History Main / BloodSport

** Another example would be Aeroball from ''ComicBook/HarlemHeroes'', which is described as a cross between football, basketball, boxing and Kung Fu. With jetpacks.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rage}}'': Half the racing is Twisted Metal on Post-Apocalypse. All of the reality TV contestant shows are you versus mutants in clown outfits.

* In ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' by Frank Herbert there are at least two blood sports. Notably, these are sponsored by both in the antagonist and protagonist Houses. One is [[Literature/{{Dune}} seen in detail]]: the Harkonnens have classical gladiatorial matches (with the additions of personal shields (read: force fields)) which the na-baron[[note]]heir-apparent to the Baron[[/note]] Feyd-Rautha participates in. Frequently. The second is bull fighting. The Atreides, in keeping with the Mediterranean flavor of Caladan culture, apparently took part in this, though only off camera. They may have stopped in recent years leading up to the book because a bull killed the Old Duke, Duke Leto's father and a skilled matador. In the ring. He was fighting it at the time. Actually, at the time he was being gored by it, but you get the point. (Come to think of it, so did he.)

* The Zulu-style cricket match in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' is probably a form of this, as most of the players wind up speared by assegais. The sketch ends with a LongList of players named Pratt having been disqualified for reasons such as "legs off before wicket."

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Bread and Circuses," the PowerTrio ends up in [[PlanetOfHats Rome crossed with the 1960s]], where traditional-style gladiator battles are televised sport events.

* Series/{{Angel}} ends up fighting in an arena in the first season of his show.
* ''Series/CrossingLines'': The team uncovers a series of serial murders around this type of game. Families were kidnapped and the children threatened if the parents of each family didn't fight the other parents to the death. The families would be from one country, disappear while traveling in another country, and the bodies were disposed of in a 3rd country.
* ''Series/{{Diablero}}'': Isaac (or "''el Indio''") buys demons from diableros, has them possess {{Willing Channeler}}s, and then pits them together in cage matches for gambling. It's the diableros' main source of income.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': "[[Recap/SmallvilleS06E17Combat Combat]]" features the "[[FightClubbing Live or Die Fight Club]]" an underground metahuman fight club where the fights are broadcast to the internet for an extremely high fee. The viewers can even vote if a fight [[DeadlyGame will be to the death]], just like a gladiator game.
* Korean (and cosmopolitan) children's games are given a deadly twist in ''Series/SquidGame''. You lose in these, ''you die'' (though depending on the game the cause of death may vary: either the game itself kills the losers, or armed and masked guards shoot them dead).

* Another of the tamer uses of this trope, being from Creator/{{Nintendo}}: ''VideoGame/FZero'', a supersonic anti-gravity racing game where one false move can send you hurtling off a track suspended several kilometers above the ground. It looks like the [[TruthInTelevision real life]] Formula 1... however, the Formula 1 has many safety features in its regulations - such as chicanes in the tracks, tyre walls at every corner, and engine size limits, all of them aimed at keeping active (driver skills) and passive (crumple zones) safety [[StealthPun caught up]] with the vehicles' speeds - while the F-Zero is technically ''anything goes''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Wipeout}}'' adds weapons, and the level of lethality depends on how much of a CrapsackWorld the installment is. More recent titles are considered to have emergency teleportation, and ''Fusion'' had some sort of safety monocoque containing the pilot that would survive when the rest of the ship blew up. On the other hand, in ''Wipeout 64'' pilot deaths were considered to draw more viewers.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'' Thundera's GladiatorGames in their [[TheThunderdome Thunderdome]]: A racing ChaseFight between two [[{{Catfolk}} Cat]] competitors climbing, swinging, jumping and running up a giant tree to to ring a bell at its top, where violent kicking and punching in order to knock a competitor out of the tree are entirely acceptable methods of getting ahead.
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' winds up in two of these during the show's run. A [[TheThunderdome Thunderdome]] after being captured and forced to compete [[spoiler: which he single-handily manages to shut down after the area's warriors prove no match for him.]] and an underground creature fight ring after being turned into a chicken and captured by a greedy Italian man.

* WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}: The Butterfly Derby, An all-female sport popular on the Moon involving two teams of two fighting while wearing butterfly wingsuits. It is implied that crippling injuries are common and the championship match takes place over a lava pit.

