Cockfight

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"Fighting cock", "Gamecock", and "Cock pit" redirect here. For other uses, see
Fighting cock (disambiguation), Gamecock (disambiguation), and Cock pit
(disambiguation).

Cockfight in London, c. 1808

Colonel Mordaunt's cockfight in Lucknow, 1784–1786, by Johann Zoffany

File:Cockfighting.ogv

A spontaneous cockfight in a zoo

The wantilan, a Balinese cockfighting pavilion, and important temple ritual

A cockfight is a blood sport between two cocks, or gamecocks, held in a ring called
a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first
documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game",
a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634,[1] after the term "cock
of the game" used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of
cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607. But it was
during Magellan's voyage of discovery of the Philippines in 1521 when modern
cockfighting was first witnessed and documented by Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's
chronicler, in the kingdom of Taytay.
The combatants, referred to as gamecocks (not to be confused with game birds),
are specially bred and conditioned for increased stamina and strength. Male and
female chickens of such a breed are referred to as game fowl.

Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species. Wagers
are often made on the outcome of the match.

Cockfighting is a blood sport due in some part to the physical trauma the cocks
inflict on each other, which is sometimes increased by attaching metal spurs to the
cocks' natural spurs. While not all fights are to the death, the cocks may endure
significant physical trauma. In some areas around the world, cockfighting is still
practiced as a mainstream event; in some countries it is regulated by law, or
forbidden outright. Advocates of the "age old sport"[2][3] often list cultural and
religious relevance as reasons for perpetuation of cockfighting as a sport.[4]

Contents

1 Process

2 History

3 Regional variations

3.1 Americas

3.2 Asia

4 Other bird species

5 Legal status

5.1 Americas
5.2 Asia

5.3 Australia

5.4 Europe

5.5 New Zealand

6 In popular culture

6.1 In music

6.2 In visual arts

6.3 In literature

6.4 In martial arts

6.5 In video games

7 See also

8 References

9 External links

Process

Two owners place their gamecock in the cockpit. The cocks fight until ultimately
one of them dies or is critically injured. Historically, this was in a cockpit, a term
which was also used in the 16th century to mean a place of entertainment or
frenzied activity. William Shakespeare used the term in Henry V to specifically
mean the area around the stage of a theatre. In Tudor times, the Palace of
Westminster had a permanent cockpit, called the Cockpit-in-Court.

History
In this ancient Roman mosaic, two cocks face off in front of a table displaying the
purse for the winner between a caduceus and a palm of victory (National
Archaeological Museum of Naples)

Cockfighting is an ancient spectator sport. There is evidence that cockfighting was

a pastime in the Indus Valley Civilization.[5] The Encyclopædia Britannica (2008)
holds:[6]

The sport was popular in ancient times in India, China, Persia, and other Eastern
countries and was introduced into Ancient Greece in the time of Themistocles (c.
524–460 BC). For a long time the Romans affected to despise this "Greek
diversion", but they ended up adopting it so enthusiastically that the agricultural
writer Columella (1st century AD) complained that its devotees often spent their
whole patrimony in betting at the side of the pit.

Based on his analysis of a Mohenjo-daro seal, Iravatham Mahadevan speculates

that the city's ancient name could have been Kukkutarma ("the city [-rma] of the
cockerel [kukkuta]").[7][8] However, according to a recent study,[9] "it is not
known whether these birds made much contribution to the modern domestic
fowl. Chickens from the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley (2500–2100 BC) may
have been the main source of diffusion throughout the world." "Within the Indus
Valley, indications are that chickens were used for sport and not for food" (Zeuner
1963)[10] and that by 1000 BC they had assumed "religious significance".[10]

Some additional insight into the pre-history of European and American secular
cockfighting may be taken from The London Encyclopaedia:

At first cockfighting was partly a religious and partly a political institution at

