This gave us a glimpse of the reality that these were mostly economically less fortunate people of color with few advantages in life. They were fighting to amuse privileged white men and were willing to risk damage to their bodies in the hope of a little fame. Physical violence isn't just between people. Sometimes people are physically violent toward their own bodies by allowing damage from being hit. Sometimes people are physically adversarial to themselves by disturbing their body chemistry with mild poisons like tobacco or alcohol, even though tobacco causes disease and alcohol is often associated with violent activity.
Adversarial behavior is very common.
Manipulation of men's sexual desire to make money is adversarial behavior. It is also adversarial for women to encourage a response from men that would cause women to disrespect the men. Scientific studies have shown that women are as violent as men. Women often are violent or support violence in ways that are hidden from public view or more accepted. In the Jake's event, they helped glamorize the violence.