Square Ring vs The Octagon
 

I was clicking through the channels over the weekend and saw MMA style fighting in a square boxing type ring with ropes. They were bare footed and wore the gloves with the fingers showing (basically knuckle pads). I'm used to seeing this style fighting in "The Octagon". Is it the same sport…same rules? It looked the same to me, but I wouldn't know the nuances of the sport.

Without knowing what fight association it was under, its hard to say what the rule set is. but most MMA fights in the US have the for the most part the same rules as ufc. there is only so much the sports commission will allow you to do, but some associations limit you further.

^^^ what hrdgain said. It is most likely the same rules. Lots of MMA fights are fought in rings as well as cages. I don't like MMA fights in a ring because you can fall out and get seriously injured in a ring. I've seen it happen in a WKA fight and the poor kid had to be carried out on a stretcher.

IFL battleground uses a ring and they fight in teams. I think its either 3 on 3 or 5 on 5 and whichever team wins the most fights wins the card. It follows pretty much the same rules as UFC.

The only drawback from the octagon IMHO is that you can illegally grab the cage when being lifted for a slam or takedown. Picking up your opponent takes alot of energy and late in the fight you might only have enough gas for 1 attempt at it, so if they grab the cage and stop it, your shit out of luck on your slam or takedown. But Dave makes a very good point about falling out of the ring.

Overall I like the Octagon.

If you ever watch some Pride fights, they grab the ring ropes just like fighters grab the cage. Granted, there is more cage to grab then rope at any one time but they still do it. One very controversial ring grabbing incident was a recent fight with Fedor and Matt Lindland. Lindland came out swinging at Fedor and in the middle of the fight Lindland was going to take Fedor down and Fedor grabbed the ropes and stopped the takedown immediately.

Another thing that sucks about rings is I've seen guys get there arms tied up in the ropes where fighters get there are caught and tangled up in the ropes.
Rings are just not as good as cages.

I cant stand the ifl, i'm sorry but its the WWE of MMA.

It's not that bad.. granted it's not my fav.
I've never thought of it as the WWE of MMA.

I was watching for a little bit the other day, and the intro shit they do is just ridiculous. It reminded me of the crappy false plot lines of the XFL ...

That 's how they do it in Pride. With all the big screen images and stuff. Hell old school Pride has pyrotechnics like WWE. It is a little over the top.

it's all for entertainment anyways. first and foremost it's a business out to make profit and they decided somewhere along the line that being flashy generates more money.

I've got a solution to keeping people from grabbing the ring or octagon when being picked up: put up fiberglass so that there's no grip anywhere, like in hockey, and let 'em fight with chainsaws! woohoo!

:greenchainsaw: