After all this time I've finally seen the light

[Soy Chingon]

For a long time I was an avid supporter of the cage in MMA..yes =/

Recently I've realized just how much the cage sucks. Took me long enough. My main thing against the ring was guys getting tangled in the ropes and all that shit to do with the ropes. But you know what? The positives of the ring outweigh that one flaw of ring ropes.

The cage encourages stalling. Recently cagehugging has been at an all time high. More guys who aren't there to fight but instead win on points are using it to thier advantage. Although the cage can be used to get back up or push someone into it to ground n pound, it's just the same shit over again. Guy pushes guy against the cage, tries to get a takedown for a whole minute, finally gets a takedown, guy on bottom uses cage to get back up, rinse and repeat. The part where the guy on bottom is trying to get back up is one of the worst, it's where all the leg humping happens. It favours wrestlers too much.

In the ring you can still push a guy into the corner or up against the ropes but atleast their isn't a whole barrier behind them that starts the try to stand back up/leg hump game. It can also get repositioned in the centre, where a guy has more room to work for submissions and the guy on top can worry less about hugging his opponent's leg so they don't stand back up using the cage.

Strikers can cut off the ring and all fighters in general can just use better footwork than in the cage where you can just circle around the whole thing. In the octagon you can pretty much just run around the whole thing. In a ring atleast if you wanna do that, you have to be aware of footwork.

And ring is much better for spectators. I went to WEC 49 and the top of the cage blocks the view sometimes, as do the pillars and cameramen standing over it

I literally just had an epiphany about this. Just randomly came to my mind. Can't believe I thought cage was better

[gumby]

elite stend ap posting.

ring is way better. they could probably even improve it with some $$$ investment.

[Soy Chingon]

I just thought about this like 10 mins ago and it just all made sense to me. Cage sucks, I dunno how I preferred it to ring all this time

[Fizzle]

good post brother. i agree and spot on about the running around thing.

there's only room for 1 cage in mma and that would be in yamma.

[Stu3ufc]

jesus about time Soy! I been saying the ring is better for years now!

The cage should not be used as an advantage for fighters to stall/ get takedowns the purpose of the cage is to keep them contained inside.

it annoys me how much time a fighter is allowed to pin a guy up against the cage and not do much!

[IQ Wrestler]

Ring has and will always be better, The cage is nothing but a gimmick
WE LOVE RING!!

[London Calling]

I think a circular cage is best

[w9]

They should make the cage have an electric fence.

[Wifebeater]

They should make the cage have an electric fence.

[Kid Gavilan]

Welcome to the darkside.

[Dorch]

Agreed 100%. People use the ring reset in the middle as an excuse to hating it.

Ring = Restart in the center .
Cage= Stall on the fence.

I know what i prefer...

[ArielHelwani]

I want some promotion to reintroduce rope escapes

[glassjaw890]

good post brother. i agree and spot on about the running around thing.

there's only room for 1 cage in mma and that would be in yamma.

This is by far the most logical choice, because it forces the same angles as a cage but none of the downsides of the ropes. Believe it or not, the shape of the arena (meaning octagon vs. ring) has a lot to do with what kind of angles you can pull and how you go about setting shit up. How did they reset shit in Yamma when it went to the edge though?

[DieOff]

They didn't reset in Yamma, they just let everyone get Layed and Prayed.

[Sherko]

I completely agree about the ring. I also hate the unified rules.

Also, the cage is NOT good for the image of MMA. Therefor it's harder to get it accepted in mainstream.
And the beautiful Muay Thai clinch is useless if people abuse the unified rules.

But I don't think the cage will be replaced with the ring any time soon unfortunately.

Actually, when I was watching Alves vs Story I thought to myself how exciting it would be if you could just hit somebody to the back of the head.
So if a wrestler humps on your leg for a minute, he can do that while getting elbowed to the back of his head.
I'm sure he'll let go eventually.
I know it's controversial and we don't want seriosu injuries, but I honestly think that would avoid a lot of stalling moments.

Always looking at your opponent is a basic principle in combat sports. If you can't understand that concept you deserve to be elbowed or kicked to the back of your head.

It's like Bruce Lee said:

Never take your eyes off your opponent... even when you're bowing!

[brace]

^ Didn't Mr. Miyagi say that?

[Ronin]

Nope, Bruce Lee did in the late 60's.