RING vs CAGE - Boxing vs MMA

There is more than the fight going on in the squared circle or the multi-sided cage than two trained combatants competing in the sport of the combat arts. Each to his own, the boxer and the Mixed Martial Artist (MMA), the Boxer is to the ring as the MMA fighter is to the cage, BUT here in lie’s the problem, who do people want to watch and for that matter who is going to pay to watch these combatants.

To the tried and true boxing fan they are not going to want nothing to do with this gladiatorial blood sport of cage fighting, it is nothing more than “Human cock fighting”, or so that is the consensus of those die hard fans, and it looks like nothing more than a couple of naked men hugging.

Well before all you “Cage fighting” fans blow a blood vessel give me time to continue.

And now enter the Cage fighter fans … “Boxing is dead!”, “It’s an old man sport”, “Who want to watch two guys dance around and fake punches at each other for 10 rounds?”, “And besides that ring is so out of fashion” and “Boxing is plain out boring”.

Now I’m not saying that this is what every fan is saying, whatever side of the fence you are on, (oops that’s a cage reference, sorry boxing fans), but there has to be a common ground that can achieve a common fan base that will appeal to both boxer and MMA fighter.

It is true boxing has essentially not changed since it’s inception, but MMA has made some huge changes from the beginning days of traditional Martial Artists pitting their Art against another until there is only one man standing. MMA is much more of a legitimate sport combining Boxing (yes boxing), Kick Boxing, Wrestling and Submission Grappling. MMA is now using a scoring system similar to boxing but with a bit of wrestling thrown in, this all being said to show there is an advancement in MMA to make it a legitimate combat sport, not to rival boxing but to at least become a close runner up, the big difference is in the purse a combatant gets paid and we will get into this soon.

Ok, there isn’t much that can be done with the boxing ring, it is a stand alone historical icon, we see a ring and we know people are going to be fighting, so there is not much I am going to banter about on this issue. Now enter the CAGE, very ominous isn’t it, not a place for the weak, It’s a cage for Pete’s sake, how cool and tough is that? Ah ha, now I get to the point, what is the purpose of the cage other than shock and awe? It is a serious detraction to the art of MMA for those fans that are not quite sure if they want to watch this new form of combat art. The cage comes with baggage, a history of a blood sport used to entertain the masses for the sheer aspect of seeing blood and brutal beatings, not a place to watch a sport? So what is MMA? A true sport or is it entertainment for the sadistic masses?

Let’s just clear the record, I have never been a boxer and I have been in the MMA business since it was called No Holds Barred Fighting and maybe even a few years before that. I love to watch boxing and I love to watch MMA competitions, strange though that I can say boxing or boxer and everyone knows what I mean but I can’t say MMA without adding competition or fighter to make it sound appropriate.

This is the issue at hand, how can we blend Boxing and MMA to make it appealing to all fans or at least mix a Fight Card to draw both fans to an event and at least get the opposing fans to be mildly interested in the other sport. You can’t have boxers fight in a cage and the mere appearance of a cage will turn most boxing fans away. So why cant MMA fighters (can I use the word MMAists?)
Fight in a ring? They have in the past and still do in some venues especially in Japan, where I might add the fans are extremely devoted and respectable to the Art of Combat. If you get a chance watch a bout from Japan and listen how quiet the audience is, no booing or heckling, just enthusiastic support for techniques well executed.

Anyway, back to the ring, the ring is a very acceptable place to have a MMA competition. As a matter of fact I believe that fighters in a ring have to prove their ability more so than in a cage. In a ring combatants cannot use the ropes as an advantage or “Tool” to aid the fighter in his efforts. If fighters are entangled or pressed into the ropes the referee will move them back to the center of the ring in the last position before stoppage, thereby forcing the fighters to rely on true skill minus the use of a tool like a cage to hold somebody against or spring, push off of, climb, wall walk or any of the other terms used to describe the use of this tool (the cage).

The Cage is without a doubt a spectacle to see, but it seems to me more for the benefit of the crowd than it is for the fighters. Hell, a whole line of clothing has come out based on the word “Cage fighting”. But, do we really need the cage for the competition? Pride Fighting survived for years fighting in a ring as well as DREAM and Sengoku and these fighters seem to get along just fine and several American fighters had found their way in to the squared circle with minor adjustments to their game plans and training.

So what’s the point! I could debate the use of a ring or a cage all day if need be but that would lead to some boring reading and lose all the short attention span fans of either sport, so I will cut to the chase.

I feel if we could drop the security blanket of the cage and begin to have mixed fight cards with the use of the good old fashioned squared circle (That’s a ring for all you rookies) we could begin to get crossover fans interested in paying for and attending events. Imagine if you will a fight card with half boxing and half MMA. Boxing fans would come to see the boxing and MMA fans would come to see the MMA, but both would stick around with mild interest to see the other sport and maybe even strike up some interesting conversations, hell they may even find they might actually get along and establish some well needed camaraderie.

It may make promoting events more cost effective and definitely save on advertising. “Two men enter one man leaves”, one stage, the ring. Set up, lighting, entrance, sound, ring girls, announcer, etc. all in one nice neat little package and for that matter boxing rings generally run less money than cages. Overall, there would appear to me, no reason why you couldn’t combine the two sports and promote them together. Boxing fans just need more education on MMA to win them over, they need to understand the rules and scoring as well as being introduced to the combatants.