Athens; and was continued for improving the seeds of valor in the minds of their
youth, but was afterwards perverted both there and in the other parts of Greece
to a common pastime, without any political or religious intention.[11]

An early image of a fighting rooster has been found on a 6th-century BC seal of

Jaazaniah from the biblical city of Mizpah in Benjamin, near Jerusalem.[12][13]
Remains of these birds have been found at other Israelite Iron Age sites, when the
rooster was used as a fighting bird; they are also pictured on other seals from the
period as a symbol of ferocity, such as the late-7th-century BC red jasper seal
inscribed "Jehoahaz, son of the king",[14][15] which likely belonged to Jehoahaz
of Judah "while he was still a prince during his father's life".[16]

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz wrote the influential essay Deep Play: Notes on
the Balinese Cockfight, on the meaning of the cockfight in Balinese culture.

Regional variations

Spurs taped and tied onto legs

In some regional variations, the birds are equipped with either metal spurs (called
gaffs) or knives, tied to the leg in the area where the bird's natural spur has been
partially removed. A cockspur is a bracelet (often made of leather) with a curved,
sharp spike which is attached to the leg of the bird. The spikes typically range in
length from "short spurs" of just over an inch to "long spurs" almost two and a
half inches long. In the highest levels of 17th century English cockfighting, the
spikes were made of silver. The sharp spurs have been known to injure or even kill
the bird handlers.[17][18] In the naked heel variation, the bird's natural spurs are
left intact and sharpened: fighting is done without gaffs or taping, particularly in
India (especially in Tamil Nadu). There it is mostly fought naked heel and either
three rounds of twenty minutes with a gap of again twenty minutes or four rounds
of fifteen minutes each and a gap of fifteen minutes between them.[19]

Americas

Brazil

Cockfighting, known in Brazil as rinha de galos, was banned in 1934 with the help
of President Getúlio Vargas through Brazil's 1934 constitution, passed on 16 July.
Based on the recognition of animals in the Constitution, a Brazilian Supreme Court
ruling resulted in the ban of animal related activities that involve claimed "animal
suffering such as cockfighting, and a tradition practiced in southern Brazil, known
as 'Farra do Boi' (the Oxen Festival)",[20] stating that "animals also have the right
to legal protection against mistreatment and suffering".[21]

Colombia

In Colombia, cockfighting is a tradition, especially in the Caribbean region and in

some areas of the Andean interior. Cockfights are held during the Festival de la
Leyenda Vallenata in Valledupar. In August 2010, the Constitutional Court of
Colombia rejected a lawsuit that sought to prohibit bullfighting, corralejas and
cockfighting with the argument that they constitute animal abuse. In March 2019,
the same court confirmed such rule, under the argument that cockfighing and
bullfighting are traditions with cultural roots in some municipalities of the
country[22]. The Asociación Nacional de Criadores de Gallos de Pelea organizes an
international cockfighting championship[23].

Cockfighting was immortalized in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by

Gabriel García Márquez, in episodes such as the events that led to the death of
Prudencio Aguilar, or the fondness for it by José Arcadio Segundo. Cockfighting
was one of the main subjects of La Caponera, a tv adaptation of Juan Rulfo's
novel, El gallo de oro, aired in Colombia and other countries in the region during
the late 90s.

Cuba

In Cuba, cockfighting is legal and popular, although gambling on matches has been
banned since the 1959 Revolution.[24][25] The state has opened official arenas,
including a 1,000-seat venue in Ciego de Ávila, but there are also banned
underground cockfighting pits.[25]

Mexico

A cockfight in Mexico, ca. 1913

Cockfighting is not banned in Mexico, and practiced in the Mexican states of

Michoacán, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Sinaloa, and Veracruz, mostly during regional
fairs and other celebrations. Cockfights are performed in palenques (pits).[26]
Cockfighting remains legal in the municipality of Ixmiquilpan and throughout
Mexico.[27]

