OK, I can steelman this. Back in the day you could fill the Colosseum with water and have simulated naval battles in it. That's pretty badass and I would actually watch some gunboats (maybe without the cannons for safety and fairness) duke it out in a pool.

Even so, we have combat sports in this day and age. Gladiators were professional athletes and the fights were arranged to seem deadly while making sure a gladiator could expect to see retirement age. Kinda like MMA with impractical anime weapons. Executions by blood sport were a separate matter, but I doubt most of the people on the receiving end felt much of a rush of the righteous warfare.

In any case I can disconfirm. Am a man, don't wanna fight. It's dangerous, traumatic and painful and I'm a short out of shape nerd. I've had more training than most people on how to maximize my K/D ratio in the woods lugging around an assault rifle, but I think just training was nightmarish enough. There are very few if any things worth being in a war for.