactions, including formidability assessments. People make relatively accurate inferences about men's physical strength, aggressiveness, and success in physical confrontations based on facial cues. The physical factors related to the perception of fighting ability and their relative contribution have not been investigated yet, since most existing studies employed only a limited number of threat potential measures or proxies. In the present study, we collected data from Czech Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters regarding their fighting success and physical performance in order to test physical predictors of perceived fighting ability made on the basis of high-fidelity facial photographs. We have also explored the relationship between perceived and actual fighting ability. We created standardized 360° photographs of 44 MMA fighters which were assessed on their perceived fighting ability by 94 raters (46 males). Further, we obtained data regarding their physical characteristics (e.g., age, height, body composition) and performance (MMA score, isometric strength, anaerobic performance, lung capacity). In contrast to previous studies, we did not find any significant links between the actual and the perceived fighting ability. The results of a multiple regression analysis have, however, shown that heavier fighters and those with higher anaerobic performance were judged as more successful. Our results suggest that certain physical performance-related characteristics are mirrored in individuals' faces but assessments of fighting success based on facial cues are not congruent with actual fighting performance.

Low fundamental and formant frequencies predict fighting ability among male mixed martial arts fighters

“…People can accurately assess physical strength from body 19 and face 66 images. For example, sexually dimorphic facial cues predict fighting ability among MMA fighters 33 , 67 but see 68 , and using these cues participants can predict fighting outcomes above chance 69 . The voice appears to be another aspect of the phenotype that indicates formidability 10 , 13 , 19 ; we showed that f o was associated with both body size and fighting experience (independent of body size) among male MMA fighters.…”

Roar of a Champion: Loudness and Voice Pitch Predict Perceived Fighting Ability but Not Success in MMA Fighters

“…It has been demonstrated, for instance, that people can relatively accurately assess physical strength from images of body and face (Sell et al, 2009a; Holzleitner and Perrett, 2016; Kordsmeyer et al, 2018). Moreover, it seems that based on facial images raters can predict winners of mixed martial arts (MMA) fights (Třebický et al, 2013; Little et al, 2015; but see Třebický et al, 2019).…”

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

“…2 Given that: (1) there have only been a limited number of draws in the UFC (i.e., approximately 40 out of over 5000 UFC fights; out of our sample of 520 fighters, only one fighter had been in three draws, eight fighters had been in two draws, and 54 fighters had been in one draw); (2) that the vast majority of UFC research has not accounted for draws in their research (e.g., Aung et al, 2021;Třebický et al, 2013Třebický et al, , 2019Zilioli et al, 2014); and that (3) draws might not be appropriate for capturing RHP (as an indicator of an organism's ability to win a fight), we decided not to account for draws in this data but rather to adopt the most commonly used measure of fight success (i.e., total wins divided by total fights).…”

“…To directly replicate the original study, which controlled for body mass index (BMI) rather than weight or height themselves, we calculated BMI ( M = 23.70; SD = 3.42) using the formula: weight (lbs)/(height[inches] × height[inches]) × 703 (with 703 being the number used to convert lbs/inches 2 to kg/m 2 ). In accord with the original study, we calculated fight success ( M = 0.79; SD = 0.11) using previously published methods (Třebický et al, 2013, 2019; Zilioli et al, 2014) whereby the total number of wins were divided by the total number of fights 2…”