Peru

Cockfight in Lima, Peru

According to the Encyclopedia of Latino Culture, Peru "has probably the longest
historical tradition" with cockfighting, with the practice possibly dating back to the
16th century.[26] Cockfighting is legal and regulated by the government in Peru.
Most pits (coliseos) in the country are located in Lima.[26]
Asia

Painting of a traditional cockfighting village scene in southern Thailand

A Philippine gamecock

A Philippine "lasak", or off-color fighting cock in teepee, gamecocks cord

Cockfighting is common throughout Southeast Asia, where it is implicated in

spreading bird flu.[28][29] Christianity might shun the belief in spirits, but in
Southeast Asia, indigenous interpretations of the veneration of saints and passion
plays dominate. In the Christian northern Philippines, respect is accorded the
veneration of traditional anito (spirits), shamans number in the thousands and
Catholic priests are powerless to stop cockfighting, a popular form of fertility
worship in Southeast Asia.[30] Also in rural northern Thailand a religious
ceremony honoring ancestral spirits takes place known as "faun phii", spirit dance
or ghost dance, and includes offerings for ancestors with spirit mediums sword
fighting, spirit possessed dancing, and "spirit mediums cockfighting",[31] in a
spiritual cockfight.

India

Cockfight in Tamil Nadu, India

Cockfighting (Kodi Pandem in Telugu) (Kori katta in Tulu) (Vetrukkaal seval porr in
Tamil which means "naked heel cockfight") is a favourite sport of people living in
the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of
Tulu Nadu region of Karnataka, and the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Three- or four-
inch blades (Bal in Tulu) are attached to the cocks' legs. Knockout fights to the
death are widely practised in Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu, the winner is
decided after three or four rounds. People watch with intense interest
surrounding the cocks. The sport has gradually become a gambling sport.

In Jharkhand the cockfighting game is known as 'pada' and the spurs are called
'kant' lots of people enjoy the game, the cockpit is called 'chhad' person in the
cockpit or who ties the spurs is called 'kantkar'.

In the Tamil Nadu districts of Chennai, Tanjore, Trichy and Salem, only the 'naked
heel' variation is permitted. In Erode, Thiruppur, Karur and Coimbatore districts,
only bloody blade fights are conducted. During festival seasons, this is the major
game for men. Women normally don't participate. Only the Pure breeds are
chosen to the fight. Naked heel cocks Fight for long duration compared with Blade
fight cocks.[32]

The cockfight, or more accurately expressed the secular cockfight, is an intense

sport, recreation, or pastime to some, while to others, the cockfight remains an
ancient religious ritual, a sacred ceremony (i.e. a religious and spiritual cockfight)
associated with the ‘daivasthanams’ (temples) and held at the temples precincts.
[33] In January 2012 at India's 'Sun God' Festival the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
district committee, demanded that police not interfere in the cockfighting known
as ‘kozhi kettu’ as it is a part of the temple rituals, while the police replied they
would not interfere if the cockfight is held at a temple.[34]

Indonesia
Confronting two cocks for tabuh rah ritual tajen (fighting) in Bali, Indonesia, 1971

Cockfighting is a very old tradition in Balinese Hinduism, the Batur Bang

Inscriptions I (from the year 933) and the Batuan Inscription (dated 944 on the
Balinese Caka calendar) disclose that the tabuh rah ritual has existed for centuries.
[35]

In Bali, cockfights, known as tajen, are practiced in an ancient religious purification

ritual to expel evil spirits.[36] This ritual, a form of animal sacrifice, is called tabuh
rah ("pouring blood").[37] The purpose of tabuh rah is to provide an offering (the
blood of the losing chicken) to the evil spirits. Cockfighting is a religious obligation
at every Balinese temple festival or religious ceremony.[38] Cockfights without a
religious purpose are considered gambling in Indonesia, although it is still largely
practiced in many parts of Indonesia. Women are generally not involved in the
tabuh rah process. The tabuh rah process is held on the largest pavilion in a
Balinese temple complex, the wantilan.

