Contest competition and men's facial hair: beards may not provide advantages in combat

In contemporary human societies, where direct male-male competition is reduced compared to ancestral societies, sporting competitions remain an avenue for status acquisition via intra-sexual competition. Beards are the most visually salient and sexually dimorphic of men's secondary sexual traits and play a strong role in communicating masculinity, dominance and aggressiveness intra-sexually. Hypotheses have been advanced that beards provide advantages in intra-sexual combat, as protective organs and honest signals of fighting ability. Here we provide the first test of these hypotheses using data from professional mixed martial arts fighters competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. We explored whether secondary sexual traits (height, weight, beardedness), fighting stance (southpaw, orthodox), arm reach and past contest experiences impact on contest outcomes. If beards function as protective organs, bearded fighters should succumb to fewer knock-outs, and hence protection to injuries to the jaw, fewer abrasions and lacerations to the face and brain damage than clean-shaven fighters. Alternatively, if beards signal fighting ability then bearded fighters should win more fights. We found no evidence that beardedness was associated with fewer losses by knock-out or greater fighter ability. While fighters with longer reaches won more fights, neither stance nor past experience influenced fight outcomes. We suggest that beards represent dishonest signals of formidability that may serve to curtail the escalation of intra-sexual conflict through intimidation rather than providing advantages in direct combat.