The Octagon Should Be The Standard

The recent appearances of MMA in popular shows like Dancing with the Stars and The Simpsons are clear signs that Mixed Martial Arts has begun to enter mainstream culture, at least in North America. The Simpsons episode featured a fighting ring called “the Septagon” (It should have been called a Heptagon). This week I take a closer look at the fighting surfaces in MMA, specifically, the Octagon.

The UFC has done a lot of things to bring MMA to the mainstream. First and foremost among those things is regulation. In the early days of the UFC, the idea of Ultimate Fighting was considered more along the lines of a spectacle than a sport. When Zuffa purchased the UFC, they pushed forward with regulating the sport and promoting what are known as the “unified rules” of mixed martial arts.

Dana White has frequently stated that one of his main goals is to make the sport in such a way that the way it is done in North America is the same way that it is done all around the world. This is an important step in the growth of the sport. But there is one glaring issue that still plagues MMA uniformity. The UFC uses an eight-sided cage standing upon a regular octagon. Out of the other major MMA organizations, only Zuffa’s other organization, the WEC, uses an eight-sided cage. Other organizations tend to use either a ring, or cages built upon other regular polygons. Part of the reason for this, is because the UFC has trademarked the usage of the word “Octagon.”

Other sports don’t have this sort of problem. They all adopt standard sizes for the playing surface. It seems that only baseball diamonds differ in size, and even then, there are standard dimensions for the baseball diamonds. Mixed Martial Arts organizations need to adopt this kind of uniformity. People will take the sport more seriously when this kind of obvious visual difference disappears.

As it stands, the varying shapes of the fighting surfaces is distracting from the competition.

The eight sided cage is a fairly ideal setting for an MMA fight. Eight sides is enough to make wide angles so that fighters do not get caught up in corners, while having a cage instead of the ropes of a boxing ring prevents fighters from becoming entangled within the ropes.

A four-sided cage looks much like a jail cell, and also can make fighting awkward in the corners. six-sided cage like the one used by Strikeforce is not really any less functional than an Octagon, but uniformity would still be ideal. A circular cage might make some sense, but there are actually some practical complications of a circular cage. In order to grow the sport, it needs to be accessible to the masses. Construction of a circular cage is simply more difficult than the construction of an Octagon. Since the Octagon is already the adopted setting of the flagship MMA organization, it simply makes the most sense that the Octagon becomes the standard.

The boxing-style rings used in other organizations simply need to go. Boxing rings are fine for boxing, but are very impractical for MMA. In most cases, the ropes serve to benefit strikers, because they can often entangle themselves in the ropes to avoid falling to the ground. When the fight does hit the ground though, the ropes cause further problems for grapplers. When two fighters are grappling near the ropes, a fighter can sometimes escape by crawling under the ropes. In other cases, the fight is often paused and reset closer to the middle of the ring. Along with being awkward to watch, the referee often accidentally places the fighters in slightly altered positions to the detriment of one of the fighters.

There are some legitimate concerns about the aesthetic appeal of a cage instead of a ring. MMA isn’t for everyone, but if you’re okay with what goes on inside an MMA environment, you’re probably also okay with the cage itself.

Aside from just the shape and materials of an Octagon though, the UFC should also be adopting a standard size. Recently, Dana White has admitted that the UFC has talked about using a smaller Octagon. The assumed intention would be to discourage running and elusiveness. This despite the fact that elusiveness and running have rarely been problems within the UFC.

Besides just discouraging elusiveness, there would be other side-effects of making the Octagon smaller. One of them is that a smaller Octagon would probably benefit wrestlers, as they like being able to press their opponents up against the fence, both avoiding strikes and submissions.

Few people are aware of the fact that UFC Octagons are already not of a standard size, as they vary depending on the location and size of the venue. The UFC should be adopting a standard size. Aside from the drawbacks already mentioned, consider MMA on a grassroots level. People are training to fight in an Octagon of a certain shape and size. Changing the size of the Octagon will doubtless have an effect on the currently used strategies.

There are always small modifications made in sports for various reasons. In the case of MMA, let us finally make the sport look the same by standardizing the Octagon. After we do that we can worry about keeping it a standard size. In order for these things to happen, the UFC is going to need to play a big role, and prove that they’re serious about standardizing the sport.

By Darren Wong for FightMania.com

Tags: Dana White, Strikeforce, UFC, WEC