The Cage Should Be Abolished
Posted on January 2, 2011, 01:43 PM by overhand rightSince the UFC's inception, it has used a cage. The octagon is as much of a UFC trademark as it is a symbol of the sport. Other promotions such as Strikeforce, the late WEC and Bellator have also adopted the cage as a platform for their fighters. After all, many would argue that it is what seperates MMA from every other combat sport.
But is the cage a hinderance to the fighters and the demand for exciting fights? One of the more recent criticisms of contemporary MMA is the so called 'lay 'n prayers' that are dominating the sport in a lacklustre manner. Many fights end up against the cage, with fighters throwing just the right amount of strikes to stop from being separated by the referee.
On the JMMA scene they use a more traditional stage for their fights: a ring. The ropes appears to be much more difficult to push your opponent up against and allow for more free flowing fights. Japanese referees are also nowhere near as lenient with stalling as western ones are and are quick to break up a clinch if the fighters are not making an attempt to do damage, improve position or work for a takedown. Perhaps it is no coincidence after all that the most exciting fights of all time took place between the four corners of the Pride FC ring.
The cage also allows for the man on top to trap his opponent up against the fence, a tactic that is predominantly used by wrestlers. In a ring there are boundaries to how far into the ropes you can go before you fall out and fighters that go too far beyond these perimiters are broken up and reset in the middle of the ring, making it easier for the bottom man to sweep or shrimp away and thus providing a level playing field. The cage can also be worked to a fighter's benefit for getting up by walking their feet or back up the cage so it really comes down to whether being trapped against the fence or being able to manoeuvre your way up it is more important.
Another drawback of the cage is the publicity it gets. It is already widely accepted that the UFC has by far the largest fanbase out of MMA promotions and thus are most responsible for representing the sport. MMA has had many hurdles to jump over the years with regards to public opinion, one of the main ones being the 'barbarism' of the sport. By locking these professional sports men and women in a cage, a very gritty and savage picture is being painted, one that will not help it in the quest for global recognition and legalisation.
An irritating blunder that is often made by casual fans or people unfamiliar with the sport is referring to MMA in general as 'cagefighting'. It is an international sport that is presented differently wherever you go. Calling it cagefighting is simply buying into the Zuffa branding and copywright they are trying to put on MMA. People need to be educated and realise that the fighters aren't thugs from the streets that get locked in a cage to fight in a no holds-barred slugfest. They are well rounded mixed martial artists and high level athletes and should be presented as such.
The sooner the cage goes, the sooner the sport will be able to evolve and eradicate the stigma that is attached to it.
Comments
Pride had a higher decision rate than UFC
delete this article, just a weak troll job
no need to be so hostile, it's just an opinion article that's designed to make people debate.
Rings suck dude. I've fought in both and rings are nothing more than a pain in the A**. The ropes are a complete hindrance to fighters.
The cage is an ICON in MMA history and will never go away. Whole styles have been developed based on fighting in a cage.....
I appreciate your opinion, but totally disagree.
@ cagerage, cool to hear from someone who has experience in both. thanks :D
But the Cage benefits wreslters
the cage does not help wrestlers it's there for everybody to use however they see fit. most times these days people try to drag the guy away from the cage because its easier to get up against the cage. also you just as reasonably make the arguement that the cage helps strikers because its much larger than a ring and offers many more angles in which to move. nick diaz was pretty much the guy who started the cage/wrestlers propaganda and he might be a little bias seeing how he has lost to almost every wrestler he has fought.
it may help wrestlers but we wouldnt of seen pettis turn into a star if he was fighting in a ring
plus i think its the refs responsibility keep the fight flowing when a fighter is stalling. the cage has nothing to do with it.
This would be good cause wrestler's are taking over and making boring fights. Pride may have had a higher decision rate but the fights were so much more entertaining.
The cage helps wrestlers no more than any other style... In fact, a ring gives fighters a way to get a break when they are in trouble. I saw this more than once in the latest Dream and Sengoku match-ups. Even fighters purposely sticking their heads out of the ropes and then looking at the ref as if to ask him to break them or move them.... I cant speak for everyone, but I loath seeing a ref step in and slide the fighters around the ring because of the ropes. Its very anticlimactic and kills the momentum of the match-up.
