Fighting Against the Cage

When watching MMA or grappling fights, most are fought either in a ring, a tournament mat or in a cage. The differences of fighting in the cage, rather than on the mat or in the ring is the fact that there is, a cage.

When both fighters fight on the floor and one is pushed against the cage, it is very hard to perform submissions, to manoeuvre his/her body to secure a dominant position and possibly to defend against strikes coming in from all angles (if strikes are allowed). For people who are used to fighting in rings or on mats, where there are no cage restrictions, this can be very frustrating when they are trapped against the cage. Also from a street fighting point of view, if you are unfortunate enough to find yourself pushed against a wall or up a bar counter, if you are not used to defending from this awkward position it can be very hard to fight back.

For the reasons given above it may be a good idea to sometimes practice ground fighting and stand up fighting being in this awkward position. When sparring, before you begin, start in an awkward position (against the wall on your back, and maybe with your opponent in the mount, or clinched standing, with your opponent having a double under hook grip.) Keep the sparring contact light at first and with relevant experience add the amount of force in the strikes gradually over time.

Marks

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