The American anthropologist Clifford Geertz published his most famous work,
Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, on the practice of cockfights in Bali. In it, he
argued that the cockfight served as a pastiche or model of wider Balinese society
from which judgments about other aspects of the culture could be drawn.

Iraq

Cockfight on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan

Cockfighting is illegal but widespread in Iraq. The attendees come to gamble or

just for the entertainment. A rooster can cost up to $8,000. The most-prized birds
are called Harati, which means that they are of Turkish or Indian origin, and have
muscular legs and necks.[39]
Japan

Cockfighting was introduced to Japan from China in the early 8th century and rose
to popularity in the Kamakura period and the Edo period.[40]Cockfighting
endured in some Japanese regions even after being banned in 1873,[40] during
the Meiji period.[41]

Pakistan

Cockfighting is a popular sport in rural Pakistan; however, "betting is illegal under

the Prevention of Gambling Act 1977".[42] Betting is illegal, but police often turn a
blind eye towards it.[citation needed] In Sindh (one of 4 major provinces of
Pakistan), people are fond of keeping fighting cock breed, known as Sindhi aseel in
Pakistan. These cocks are noted being tall, heavy and good at fighting. Another
popular breed is called Mianwali Aseel. In Sindh Gamblor or Khafti uses Almond
and other power enhancing medicines to feed the fighter cocks.

Philippines

Cockfight in Hilongos, Philippines

Cockfight in Davao City

Cockfighting, locally termed Sabong, is a popular pastime in the Philippines, where

both illegal and legal cockfights occur. Legal cockfights are held in cockpits every
week, whilst illegal ones, called tupada or tigbakay, are held in secluded cockpits
where authorities cannot raid them. In both types, knives or gaffs are used. There
are two kinds of knives used in Philippine cockfighting: single-edged blades (used
in derbies) and double-edged blades; lengths of knives also vary. All knives are
attached on the left leg of the bird, but depending on agreement between
owners, blades can be attached on the right or even on both legs. Sabong and
illegal tupada, are judged by a referee called sentensyador or koyme, whose
verdict is final and not subject to any appeal.[43] Bets are usually taken by the
kristo, so named because of his outstretched hands when calling out wagers from
the audience and skillfully doing so purely from memory.

World Gamefowl Expo 2014, World Trade Center Metro Manila

The country has hosted several World Slasher Cup derbies, held biannually at the
Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, where the world's leading game fowl
breeders gather. World Slasher Cup is also known as the "Olympics of
Cockfighting". The World Gamefowl Expo 2014 was held in the World Trade
Center Metro Manila.

Cockfighting was already flourishing in pre-colonial Philippines, as recorded by

Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian diarist aboard Ferdinand Magellan’s 1521 expedition.
[44] Cockfighting in the Philippines is derived from the fact that it shares elements
of Indian and other Southeast Asian cultures, where the jungle fowl (bankivoid)
and Oriental type of chicken are endemic.

Other bird species

Male saffron finches[45] and canaries have been used in fights on occasion.[46]

Legal status
Cockfight in Vietnam

Cockfight in Otavalo, Ecuador

Americas

Costa Rica

Cockfights have been illegal in Costa Rica since 1922.[47] The government deems
the activity as animal cruelty, public disorder and a risk for public health and is
routinely repressed by the State's National Secretary for Animal Welfare.[48] The
activity is also rejected by most of the population as 88% of Costa Ricans dislike
cockfights according to recent polls of the National University.[49] Since 2017 the
activity is punishable with up to 2 years of prison.[50]

Cuba

Cockfighting was so common during the Cuban colonization by Spain, that there
were arenas in every urban and rural town. The first official known document
about cockfighting in Cuba dates from 1737. It is a royal decree asking, to the
governor of the island, a report about the inconveniences that might cause
cockfights "with the people from land and sea" and asking for information about
rentals of the games. The Spaniard Miguel Tacón, Lieutenant General and
governor of the colony, banned cockfighting by a decree dated on October 20,
1835, limiting these spectacles only to holidays.

