When a mixed martial arts studio moved in across the street from literary scholar Jonathan Gottschall’s office, the timing couldn’t have been better. Gottschall was in a mid-life crisis; he was out of shape and his academic career was stalling. So joining the gym was personal, but he was also fascinated by these questions: Why do men fight and why do we like to watch? Wednesday, Gottschall joins Doug to talk about his experience in the cage, and about violence and the rituals that contain it. [Rebroadcast]

Jonathan Gottschall is a distinguished fellow in the English Department at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He's the author of The Storytelling Animal [Indiebound|Amazon] and his new book The Professor in the Cage: Why Men Fight and Why We Like to Watch [Indiebound|Amazon]

Visit us on VideoWest for one Mixed Martial Arts fighters journey to get back in the ring. It comes from LA based filmmaker Eliot Rausch. It's called Some Other Way.