** Book Four has Korra hiding from her friends and family while going to an underground pit fight for six months... a fight with [[DishingOutDirt Earthbending]].

* In ''Film/FutureSport'', the titular game is the world's most popular sport after the NBA was destroyed by scandal (TakeThat, soccer fans!), and was originally used as a replacement for gang wars. It is, needless to say, extremely violent and very SeriousBusiness; the movie centers around a game that serves as a proxy war between global superpowers, with territorial rights to Hawaii hanging in the balance

* Creator/GamesWorkshop's ''TabletopGame/BloodBowl'' is a TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}-themed version of American football and rugby re-imagined as a bloodsport that has replaced warfare in its alternate universe. Orcs, skaven and even undead field teams and are expected to try and maim their opponents to get ahead. Even sneaking a chainsaw onto the field isn't grounds for stopping the game.

* While there aren't exactly any arena sports the player can participate in in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', the character Moe Cronin who sells [[BatterUp baseball bats]] [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill and baseball accessories]] is under the impression that the game was a violent and deadly competition before the Great War

* The film ''Film/TheWrestler'' portrayed ProfessionalWrestling as this, focusing heavily on the damage to their bodies that many wrestlers endure. At the start of the film, Randy "The Ram" Robinson is suffering a laundry list of health problems dating back to his in-ring career, and we get an up-close depiction of "blading", or slashing someone with a hidden razor in order to draw blood and get the crowd excited. [[spoiler:Randy's poor health ultimately kills him when he steps back into the ring one last time despite being in no condition to fight, as he suffers a heart attack in the middle of the match.]]

* In ''FutureSport'', the titular game is the world's most popular sport after the NBA was destroyed by scandal (TakeThat, soccer fans!), and was originally used as a replacement for gang wars. It is, needless to say, extremely violent and very SeriousBusiness; the movie centers around a game that serves as a proxy war between global superpowers, with territorial rights to Hawaii hanging in the balance

* The 2009 Thai film ''Fireball'' features an underground variant of basketball that is very much a blood sport, with its competitors fighting each other with Muay Thai while trying to score points like regular basketball.

* "Catch Fetiche", the wrestling style pioneered by Edingwe Moto in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has this reputation among observers from other countries. While most of the wrestlers, including Moto himself, practice traditional grappling styles, locally developed or otherwise, and adopt tactics from other grounded combat sports, the men who get the most international attention are known for openly using potions(drugs) developed by doctors to make themselves fight better. They are known for using [[AttackAnimal boa constrictors, goats]], [[IncendiaryExponent live chickens lit on fire]], sledge hammers and "magic"(more drugs in powered, liquid or vapor form used to disorient or sedate opponents) as weapons in matches that can get very bloody very quickly. Also, in a region known for frequent conflict up to an including several wars, belligerant factions have called one day truces to allow certain promotions such as World Wrestling Congo to run shows. The only other sport that can do that is UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball.

* "Catch Fetiche", the wrestling style pioneered by Edingwe Moto in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has this reputation among observers from other countries. While most of the wrestlers, including Moto himself, practice traditional grappling styles, locally developed or otherwise, and adopt tactics from other grounded combat sports, the men who get the most international attention are known for openly using potions(drugs) developed by doctors to make themselves fight better. They are known for using [[AttackAnimal boa constrictors, goats]], [[IncindiaryExponent live chickens lit on fire]], sledge hammers and "magic"(more drugs in powered, liquid or vapor form used to disorient or sedate opponents) as weapons in matches that can get very bloody very quickly. Also, in a region known for frequent conflict up to an including several wars, belligerant factions have called one day truces to allow certain promotions such as World Wrestling Congo to run shows. The only other sport that can do that is UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball.

* "Catch Fetiche", the wrestling style pioneered by Edingwe Moto in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has this reputation among observers from other countries. While most of the wrestlers, including Moto himself, practice traditional grappling styles, locally developed or otherwise, and adopt tactics from other grounded combat sports, the men who get the most international attention are known for openly using potions(drugs) developed by doctors to make themselves fight better. They are known for using [[AttackAnimal boa constrictors, goats]], [[IncindiaryExponent live chickens lit on fire]], sledge hammers and "magic"(more drugs in powered, liquid or vapor form used to disorient or sedate opponents) as weapons in matches that can get very bloody very quickly.