In 1844 a decree dictated by the Captain General of the island, Leopoldo

O'Donnell, forbade to non-white people the attendance to these shows. During
the second half of the 19th century many authorizations were conceded for
building arenas, until General Juan Rius Rivera, then civilian governor in Havana,
prohibited cockfighting by a decree of October 31, 1899, and later the Cuban
governor, General Leonard Wood, dictated the military order no. 165 prohibiting
cockfights in the whole country since June 1, 1900.[51]

In the first half of the 20th century, legality of cockfights suffered several ups and
downs.[52]

In 1909 the then Cuban president José Miguel Gómez, with the intention to gain
followers, allowed cockfights once again, and then regulations were agreed for the
fights.[53]

Up to beginnings of 1968 cockfights used to be held everywhere in the country,

but with the purpose of stopping the bets, the arenas were closed and the fights
forbidden by the authorities. In 1980 authorities legalized cockfights again and a
state business organization was created with the participation of the private
breeders, grouped in territories. Every year the state organization announces
several national tournaments from January to April, makes trade shows and sells
fighting cocks to clients from other Caribbean countries.[51]

Dominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic, cockfighting is both legal and very popular. There is at
least one arena (gallera) in every town whereas in bigger cities larger coliseos can
be found. Important fights are broadcast on television and newspapers have
dedicated pages to cock fights and the different trabas, the local name for
gamefowl breeding grounds. Those dedicated to the breeding and training of
fighting cocks are called galleros or traberos. The cocks are often outfitted with
special spurs made from various materials (ranging from plastic to metal or even
carey shell) and fights are typically to the death. Public perception of the sport is
as normal as that of baseball or any other major sport.
United States

Cockfighting club in Puerto Rico, 1937

Birds used for cock fights in the United States in the twentieth century were
outfitted with "with metal razor-edged blades" strapped to their legs.[54] Today,
however, the sport is illegal in all fifty U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The
last state to implement a state law banning cockfighting was Louisiana; the
Louisiana State Legislature voted to approve a ban in June 2007,[55] which went
into effect in August 2008.[56]

As of 2013:

Cockfighting is a felony in 40 states and the District of Columbia.[57]

The possession of birds for fighting is prohibited in 39 states and the District of
Columbia.[57]

Being a spectator at a cockfight is prohibited in 43 states and the District of

Columbia.[57]

The possession of cockfighting implements is prohibited in 15 states.[57]

Additionally, the 2014 farm bill, signed into law by President Obama, contained a
provision making it a federal crime to attend an animal fighting event or bring a
child under the age of 16 to an animal fighting event.[58]

Cockfighting will be illegal as of December 2019 in five U.S. territories—American

Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands— as was signed into law in the 2018 farm bill, by President Trump, at the
end of 2018.[59] In Puerto Rico, cockfighting is popular and is considered a
"national sport"; according to a National Park Service report, it generates about
$100 million annually. There are some 200,000 fighting birds annually on the
island. Puerto Rico's Cockfighting Commission regulates 87 clubs, but many non-
government sanctioned "underground" cockfighting operations exist.[60]

The Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, a federal law that made it a
federal crime to transfer cockfighting implements across state or national borders
and increasing the penalty for violations of federal animal fighting laws to three
years in prison became law in 2007. It passed the House of Representatives 368–
39 and the Senate by unanimous consent and was signed into law by President
George W. Bush.[61]

The Animal Welfare Act was amended again in 2008 when provisions were
included in the 2008 Farm Bill (P.L. 110-246). These provisions tightened
prohibitions on dog and other animal fighting activities, and increase penalties for
violation of the act.[62]

