Their target demographic is people who will pay to see a violent spectacle. There are certainly people who find violence thrilling in martial arts, but there are a lot of people who have never done any training, who are uninterested in learning that running away is your best defense or how to de-escalate a tense situation, who have a credit card and want to see someone get punched in the face until they're bloody. That's who MMA producers and refs are targeting, not you.

I'm a kiteboarder and a skier. Do you think that the stores with Dakine luggage or North Face jackets at the mall (which feature prominently-placed posters of people kiteboarding and skiing) are really intended for me? No, they're intended for people who wish to send social signals that they are wealthy, stylish and adventurous.

It's the same with (a subset of) Nascar fans - Many are uninterested in karting time trials that might be more approachable to more amateur participants in motorsports, but they'll on the TV every Sunday hoping to see a big crash, and the same with (a subset of) NFL and NHL fans - they just want to see someone's head bounce off the turf/ice.

That spectacle is what's for sale, it makes money in a way that 10 years of patient practice does not.