* "Catch Fetiche", the wrestling style pioneered by Edingwe Moto in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has this reputation among observers from other countries. While most of the wrestlers practice traditional grappling styles, locally developed or otherwise, and adopt tactics from other grounded combat sports, the men who get the most international attention are known for openly using potions(drugs) developed by doctors to make themselves fight better. They are known for using [[AttackAnimal boa contrictors, goats]], [[IncindiaryExponent live chickens lit on fire]], sledge hammers and "magic"(more drugs in powered or liquid for used to disorient or sedate opponents) as weapons in matches that can get very bloody very quickly.

[[folder:Films -- Libe-Action]]

* The people of [[Literature/XWingSeries Adumar]] seem to ''love'' this trope. They are pilot-crazy and refuse simulators and practice weapons as 'dishonorable', to the point where they were forced to make rules about who could fly against whom to keep the population from plummeting. Even so, those who aren't pilots get into blastsword duels. Even if the loser isn't killed in defeat, the winner can turn to someone to signal palm-up or palm-down whether the loser will live or die, and to turn to someone for the signal is a sign that the winner is sweet on someone. [[spoiler: Turns out that it's really only one prominent nation that is so obsessed, the middle and lower classes are not nearly as fond of it, and people can be convinced of their error.]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Motorball from ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' and spinoff ''Ashen Victor'' may not be intentionally lethal to participants, but some of the players certainly make it so. Also, a prime example of controlling the underclass by giving them a ''Blood Sport'' to keep them occupied.

** The Solar System at large has a [[BreadAndCircuses Government-sponsored Zenit Of Things Tournament]], where the best martial artists from the whole System fight to the death for the right to be incorporated as a fully sovereign state recognized by all their peers. It is rigged so that the seeded teams from [[HuskyRusskie Jupiter]] and [[FrenchJerk Venus]] (already superpowers) are always in the finals, though… at least [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits until the heroes join]].

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/Arena1989'' is about people fighting for mass entertainment. IN SPACE!

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Pinball]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

* ''{{TabletopGame/BattleTech}}'''s Clans are the latter version of this trope - rules of warfare and codes of honour shared among the clans are carefully designed to minimize interplanetary collateral damage, discourage brawling, and avoid hard feelings - at least the dirty personal conflicts-kind.

* The wargame/TabletopRPG hybrid ''TabletopGame/CarWars'', from Steve Jackson Games: not only is the favorite sport "autoduelling" (Main/VehicularCombat with armed stock cars), but its primary competitor is "combat football".

* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting ''X-Crawl'' takes the traditional D&D dungeon crawl, transplants it into a DungeonPunk AlternateUniverse based on the real world, and turns it into an extreme sport, complete with sponsorships and television coverage.

* Spectrum-Games released a tabletop miniature game called "Urban Manhunt". It's meant to emulate dark future movies from the 80s, the biggest influences being Film/{{EscapeFromNewYork}} (several major cities being turned into prisons) and Film/{{TheRunningMan}} (players control larger than life "Hunters", often with their own gimmicks). The goal is to earn points by killing criminals in walled off sections of the prison cities.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': [[spoiler:The [[DeadlyGame Mutual Killing Game]], which has 16 high school students being forced to kill each other (and the killer gets brutally executed if they get caught), is an ImmoralRealityShow, which has been going for ''53 seasons.'']] And people love it. So much that a lot of people are willing to participate, as [[spoiler:Shuichi, Kaede and Kaito's audition tapes]] show. At some point, a scene shows a boy named Makoto (the fact that ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'''s AllLovingHero is also named Makoto makes it somewhat jarring) look at his phone with a smile and say that something's his only reason to live. [[spoiler:It's heavily implied he's watching the Killing Game, and seeing as the scene ends with him saying "One day, I'll also-", he wants to join it.]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has an arena for gladiatorial combat. Many contestants end up crushed and/or eaten by an Allosaurus.

* ''{{Literature/Deviant}}'': In a flashback, one character (Berzerk) is revealed to have been part of an underground fighting ring, where death was commonplace - [[spoiler: one death caused onscreen by Berzerk himself.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'' Thundera's GladiatorGames in their [[TheThunderdome Thunderdome]]: A racing ChaseFight between two [[{{Catfolk}} Cat]] competitors climbing, swinging, jumping and running up a giant tree to to ring a bell at its top, where violent kicking and punching in order to knock a competitor out of the tree are entirely acceptable methods of getting ahead.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has Professional Bending, in which two teams of three (a Firebender, an Earthbender, and a Waterbender) use their abilities to knock the other team off a platform (or at least push them back the farthest). It is still much less brutal than one would expect from a sport derived from martial arts with built-in flamethrowers.
** Book Four has Korra hiding from her friends and family while going to an underground pit fight for six months...a fight with [[DishingOutDirt Earthbending]].

