The emerging popularity of combat sports due to the rise of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in mainstream culture brings forward various martial arts styles. Why are people deciding to participate and compete in combat sports? Especially, why do they decide to continue to participate and compete in combat sports despite serious risks and injuries? These are the questions I investigated in my MA research, focusing on the role of embodied emotions and identity in the decision to continue to compete in combat sports. Theories of emotions and identity are discussed in relation to the social roles (fighter, gender, race, social class) individuals play within their environments to demonstrate the influence they have on the decision to compete in combat sports. The social variables discussed in my research illuminate the backseat role race takes compared to other social variables in combat sports research, such as social class and gender. Thus, the discussion of race needs to be more integrated to counteract the residue of racist policies and ideas that still finds ways to seep into everyday interactions and consequently research. These discriminatory tendencies brings in the discussion of decolonization within combat sports research.