Major law enforcement raids against cockfighting occurred in February 2014 in

New York State (when 3,000 birds were seized and nine men were charged with
felony animal-fighting in "Operation Angry Birds, the state's largest-ever
cockfighting bust)[63][64][65] and in May 2017 in California (when the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department seized 7,000 cockfighting birds at a ranch in
Val Verde, California, one of the largest cockfighting busts in U.S. history).[66][67]
In 2014, Princess Irina of Romania pleaded guilty in federal court to operating a
cockfighting ring in Oregon.[68][69]

Asia
India

The Supreme Court of India has banned cockfighting as a violation of the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, but it remains popular, especially in the rural
coast of Andhra Pradesh, with large amount of betting involved, especially around
the festival of Sankranti.[70][71][72]

Philippines

There is no nationwide ban of cockfighting in the Philippines but since 1948,

cockfighting is prohibited every Rizal Day on December 30 where violators can be
fined or imprisoned due to the Republic Act No. 229.[73]

Indonesia

All forms of gambling, including the gambling within secular cockfighting, were
made illegal in 1981 by the Indonesian government, while the religious aspects of
cockfighting within Balinese Hinduism remain protected. However, secular
cockfighting remains widely popular in Bali, despite its illegal status.[74]

Australia

Cockfighting, and the possession of cockfighting equipment, is illegal in Australia.

[75][76]

Europe

France
Holding cockfights is a crime in France, but there is an exemption under
subparagraph 3 of article 521–1 of the French penal code for cockfights and
bullfights in locales where an uninterrupted tradition exists for them. Thus,
cockfighting is allowed in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, where it takes place in a
small number of towns including Raimbeaucourt, La Bistade[77] and other villages
around Lille.[78] However, the construction of new cockfighting areas is
prohibited, a law upheld by the Constitutional Council of France in 2015.[79]

Cockfighting is also legal in some French Overseas Territories.[79]

Spain

Cockfighting is banned in Spain except in two Spanish regions: the Canary Islands
and Andalusia. In Andalusia, however, the activity has virtually dissapeared,
surviving only within a program to maintain the fighting breed "combatiente
español" coordinated by the University of Córdoba. [80] Spain's Animal Protection
Law of 1991 recognizes an exception for these regions based on cultural heritage
and a history of cockfighting in the region.[81][26] Animal rights organizations
have sought to ban the bloodsport nationwide, but have not been successful in
advancing legislation through the Spanish Parliament.[81]

United Kingdom

Cockfighting was banned outright in England and Wales and in the British
Overseas Territories with the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835. Sixty years later, in
1895, cockfighting was also banned in Scotland, where it had been relatively
common in the 18th century.[82] A reconstructed cockpit from Denbigh in North
Wales may be found at St Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff[83] and a
reference exists in 1774 to a cockpit at Stanecastle in Scotland.[84]
According to a 2007 report by the RSPCA, cockfighting in England and Wales was
still taking place, but had declined in recent years.[85]

New Zealand

The act of cockfighting is illegal under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, as is the
possession, training and breeding of cocks for fighting.[86]

In popular culture

Sunday Cockfight at Madrid, an 1873 wood engraving

Cockfighting has inspired artists in several fields to create works which depict the
activity. Several organizations, including the University of South Carolina,
Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, and London football team
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. have a gamecock as their mascot. The University of
Delaware's mascot, the Blue Hen, was named for a blue strain of American
gamecock. The students' section at University of Delaware football games is called
the "Cockpit."