** Roman/Byzantine chariot racing was also this to a degree. It was easy for chariot drivers to fall out if they lost their grips, there animals to get spooked, or violent crashes to happen in the hair pin turns.
** Naumachiae were gladiatorial naval combat, large-scale events, often using prisoners of war. And yes, people died either from wounds or by drowning. These were ''significantly'' less frequent than regular gladiatorial combat due to the massive financial and people costs involved, not to mention the logistics of having a large water-filled arena.

** Similarly, the ancient Greek sport of pankration (something of a spiritual ancestor of MMA, in which the ''only'' rules were prohibitions against biting and [[EyeScream eye gouging]], and the competitors fought until one submitted) has a reputation as a blood sport. It certainly was more brutal than modern MMA (in addition to fewer rules, there were no "rounds" like in modern combat sports to provide rest breaks) and deaths were not uncommon. But it was actually regarded by the Greek fighters as ''less'' dangerous than boxing.[[note]]It's not entirely clear why, since the exact rules of ancient Greek boxing have been lost to history, but it's possible that victory being via submission rather than knockout in pankration made it more likely for the fight to end before lethal damage was inflicted.[[/note]]

* In its early years, UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball (then primarily played at the collegiate level) was an incredibly violent sport, with it being a regular occurrence for players to die as a result of injuries sustained on the field. It got to the point that President UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt (himself a boxer and bloodsport enthusiast) threatened to push for football to be outlawed, leading to the creation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association[[note]]Now known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA[[/note]] in 1906 to regulate the game. Even today, football is one of the most dangerous impact sports still being played; especially since the revelation that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy]] doesn't require a severe TapOnTheHead - [[DeathOfAThousandCuts a large number of small impacts is every bit as debilitating as a concussion]].

* Various other impact sports include lacrosse, hockey and water polo. While the intent of the game is not fighting, players impact and injure each other through the natural process of playing the game. In many instances, actual fighting between players is an unofficial facet of the sport.
** The name for Lacrosse in some Native American languages translates as "younger brother of war."
* Hockey in particular is notable for one trait. The padding more closely resembles medieval plate armor than safety equipment, and for good reason. A hockey puck is a rock (or more accurately, ice)-hard piece of frozen vulcanized rubber often hurtling around at 90 miles per hour or more. Players are moving at what foot sports would consider sprinting speeds nearly constantly, and can put on even faster bursts when necessary, resulting in players ''flying'' after a particularly brutal check. There's also the occasional gruesome reminder that the players who are moving this fast have rather sharp blades attached to their footwear. The rink is ice, never a soft substance, and the boards are plexiglass.....again [[RunningGag very hard substance with little give]]. Hockey is quite literally harder and faster than any other team sport. [[FromBadToWorse And this is before the fistfights begin.]]

** * ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'': Tossball, in addition of being [[{{Calvinball}} the bastard child of lacrosse, cricket and who knows what]], frequently has players wounded or killed on the field, with "excessively sportsmanlike conduct" being considered foul play. While the player can't play it, tossball racquets and sticks can be used as weapons and are as good (if not ''better'') as a sword or a two-handed hammer.

* ''Series/{{Diablero}}'': Isaac (or "''el Indio''") buys demons from diableros, has them possess {{WillingChanneler Willing Channelers}}, and then pits them together in cage matches for gambling. It's the diableros' main source of income.

* Spectrum-Games released a tabletop miniature game called "Urban Manhunt". It's meant to emulate dark future movies from the 80s, the biggest influences being "Film/{{EscapeFromNewYork}}" (several major cities being turned into prisons) and "Film/{{RunningMan}}" (players control larger than life "Hunters", often with their own gimmicks). The goal is to earn points by killing criminals in walled off sections of the prison cities.

-->-- TagLine for ''Film/{{Rollerball}}'' (1975).

* The ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' games, for the most part, focus on a grand martial arts tournament whose combatants fight to the death in order to ensure the survival of their home realm and their souls.