I agree about the ropes being used to a fighter's advantage. I think it is a weak move. Also in the article, there is a contradiction. It is stated that wrestlers are able to pin their opponents against the cage in what is implied to be an unfair advantage. Later in the same paragraph it is stated that a fighter can "walk" himself up the cage, also implying an unfair advantage. These two "advantages" negate and neutralize each other. I agree wrestling type fighters are currently dominating. I don't believe this necessitates a rule change however. Rules weren't change to negate a jiu-jitsu practitioners advantage. Fighters adapted and learned jiu-jitsu defense. This will happen again but with wrestling. The sport is evolving before our eyes and the cage is a part of that. This evolution is one of the most fascinating aspects of the sport and it should not be stopped or reverted, but encouraged. That said, I do believe a non-active ground fighter should be given stronger "encouragement" to work to improve position or do damage, as they are in JMMA.
agree one hundred percent it only takes one time to see a guy escape out the ropes to avoid a tko or the thousands of time outs due to repositioning (in pride they were often very questionable being used to give one fighter a advantage over the other less so in dream but it still happens)or a fighter sticking his head outside the ropes forcing his opponent to punch through the ropes
My thoughts exactly... When the whole anti-wrestling campaign kicked-off it was very reminiscent of the 90's. A lot of today's fans were not around to realize that they are echoing the same sentiments expressed when BJJ was dominating all the big burly tough guys. The fans who were there hoping to see these street fighters rip apart the pint-sized martial artists were angry and cried foul when guys like Royce would drag them to the mat and make them tap.
The moral of the story.... Just as in the evolution of life, there will always be a superior form that will then drive others to adapt and reform in order to survive. MMA is unlike any other sport in this aspect. Its fighting... Just like DW always says, its in our DNA. For this reason the sport is always in a constant state of evolution and growth.
again i have no problem with wrestling, it is as much a part of mma as kickboxing or bjj is and can be quite exciting in it's own ways e.g. aggressive takedowns or slams.
what irks me and what the article is mostly about is the stalling that the cage allows. perhaps the answer really is to just implement a better reffing system or some kind of rule change. i've noticed that japanese refs are more competent than the ones we have over here. i do NOT feel strongly about the cage, it creates more of a spectacle than a ring but it is more what the cage allows fighters to do that the article is about. it's just a suggestion and i wrote it to see what people's reactions would be, it was originally going to be a poll.
and @ lijense8, the very reason i mentioned the ability of fighters to shuffle up the cage was because i knew somebody would use that as a counter argument and i was simply making people aware that i already realised that advantage was made available by the cage, and a few sentences later i pose the question "it really comes down to whether being trapped against the fence or being able to manoeuvre your way up it is more important". imo it is easier to trap an opponent against the fence than it is for the bottom man to work his way up so in this way the cage is favouring those that can take their opponents down by outwrestling them.
I wasn't trying to take away from your opinion with my comment. You make valid points and conveyed them well. I was simply voicing my opinion about the matter. I agree with you about the wrestling being boring sometimes. I believe Japanese refs do a better job, but sometimes they are a little too hasty in the standup. The best reffing system would be somewhere I between but probably leaning closer the the Japanese style of reffing. The rule system that is in place is good, it just has to be implemented more aggressively.
No worries man, its a well written article and as you said, its meant to drive debate amongst readers. Which is all my comments are intended to be : )
yeah the reffing system needs t be brushed up. too many refs let guys stall and waste time when it's clear they're not making any effort. they should really consider getting former fighters in to ref and judge, or at least people that have some experience in the sport.
Now make your yellow card article lol....you'll get good debate there too, I used to be a masterdebater hahahaah
Great post! I agree with most points you've made and you have put them all forward excellently but there is a few things that I think need to be discussed:
- Without the cage it can be almost impossible to get up off your back against high level grapplers and I feel that if you can keep an opponent down for longer you need more options. As you mentioned the ring used in Pride, you have to remember they were allowed knee strikes and kicks to the head etc. Also to be able to kick the opponent of your back. I think the cage is a positive for ground fighting as it allows an opponent to get back up easier in a lot of cases.
- I partly agree with the idea that the "lay and pray" method is a boring one and is taking away the action seen back in Pride but if your argument is for making MMA a more legitimate sport in the eyes of many then I believe "Lay and Pray" is more helpful than the back and forth striking battle which is more likely to result in injuries which arrogant viewers can hold against the sport and claim barbarism. In my opinion something needs to be done to push fighters to be more active and stop "Lay and Pray" tactics but taking the away the cage, in my mind, is the wrong way to go about it.
