ABSTRACT
This chapter reaffirms the social contingency of the category fighter by focusing on the positionality of Black men, the largest constituency of fighters within the space. It demonstrates some of the complex ways in which Black men can move from being regarded as fighters to being situated as “Black fighters”, a category steeped in racial and gendered discourse. It begins by drawing on the insights of Obi, whose reflections on race and racialisation demonstrate the complex spaces that can open up in the Fighters Class to allow for greater self-constitution. It then explores how “big Black guys” are commonly requested to fight in Eastern Europe. Following that, it examines how discourses that position Black men as sexually desirable and virile enter the Fighters Class. Further, it explores the interconnected discourse that positions Blackness and homosexuality as mutually exclusive categories. The final section examines how John was accepted as a proficient fighter and valued as a coach, yet found it difficult to garner respect outside of the sphere of fighting as a result of the salience of dominant racial thinking that positioned John as unrespectable. In doing so, it reiterates how the narrative of a de-racialised “we” becomes more strained the further one gets from a direct training environment.