In music

Cockfighting has also been mentioned in songs such as Kings of Leon's "Four
Kicks" and Bob Dylan's song "Cry a While" from the album Love and Theft. The
story song "El Gallo del Cielo" by Tom Russell is entirely about cockfighting, and
the lyrics utilize detailed imagery of fighting pits, gamecocks, and gambling on the
outcome of the fights. Cockfighting has also been in Korean boy band Exo's music
video for "Lotto".
In visual arts

The Cock Fight, from Jean-Léon Gérôme (1846)

The painting The Cock Fight (1846) an academic exercise of the French painter
Jean-Léon Gérôme, Vainqueur au combat de coqs (1864) bronze statue from the
French sculptor Alexandre Falguière and the painting Cockfight (1882) from the
Flemish painter Emile Claus are samples of the presence of cockfighting in visual
arts.

The Expressionist painter Sir Robin Philipson, of Edinburgh, was well known for his
series of works that included depictions of cockfighting.

Cockfight, from Emile Claus (1882)

The 1930 cartoon Mexico shows Oswald the Lucky Rabbit challenging a bear in a
cockfight. The 1938 cartoon Honduras Hurricane features the pirate John Silver
forcing Captain Katzenjammer into a rigged cockfight. Other cartoon depictions
portray humanized roosters treating cockfights like boxing matches; these
cartoons include Disney's Cock o' the Walk (1936), MGM's Little Bantamweight
(1938), and Walter Lantz's The Bongo Punch (1958).

Live-action films that include scenes of the sport include the 1964 Mexican film El
Gallo De Oro, the 1965 film The Cincinnati Kid, and the 1974 film Cockfighter,
directed by Monte Hellman (based on the novel of the same name by Charles
Willeford).
Falguière's Victor of the Cockfight, book engraving c. 1900, with added drapery

The 1990 film No Fear, No Die centers around two men who are part of an illegal
cockfighting ring.

Cockfighting is depicted twice in the 2011 film The Rum Diary.

The Spike TV show 1000 Ways to Die features a death involving a cockfight, where
a man who bets on a rooster attaches razors to its claws to ensure its winning, but
is slashed to death himself.

In the Seinfeld episode "The Little Jerry", Kramer enters his rooster into a cockfight
in order to get one of Jerry's bounced checks removed from a local bodega where
the cockfights actually take place.

In the HBO series Eastbound & Down, Kenny Powers moves to Mexico and is in
the cockfighting business until his cock "Big Red" dies.

The 2011 Tamil film Aadukalam revolves around the practice of cockfighting in
Madurai, Tamil Nadu. In the FX Network's police drama, The Shield episode titled
"Two Days of Blood" (season #1, episode #12), Detective Shane Vendrell and
Detective Curt Lemansky go undercover in a cockfighting event to track down an
illegal arms smuggler.

In literature
Abraham Valdelomar's 1918 tale El Caballero Carmelo depicts a cockfight between
the protagonist, a cock named Carmelo, and his rival Ajiseco from a child's
perspective, who considered this bird as an heroic member of his family.
Nathanael West's 1939 novel The Day of the Locust includes a detailed and
graphic cockfighting scene, as does the Alex Haley novel Roots: The Saga of an
American Family and the miniseries based on it. In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's
Nobel-Prize winning 1967 novel One Hundred Years Of Solitude, cockfighting is
outlawed in the town of Macondo after the patriarch of the Buendia family
murders his cockfighting rival and is haunted by the man's ghost. Charles Willeford
wrote a novel called Cockfighter, in 1972, which gives a detailed account of the
protagonist's life as a 'cocker'. A description of a bordertown cockfight fiesta can
be found in On the Border: Portraits of America's Southwestern Frontier.[87]

In martial arts

The term "human cockfighting" was used by United States senator John McCain to
describe mixed martial arts, which at the time he was campaigning to ban.[88]

In video games

The video game Law & Order: Legacies uses a cockfight as a plot point. With a
man having died because of a rooster with a spur had slashed him, but with a
twist that he would have survived if his wife had called the police.

"Two cocks fighting: striving for Christ and the palm of glory."

Square Enix's video game Sleeping Dogs allows the player character to spectate
and bet on various virtual cockfights based around the game's rendition of the city
of Hong Kong.