Size of cage can impact how fighters approach matches
The moment Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Ben Rothwell set foot inside the cage in Connecticut this month, he knew something was different.
At first, he thought it was all in his head. He felt more comfortable in the UFC's octagon. Perhaps he was finally getting used to his surroundings after nearly five years and six fights with the mixed martial arts organization.
"I noticed right when I stepped in," says Rothwell (34-9 MMA, 4-3 UFC), who scored a first-round TKO victory against Alistair Overeem on Sept. 5. "I didn't know that (the cage) was smaller. They told me after."
At first it sounds like a minor change. The full-sized cage — the one typically used for major pay-per-view events in places such as MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas — measures 30 feet across. The smaller cage for venues such as Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Conn., is 25 feet in diameter.
Statistician Reed Kuhn, who has analyzed the effect of cage size for his Fightnomics.com blog, found that fights in the smaller cage are more likely to end in a knockout or submission, in part because fighters throw about 20% more strikes than in the larger cage.
"It's not anything magical; just that there's more engagement in a smaller cage," said Kuhn, who also devoted a chapter his "Fightnomics" book to the topic of cage size. "It's silly to think there wouldn't be an effect. Imagine shrinking a baseball field by 44%. You're going to have way more home runs. Imagine doing the same thing to a hockey rink. It's going to change how the game is played."
Whether that change is an improvement depends on whom you ask. Heavyweight Matt Mitrione, who had a knockout win at the same event, is not a fan of the smaller space.
"I'd rather fight in a field than a phone booth," he told reporters. "We're big bodies. Mobility's a big part of my game. ... It feels like every time I make a movement I'm a foot and a half from one side of the cage or the other, so it's more difficult."
For UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy (18-4 MMA, 3-0 UFC), the small cage is preferable. After knocking out Rafael Natal in November 2013 at a UFC Fight for the Troops event that used the smaller cage because of space restrictions at the venue in Fort Campbell, Ky., Kennedy says he lobbied the UFC to use the small cage for his next fight.
"That didn't happen, and I ended up having to chase him around a lot more," says Kennedy, who went on to win that fight vs. Michael Bisping in April by unanimous decision. "I feel like the smaller the cage, the more finishes you usually see. And fights that end in a finish, I usually win those — so that's good for me."
The problem, several fighters say, is that the UFC doesn't always tell them beforehand which cage it will use. Mitrione says the first questions he asks when the UFC offers him a fight are about venue and cage size.
"That last few times I thought it was going to be a full-sized cage, and I come in to find out it's not; it's a 25-footer," Mitrione said in Connecticut. "It makes a difference for me, mentality-wise."
According to UFC officials, the organization does not proactively reach out to fighters to discuss cage size. In the past the 25-foot octagon might have been used only for The Ultimate Fighter finale events. But as the UFC's expanded schedule takes it to new venues, fighters say it's often difficult to know which cage they'll see until they show up for the event.
Lightweight Michael Chiesa (11-2, 4-2) offers this advice: "You should automatically have an idea what size the cage is by what venue you're fighting at. ... If you think you'll be in a big cage fighting at a small venue, you should have more common sense."
Fowlkes writes for MMAJunkie