my guess is that you can't really effectively harden yourself against biting and eye gouging and neither takes it any skill to perform those moves. and they're

my guess is that you can't really effectively harden yourself against biting and eye gouging and neither takes it any skill to perform those moves. and they're comparably dangerous: eye going blinds you and biting can lead to potentially lethal infections days after the fight. the undefeated champion would be at risk of being blinded or infected by a desperate amateur without matching skills. it would take away from the spectacle and ruin an otherwise perfectly healthy athlete easily. breaking the neck, on the other hand, is NOT an easy task, especially if your opponent is also a trained wrestler. you need skill and strength and at least it's something for the audience. i'm pretty sure though that deaths happened rarely and were mostly the result of accidents. the fighters were athletes after all, not cold blooded murderers. they were in for the money and the fame. same with the soldiers; mutilating your fellow soldiers wouldn't be a good thing.