Trying to legitimize MMA as an anchor combat sport is going to take MMA to win over the boxing fans, promoters and event promotions. Without support there is always going to be an us vs them and unfortunately for us MMA enthusiasts, the boxers are just plain making more money. The addition of boxing to MMA events or vice a versa would help to bring in new fans to the sport and fill venues with a mixed bag of fans, I for one would love to see boxing matches during an MMA event, it would help to break up the monotony of 15 fight cards and give the fans a break and a peek at some good quality pugilistic talents and hell we might even learn a little in the process.

Keep this in mind, I am not suggesting that boxers fight MMA fighters or MMA fighters fight a boxer, we truly are two different animals. I am suggesting the elimination of the cage as a stage and go back to the ring. Take away the tool used to trap an opponent and all sorts of tricks used to gain an advantage by use of the cage. Make the MMA fighters rely on technical skill in an open environment, minus the ability to force an opponent into a fixed object and hold them there to stall or win “Cage presence” points. In a ring, fighters would avoid the ropes as it would lead to a stoppage and restart in the middle of the ring giving their opponent an advantage of spontaneous reversals from restarts.

They say boxing is the gentleman’s sport, lets move MMA right along next to our pugilistic brothers and make our sport just as gentlemanly. We can do this by removing certain negative words, connotations and images. We are not gladiators in fights to the death (most gladiators were slaves and criminals), we are Mixed Martial Artists competing in a legitimate sport with legitimate rules and scoring. It’s not about the blood and gore or the pleasing of the crowd through violence and anger. I view the term “Cagefighting” and “Cagefighters”, in the same manner that most females view the “C” word, it is inappropriate and vulgar and leads to the degradation of our professionalism and legitimacy of a professional sport. Let’s work together with our fellow boxers and clean up MMA and present a clean professional sport to rival the boxing world.

From a promotional standpoint fight shows would be much more cost effective. For the most part Boxing commissions are also overseeing MMA promotions. If you were to combine both sports into the same promotion or event, or even I dare suggest that, boxing and MMA promoters work together, the shared efforts and finances in paying for licensing fees would be profound. An event could share the same doctors, same commissioners, same licensing fees and same ring side resources. The shared costs in promotions would be profound and both sports would benefit greatly from the shared and combined efforts.

I have a passion for the combat sports and only hope to see them grow and better themselves in the future. Rather than bashing each other and fighting amongst ourselves for fans and promoters, we should combine and share the efforts and take combat sports into the future proudly and with Strength and Honor.

Peace and don’t take any wooden Nickels
GhostDog [mk]

Michigan MMA

For the most part I have used this blog for philosophical mindless meanderings but, I think I will make a change and use it to express my thoughts on MMA in MI.

More to come ...

Ad libitum

It took a minute or two to find out the correct origin of ad-lib, and I am not even sure if it is correct but, I'm going with it anyway.

So here I am "Ad-lib", most often on this blog I have quoted and then noted, as part of a new years resolution to be more involved in my own blog, I also want to be more of myself and less like others, hence the ad lib. Just as each individual Warrior must eventually strike out their own and test their own knowledge, I will strike out on my own minus the crutch of someone elses words to set up my own. Although and inevitably, I will resort to sounding very familiar and at time quoting without even knowing, I will carry on anyway.

The other thing I will like to try is not going over my words and make corrections, not grammatical corrections (I gotta use spell check!) but philosophical corrections. As a fighter rarely gets the opportunity to redo a loss or a punch that hits you square in the face, all you can do is roll with it and move on to the next combination or move.

So now I am inspired, as I always am by combat, everything and I mean EVERYTHING can be related to and answered through the concepts and theories of combat, hell just ask Sun Tzu! Just as I was eluding to earlier my writing will be like sparring, I will not go back and fix or change things that may not make sense or sound right, just like in a fight I will just move forward and not go backward. I have in my time answered many of life's questions and dilemmas by looking at it as if it where combat. Off hand I have a bit of writers block and not being able to think of a specific situation where I have used this concept but trust me I have. Generally, you look as the problem as your opponent and you, well ... you are you and the solutions. Some opponents are bully's and you have to charge right in and land the big bombs to get their attention and win the battle, other times there are skilled lighter more intelligent opponents that you have to study ahead of time and develop a battle plan to beat them with technique. Life's problems are the same way. DO you need to hit hard, be offensive and have a strong push forward or do you need to take a more evasive subtle approach and beat you problem down through well placed hits or subtle re directions to the final submission.

Just as in combat a distracted fighter is a defeated fighter, the distraction leads to areas of vulnerability and lapses in attention, also known as the stopping of the mind or afflictions, these areas can defeat a fighter as well as exploited to be an opponent. Find the areas of vulnerability, the lapses in attention and awareness and you will find the ways to success. Unfortunately I have now found myself distracted and it is time to dismiss myself from the front line for now.

Peace out, keep your chin down shoulders up and always keep your eyes on the opponent.
GhostDog

Ponderance

You know I really shoud do more than this, I am reaching an age where it is no longer just the physical aspect of the arts that satisfy me. The body ages, the robe we wear that is our skin and bone, wears on and out and one can only be on top for so long. Then comes the time to pass on knowledge, skills and philosophy and spirituality. So as a new years resolution I will make attempts to frequent this place more often and put to words the thoughts that drift around this rattled mind of mine. Too many shots to the head sometims confuses one and putting thoughts to words is ever so challenging.

Peace out, and communicate later
GhostDog