To my mind octagon control has always been your ability to limit your opponents' choices by cornering them and getting ahead of them on their tries to circle out of the "corner". Constantly backing up and countering is not "not having octagon control" but being slowly pushed into a smaller and smaller pocket and denied the escape by the movement of the more-centered guy is octacon control. That guy chooses where you can be in the octagon. If you are not cornered, just backing away going for counters, your movement in the octagon isn't really limited. I think the examples one could show about this are quite clear.
When you get a guy closer and closer to the cage it becomes easier and easier to limit their escape from in front of you, and eventually they can't even back up anymore. You can. So you can swoop in and strike without the possibility of a backwards dodge. Whereas if your opponent swoops in you can always dodge backwards. That is a clear advantage and it's the result of having octagon control and using it. Standing in the middle or moving constantly forwards doesn't mean shit if you don't limit what your opponent can do or where he can move.
