Looking for some insight

[TheGumby]

What's going on guys, had a question on my mind after watching some old Pride stuff. What major differences occur from fighting in a cage vs the ring? I'm fairly educated in MMA but pride was just a bit before my time. Wanted to get yalls opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of both arena types.

 

[Phildiesel]

I like the cage format better. Fighters used to fall through the ropes in Pride and so on. The cage allows for people to either be trapped and get hammered or it can help fighters get up. Cage all the way!

 

[Pointy Elbows]

If someone's on the ropes in a ring, they can still lean back to avoid punches...cage doesn't really allow you to do that.

You can get hemmed up pretty nicely in the corner of a ring though. If you listen to recent podcast between Joe Roganand Bas, he breaks it down pretty well.

 

[Medical Marijuana Man]

Man I must be going crazy, I read your title as looking for some tonight lol

 

[TheGumby]

Lmao so what we're you coming in here to say

 

[L0ki]

A complaint against Pride was that if fighters went under the ropes, they had a pause in action so they could be repositioned around the center of the ring. Kinda slowed things down.

The ropes also saved some people from GNP.

In Wand Yoshida II, Wand threw a head stomp that, if it wasn't redirected by the rope, would have smashed into Yoshida's face.

I like the cage format better but the Pride rules sort of evened out the playing field or may have swung it in Pride's favor.

 

[Peteyandjia]

People can be cut off easier in a ring because it is smaller, and has corners.

Wrestlers can win more in a cage because it has a wall to press you against, and pressure a slow takedown.

People can also get up easier sometimes in a cage if they know how to wall-walk.

 

[Paynebringer]

Can't fall out of a cage...

 

[jx820]

The ways the ring changes things fall into 2 categories Size and shape of the surface the fighters are contained in, and the ropes.

Size and shape:

• The ring is smaller which makes it much easier to cut off and to pressure your opponents.
• The ring has corners an opponent can get trapped in. The Octagon always has the option of exiting on either side with a little maneuvering.

The ropes (they change a lot strategically because they have elasticity and they are very open):

• The elasticity allows the power of strikes to be absorbed into the ropes rather than into the fighter, like the rope a dope. With a cage the fighter is absorbing almost the full force of the strike.
• The open nature of the ropes allows a wrestler to drive through for deeper penetration on the hips than they could get on the cage. The elasticity then bounces the opponent back to them amplifying the effect of the shot (this elasticity effect happens in the cage a little but not as dramatically. Randy Couture has mentioned using it.)
• If either fighter pushes to the end of the rope's elasticity there's a chance of going through the ropes, which results in outside interference either from guys trying to push the fighters back in, or a full reset* to the same position by the ref.
• Depending on the ring's design, grounded fighters can slide under the ropes as well causing interference and or a full reset* to the same position.
• The ropes can provide an obstacle to either striking in the way of deflected strikes when a defensive fighter is between or under the ropes.
• When grappling it's easier for a fighter to over or under hook a rope than the cage and this can result in prevented takedowns or added leverage from certain positions.

*Resets to the same position occur in the cage as well, but are not nearly as common. Resets of this kind are always undesirable since the exact position is difficult to maintain, the exact pressure is impossible to maintain, and it give the fighters a break to plan their next move from the position

Also, as far as the production of the product goes, because the ring is smaller and the ropes are more open the camera angles can be a lot more diverse with a lot less interruption and with all angles much closer than is possible in a cage.