- Clinching against the cage allows people to "Lay and Pray" if they wish but it can almost make more devastating and exciting displays shown recently by Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir and demonstrated countless times by Randy Couture and his dirty boxing. This may not be the same as clinching against the ropes, used excellently by Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage Jackson 2, which allows for better knee strikes etc. Cage clinching can be a lot more boring than rope clinching but it can be just as exciting and effective, it just depends how you use it and it can be used well.
- I do agree with your publicity issue with the cage. I believe that it is among other people, the casual fan which is largely to fault for this although they do not realise or mean it. The sport is Mixed Martial Arts and not Cage Fighting. I am in the same boat as you when I hear MMA referred to as Cage Fighting, the big problem which this simple thing brings about can be best shown in an example - I go through to my living room to ask my Mum if I can watch Cage Fighting in there, I know she would say no simply because of the connotations that run through her mind of bloody, no bars held matches. If I asked to watch Mixed Martial Arts she would most likely say yes as none of these connotations occur.
In my opinion the cage should not be removed and doesn't need to be if fighters are more responsible with the rules and men such as Bob Reilly stop being arrogant.
great comment and all are good counter points
i have no problem with wrestlers, as long as they are constantly working to advance position or do damage. stalling on the ground or against the cage either to waste time or grind out a win is what irritates me.
i'm not even a big fan of 'slug fests' as often there is little skill involved by the latter rounds, just mindless swinging at each other's heads with no abandon. the best fights for me are the ones that combine great exhibitions of grappling and striking and represent all aspects of mma and above all, show an initiative to fight.
again this is just an opinion and i'm completely open to other's views. I might even change mine if i see a good enough counter argument :)
@T666
it sure is man and its also in my opinion something that helps differntiate MMA form boxing, kickboxing and even professional wrestling, trust me anybody who sees a cage immediatly knows its MMA and thats a good thing as MMA gets more of a unique identity and image
I really like both. If I had to choose though, I would get rid of the cage. I believe it's the fighters job to adapt to where they are fighting. One thing I do like about the rings though is that they are bigger. Fighters could move around a lot more.
where do you get your info the ufc octagon is almost twice the size as the pride and dream ring strikeforce wec and bellator use a smaller cage though
the UFC octagon is 30 feet and a Dream/ Pride ring is 26 feet in diameter, id actuall like to see a 26 foot octagon so guys wont have as much space to run and have to engage with their opponent more, part of the reason i think WEC fights were so exciting was due to the smaller octagon along with the awesom fighters and lower weight classes
How about half cage half ring?
Ask Dream, they'll probably do it.
awesome idea man id love to see that lol i dont think its as crazy as it sounds though because the Dynamite 2010 card took crazy to a new level by having fights mixing rounds between kickboxing rules and MMA rules
Bring back knees to the head of downed opponents and soccer kicks! Simple solution to the problem. Its not the cage, its the influx of high level wrestlers.
soccar kicking anybody in the head in an MMA fight or a street fight is a scumbag move in my opinion
The ring makes fights so much more BORING! The fight is constantly being stopped to drag fighters back into the middle of the ring. Fighters are constantly getting tied up in the ropes. What's needed is better referees who stand up the lay and prayers.
Wrestling is a part of MMA, weather we all like it or not. Guy's should be able to do whatever they have to in order to win, but I do agree that something has to be done about the Cole Konrad's of the world. A ring isn't the answer though, more specific and in depth rules, for standing fighters up, is the answer.
i agree man
No Cage means no Anthony Pettis matrix kick. For that a n 1000 other reasons I like the cage.
lol if he'd done that off a rope he could have made himself into a human slingshot :P
lol, that would be funny but I feel he may have 1 testicle cut off.
This article is bang on
I think Japan should have rings because thats were it's famous for K-1 or Dream/ Other Japanese MMA
@Overhand right
i agree with most of your article however i am a huge fan of the cage for a number of reasons, i belive it to be safer than a ring as you cant fall through the cage as you can with ring ropes and ropes also can cause neck damage to fighters, also i think a ring gives an unfair advantage to kickboxers and boxers who can work their opponent in the corner, i do hate the term "Cage fighter" though
Id like to see a judo style arena. with penalty areas. going into a red area would bring the fight back to the middle. and going there on your own could result in a point deducted by the referee.