Dana White: We’ve Been Talking About Making The Octagon Smaller
Posted by Justin H on Oct 8, 2009 at 5:00 pm ET53 Comments
Dave Doyle: “Would the WEC fighters lose something if you moved them from the smaller WEC cage to the bigger UFC Octagon?”
Dana White: “Actually, we’ve been talking about making the Octagon smaller. We’re considering making it smaller. [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva wants it. I think he wants to turn the thing into a [expletive] bathtub. Have them fight in a little tollbooth.”
UFC President Dana white hinted at the possibility of the UFC shrinking the Octagon, in a Q&A with Dave Doyle of YahooSports. The reasoning behind it is uncertain, and Dana did not touch on it in the Q&A at all, but I certainly have my reservations.
Tags: Dana White
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I think it would be a great idea to make it smaller. Avoid fights like Starnes v. Quarry. Starnes ran a miracle mile that night!
Change the size of the Octagon?
This would go under the heading of, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
And Dana should tell Joe Silva to shut the fu<k up, unless he's suggesting painting the Octagon white…
you really like that white cage thing don’t you!
Not going to lie, thew white cage looks kinda cool!
i agree i can’t wait to see the unveiling of the white cage
I don’t think its a bad idea either. But I don’t really see the point of having a smaller octagon. Sure there are fights like Starnes and Quarry but the main reason there isn’t action is b/c some fighter take awhile to feeling their opponent out. I dont think a smaller octagon will stop that from happening… I’d say just keep it.
This is the most ridiculous gimmick yet. I honestly will stop watching or at least PAYing for UFC events if they really want to go down this path. Making the octagon smaller is a WWE style gimmick. I’m getting tired of the stunts Dana is begginning to pull. Smaller octagons, Kimbo the focal point of a whole season, Unwarranted title matches…i’m not feeling good about the future of the sport when things like this take place. I’m completely looking forward to legitimatizing the sport where as it can go mainstream and be treated as a sport, in the same category as the NHL,NBA,NFL etc and see hilights on your local sports channel. These kind of gimmicky stunts will never work. I’m personally looking forward to video replay, much better officiating, MUCH better scoring system, legitimate contenders and match-ups etc. Letting the sport become wrestling dominated and making the octagon smaller will result in one thing. Most fights will be taking place in the clinch or on the ground. I love a good ground game or a grappling match. But why are they trying to give the wrestlers the upper hand. I understand it’s MMA and whatever is in your arsenal you must use, but trying to tilt the situation to favour wrestlers takes away from the MMA aspect of it. Where a fighter can avoid the clinch and takedown because he ahs the skills to avoid it, yet the cage isnt right behind him to take that upper hand away. I dont know. Just seems real gimmicky and it p*sses me off. Like when the NHL was thinking about making the nets bigger because their goaltending and defensive games had evolved to the point where less goals were being scored. That idea lived for about a minute. Lets focus on the scoring system and officiating first and foremost before getting carried away. Dana is really starting to p*ss me off and i’;m thinking maybe it’s time for him to call it. I dont think he has the sports best interests in mind ANYMORE. I think Dana has lost his way in the mix…Akhem Akhem *$$$*…. I honestly will have no choice but to put my focus on other orgs if this keeps up. This season of TUF, smaller octagon, unwarranted title shots and cuts by the org…i dunno…just dont know anymore
its turning into a circus, like the WWE.
Teck, point taken, but I feel as if the sport will keep evolving. Making it smaller will benefit the wrestler, yes, but will also make the fighters stand toe to toe and do what they were put in there to do…fight. I agree, officiating and scoring should be in the fore front, but as for changing the size of the octogon will no have that big of an impact on the SPORT. Granted, it does look like Dana is in a bit of a stalemate position(no pun intended because I am a wrestler) and always has to be doing or saying something, but this imo wouldnt be sport changing!
Its a combination of a few things i stated that ARE sport changing …
The rules and scoring systems aren’t Dana White’s calls, they are usually mandated by the athletic commissions that sanction the bouts. The athletic commissions hire, train, and assign judges. And only the athletic commissions can decide to use instant replay. If you’re going to blame Dana, at least blame him for things he can control.
Wrestlers have he upper hand in MMA because they have the advantage. They are good at stopping or getting take downs, and they don’t need any other spectacular skills. They can handle a wider variety of attacks than pure BJJ guys or pure strikers. Instead of having to learn those skills, they have them at the start and can focus on learning other parts…enough to get by. The learning curve is much smaller for a wrestler than for another discipline.
