UFC VP Tom Wright: Don’t call it a cage
Telegraph MMA Correspondent Gareth A Davies is on site in Winnipeg, Canada for UFC 161, and interviewed Tom Wright, the UFC ‘s…
Telegraph MMA Correspondent Gareth A Davies is on site in Winnipeg, Canada for UFC 161, and interviewed Tom Wright, the UFC ‘s head of operations for Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Wright believes that using the term “cage” to describe the Octagon is harmful to the development of the sport.
I never use it, said Wright. I not only think it’s imperative for the long term strength and maturity of our sport, the term ‘cage’ could be eradicated from our vernacular.
The word doesn’t allow consideration for the strengths that the sport provides: Which is incredible athleticism; amazing competition; a fair level playing field and two athletes demonstrating their abilities to show who’s the more superior mixed martial artist.
The issue has come to a head in Australia, where the Government’s of Western Australia and Victoria want to force MMA promoters to use a boxing ring only.
I’ve heard the Premier of WA on radio saying ‘Listen, I just don’t like what it looks like, I don’t like the image’.
The premier did not however even attend a show.
No, they never do that stuff, said Wright. It took us forever to even get a meeting with the minister of sport.
The crazy thing about not only in Victoria but also in Western Australia is that the commission, the paid bureaucrats that are actually brought in as experts to work with whatever Government is in play. They’ve recommended them to use the Octagon.
We’ve got myths to dispel and perspective to inform and facts to come forward with, because so many people don’t take the time to actually learn the facts and they react emotionally, subjectively and they don’t take their time.”
“MMA is sanctioned and legal in Western Australia and Victoria. But its only permitted in a boxing ring, not permitted in a combat enclosure. It’s incredibly short sighted: it puts the athletes’ safety at risk, the officials’ safety at risk, the fans’ safety at risk.”
But you know what they don’t like?
“They don’t like the image. But they called it cagefighting I’d never heard it being called that. Georges St Pierre is a mixed martial arts artist and he competes in an Octagon. That’s the challenge.”
“Muhammad Ali was not a ring fighter, he was a boxer, and he competed in a ring.”
“That kind of ‘cage’ or ‘cagefighter’ nomenclature is never going to help perception, so we need to change it.”