Recently televised fighting events have grown in popularity. Since the 60's in Brazil streetfighting has essentially been a national sport with the actual development of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu stemming from this. Japan also has fighting events that are sports, the best known being sumo along with karate bouts and the newly created shootwrestling. The development of combat arts into sports has been a long process. Humans in general have always been violent and many sports today, such as football, wrestling, and boxing, are a way for people to experience violence and warlike behavior without actually participating.
Oriental culture presents a slightly different dilemma, however.
With the primacy placed on intellectual capabilities and pursuits in many eastern cultures it is a wonder that fighting for sport became popular at all. However, the shift of governmental power into the hands of the middle and lower classes in the last century has allowed for more liberal policies in countries around the world. With the upper class no longer controlling the pursuits of the lower classes sporting events were free to develop under the influence of these classes. With martial arts being practiced mostly by lower class individuals who did not have the time or money to devote to more esoteric upper class pursuits the slight shift of tournament fighting between dojos and practitioners to one watched by spectators is a logical progression. In western cultures the predominance of boxing and wrestling as sports made the addition of other fighting styles as a sport simple.