The only thing that you’ve complained about as far as matches go AND that Dana can control is…the cage. That’s it. And anyone who has followed this sport for more than two and a half minutes knows that. Grow up.
Clearly you’ve missed my point. I’m not saying Dana is to blame for the majority of those issues. But being the face of the UFC and partially MMA, he needs to know better than to even consider a gimmick like this, considering he is trying “so hard” to push it globally and legitimatize the sport. I’m sure if Dana took a stand about the officiating, and judging and scoring system…like took an ACTUAL stand publicly, those problems would soon be solved. There’d be no way around it at that point. Instead we got him b**ching and throwing hissy fits over Rampage, Kimbo, Fedor etc etc. He needs to get his head straight and remember the position he’s in. He can deffinetly sway certain situations regarding MMA as a whole. Look at the UFC in the last few years for example, has changed the MMA game. He can do that again. So ya, i can blame him, why you ask? Because he’s the face(el presidente) of the UFC and that’s who the fans turn to when they want soemthing.
As far as wrestlers NATURALLY being the dominant species…i disagree 100%. That statement is mainly true in a CAGE. Not a ring, or real life. Nuff said
ps….anyone who has followed MMA longer than 2 and a half minutes should also know that the issues i brought up are legitimate debates within the “MMA world” and nothing new. Just that people get emotional about Dana when his name is brought up. Either defending him to the death, or hating him so much that logic seems to slip away. I on the other hand am being a realist. It’s gimmicky and counter-productive to have a smaller cage for guys the size of Brock or any heavyweight for that matter…and Gray Maynard. I would not want to see Maynard in a smaller cage. No thanks. Maybe you should take some of your own advice and grow up. Stop trying to disagree with people, rather say something with some form of substance. It’s easy to disagree with people. I can play devils advocate all day, doesn’t mean i do.
…ps, last thing, why are you completely leaving out the match-making issue? Is that not Dana oriented? Do some of you just post things blindly?
Dana has complained openly about scoring and officiating.
Joe Silva is the match maker.
Other sports have made changes in the “playing surface” as the sport evolved, why can’t the UFC?
Gimmicky would be what Dream is doing with an annual event in a White Cage with five minute rounds instead of following the same format year round. Changing the cage size for all events moving forward is attempting to progress the sport.
The Octagon should stay the way it is, maybe improve some small things but the size is perfect.
i DO THINK SOME UFC IS FAKE. SOME MATCHES ARE FAKE. SILVA VS GRIFFEN OBVISOULY WAS FAKE. Iam baked right now but i can count as many as 5 fights that are fake. the whole kimbo thing is rigged. come on that guy had a contract from the begining. dana talking **** and all that was just a job. its all gimmick
So… you now have zero credibility.
I second Justin’s comment
i third justins comment too. think it’s fake go fight anderson yourself.
Really?
The UFC is fake?
Dude, you are going to be asking the mod squad to delete that post in the morning after you cure your dry mouth and wipe the Cheetohs off of the side of your face…
Dana certainly plays to market. But to say any of these guys and matches are fake is shameful.
4th
Dana talks about like he doesn’t like the idea!
some guys are making it seem like it was his idea that he is trying to push?
Every sport changes something from time to time, why not let the UFC evolve into a better product. Your never going to make everyone happy all the time. Do what you think will better sell the sport, you can always change your mind. And for all the hardcore fans, embrace the change, it might be good.
machida wont be too happy, itl be a wrestlers paradise again
Subjectively, I’m a fan of the ground game, and I think if the cage were smaller it would really help those fighters that come from wrestling/BJJ/grappling disciplines.
Objectively, the sport has reached new heights of popilarity and acceptance, partially by being a good mix of stand-up, wrestling/GnP, and susmissions. Changing the size of the cage changes the delicate balance of the sport, which is something I can never support.
Changing the color of the cage, on the other hand…
I REALLY hope they dont make it smaller. I think it would mean for much more clinching against the cage and more wrestlers pinning people on the ground up against the cage where it nullifies Jiu Jitsu.
I hate it when people get sutck against the cage on the ground. It eliminates most submissions from the bottom and makes it much more boring IMO. I loved it in Pride when there would be a grappling match in the middle of the ring because the guy on the bottom was able to be active and the guy on top had to work harder because he couldnt pin them against the cage without much fear of getting swept of submited.
