“Frame-changing” the game: examining the media framing of the mixed martial arts discourse in Ontario

This article extends research on media framing and the concept of “frame-changing” by examining the sanctioning of professional mixed martial arts (MMA) events in Ontario, Canada. After initially indicating that sanctioning MMA was unimportant, the Ontario government shifted its policy and announced it would sanction professional MMA events. A content analysis was conducted on newsprint articles published between 2009 and 2010 that were related to the sanctioning of MMA events in Ontario. After removing syndicated reports, 18 newsprint articles derived from six major Canadian dailies served as the focus for this study. Using open and axial coding techniques, these articles identified that the media produced two frames for the discourse related to the sanctioning of MMA (i.e., legal/ethical and economic), which changed throughout the discourse. This study serves to examine how mainstream media frames the sport in jurisdictions yet to develop a MMA policy.