Many fans don't understand the purpose of gloves in boxing.
There's more than a bit of self-delusion among boxing or football fans castigating MMA as "cockfighting." You watch those sports for the violence. We all do, to varying degrees. The violence of a blindside hit excites everyone here. The uppercut that makes the other boxer's eyes go haywire has the same effect. If you say it doesn't, you're lying.
BTW, one of the reasons ND can't beat the best teams at the right times is because they simply lack enough "badasses." Clements2 used to talk about this and it stuck in the craw of some, which was probably evidence of its truth. ND gets a lot of good students/nice kids. They tend not to be the ones who go out there to take someone's head off. When's the last time ND got into a fight on the field?