I dont think making the octagon smaller will make people fight more, I think it will make them fight less.
Yeah we get it the white cage is…….freaking awesome and should head in that direction
. I got. Your back on this one.
Apologies for being too repetitive, but that white cage is really the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long long time in our sport…
so you want the cage to be pink now?
I think if they shrink it it should be the size of WEC’s cage,no smaller
Agreed I don’t think it’s too big tho. I remember seeing Rich Franklin fight a long time ago in a round cage that was at least 150% the size of the octogon, THAT was too big.
If they were to shrink it, I’m thinking that’s the size they would go to.
im a fighter at the metropolis club in fairfield. international combat event. im not a top fighter but trying to do better. anyways, the cage is small and it does give me more ability to keep my opponents on the ground pushed against the fence. and if they’re scared they dont have much place to run to hahaha.
~ Never TapOut~
513 represent. Let the Bizzes know when you’re there next and you’ll have a small cheering section.
Especially if Kris can get us press passes.
they should leave it as it is. no real reason to change it. Maybe they want to prevent more “kalib starnes” from happening.
A better way to prevent “Kalib Starnes-ing” in the future would be for Dana White to climb into the cage immediately after the fight, grab the mic from Rogan, and fire the fighter on the fu<king spot who tries to Bambi his way thru 15 minutes in the Octagon…
Don`t do it Dana!!!!
my opinion is that vitor belfort should fight wanderlei silva at ufc 108 and henderson and mardquart should fight thten
not a bad idea there. did you read somewhere that dana said dan vs nate makes sense and whoever wins is the top contender, but then who fights anderson now. need somebody who fights is kind of style. i mean really he makes everyone look like they never been in a cage before.
I drank like, a half gallon of orange juice last night. When I took a piss this morning, there was pulp in it.
My comment was just as relevant to this story as yours. Cool, huh?
Sounds like there was more than just OJ in that half-gallon, compadre…
The problem with the WEC cage is that in never held fighters bigger than 185lbs, well atleast in the past few years. Just imagine Carwin and Brock in there lol. The cage needs to stay the same for the 205 and HW divisions. Any striker in those two divisions, with there size would be at a HUGE disadvantage. jcohl said it best, if it aint broke, dont fix it.
Really solid point about the WEC cage being “tailored” for their smaller fighters.
In a cage their size, Herb Dean [or whoever] would have to do his officiating for Lesnar-Carwin from a seat next to Rogan due to overcrowding…
So split the difference. And let Herb Dean float above the cage in a harness.
And the UFC can introduce “floating ref cam” to MMA…
LOVE THE IDEA MORE FIGHTING LESS RUNNING.
I think we all love the idea of more fighting and less running, but there is a better way of achieving that than shrinking the size of the Octagon.
Mainly, hitting fighters where it hurts, in their wallets.
For example, Dana should have penalized Kalib Starnes 75% of his payout for lack of agression, and then cut him the following day, and done it in so public a fashion that any other fighter who is thinking of butterflying his way thru 15 or 25 minutes on the cage will think again, or find himself back fighting on some Indian reservation casino or some muddy truckstop along the banks of the Mississippi, instead of in Las Vegas…
No way this happens. Dana knows that Gray Maynard’s wrestling don’t put people in the stands. Fighters that stand and bang, win or lose thats what brings in casual fans. Casual fans make more fans make more money make Dana happy.
To me it sounds like Dana is only humouring Joe Silva. I don’t think he’s actually considering it Someone else made the comment that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – that’s absolutely right.
the size of the oct is just fine… perhaps it could be smaller, but then what a year from now they will want it bigger?
if anything regarding the oct needs to be changed it is the damn advertising they have all over it that causes fighter after fighter to slip…
they could also do someting about the edge of the mat that meets up with the fencing… that 2-3 inch gap needs to be fixed..
hell they should get rid of the fencing all together and use fricken rebar thats woven and welded together… then there wouldnt be any flexing in it… the holes between the re-bar could be bigger allowing better veiwing pleasure for both at the event and for the veiwers at home…
the running around the ring will happen no matter how big the ring is… make it too big and its a track field make it too small and its a play pen… leave it where it is and tell the nay sayers to STFU
smaller favors wrestlers esp w. cage