MMA fighters are thrown into it repeatedly in every matchup, you’d think it must hurt being thrown into the octagon floor repeatedly.
But it’s actually a safer surface than you might think, even if it does make a loud crack.
To have a more in-depth understanding of everything there is to know about the UFC octagon floor material, like what they do with the soiled ones, keep reading!
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Table of Contents
What is an MMA canvas made of?
An MMA canvas is made out of heavy cotton. This is a heavy-duty type of cotton made to hold out against body-slamming and falling.
This canvas is then tightly wrapped together with the other layers of foam, plywood and metal platform below it. This is to keep everything sturdy for the fighting action on top of it.
Unlike WWE wrestling, the MMA canvas is much thinner because the volume of heavy body slams is much lower in MMA compared to pro-wrestling.
What’s often seen in an MMA match are takedowns, body pins, and knockdowns that require less springy flooring.
Why is it made out of heavy cotton?
This type of cotton is also chosen to be able to withstand the entire fight night with different weight classes setting foot on the cage.
Heavy cotton is good in absorbing some of the bodily fluids of the fighters. It is also the most suitable garment that absorbs paint for different brand sponsorship logos.
If regular cotton is used, there’s a chance that the canvas will rip due to the immense amount of weight pressing on it each bout. This may cause injuries and fight delays.
How hard is the UFC octagon floor?
The UFC octagon floor is smooth to touch at the surface but you can feel the hard support underneath.
The heavy cotton canvas and foam padding underneath provides the softness on the surface.
Despite being a softer floor in comparison to say, concrete, a powerful head-first-slam can still cause a brutal knockout.
But on the brighter side, the floor’s firmness allows fighters to hold grip with their bare feet and manoeuvre properly during the fight.
Getting the firmness just right
In the UFC, MMA fighters fight barefoot. If the floor is too hard, it is not comfortable to bounce and manoeuvre around the cage, especially for a 15 or 25-minute fight.
A bad side of an overly hard octagon floor is the possibility that a simple take down might break a bone. An injury that can end a fighter’s career or significantly delay it.
If the floor is too soft, it could make it too difficult to use footwork around the surface as the foot will sink in a little too much creating plenty of friction or drag.
Plenty of MMA gyms actually use a greater padded floor inside their cages for training purposes to add an extra layer of safety—but this would be too restrictive for a live fight in the UFC.
Do they clean the octagon between fights?
Every fight usually adds a level of soiling to the canvas. Whether that’s sweat, water, or blood.
These fluids have a high chance of staining the octagon floor, especially when the battle continues on the ground.
That’s why after between rounds and especially between each bout, a UFC staff member will try to clean it with a mop.
Cleaning the cage floor after the fight is extremely important.
Too much fluids in the canvas can add up to making a very uneven and unsafe surface, causing all kinds of problems with maintaining grip to the floor or slipping over—changing the direction of a fight fast.
Handling the soiled canvas mats after a fight
A dirty mat after a long fight night is inevitable, and it needs to be thrown away immediately afterward since it’s heavily soiled and potentially full of bacteria.
The UFC isn’t allowed to reuse these mats on the next fight night because it’s not sanitary for other fighters.
The entire floor mat of a regular octagon used in pay-per-view events is 30 feet wide.
With a fabric so big, there isn’t any reliable method of washing it regularly. As soon as it’s filled with water to wash it, it’ll soak up and double in size and weight and become impractical to recycle.
Why does the UFC use an octagon shape?
The UFC uses a cage to create a stable fighting area that allows for striking and grappling, otherwise fighters would be running around a whole arena to avoid a takedown.
It’s octagonal shape was trademarked by the UFC and offers a reliable shape for competitors to grapple against its fence without having the risks of falling out of the fighting area—like you might see in boxing or Muay Thai.
A fall from a ring that is several feet above the ground can be pretty dangerous.
Does the UFC use different-sized octagons?
The UFC has two distinct octagon sizes. One in the UFC Apex and one on other bigger arena events like Madison Square Garden.
They use a 25-foot octagon on the Apex because the facility is small. In bigger arenas and PPV events, the UFC utilizes a 30-foot octagon.
In the early days of UFC, the octagon was much bigger than 30 feet.
But plenty of fight inactivity cases made the promotion decrease the cage size to promote more action and increase the entertainment value.
As per the Unified Rules Of Mixed Martial Arts, cages can’t be smaller than 18×18 feet. They also can’t be larger than 32×32 feet:
“The fighting area canvas shall be no smaller than 18 feet by 18 feet and no larger than 32 feet by 32 feet. The fighting area canvas shall be padded in a manner as approved by the Commission, with at least one-inch layer of foam padding.
Unified Rules Of MMA
Padding shall extend beyond the fighting area and over the edge of the platform. No vinyl or other plastic rubberized covering shall be permitted.”
Design flaws of the UFC octagon
The biggest design flaw of a UFC octagon is its short cage wall.
It would be much better if they added a taller fence extension in consideration for taller fighters, especially in the Heavyweight division.
The taller fence is also needed to prevent any after-fight brawls inside the octagon. The 6 ft fence can be easily climbed by most people in a few seconds.
A good example of an after-fight brawl inside the octagon was in UFC 229, McGregor Vs. Nurmagomedov where several of Khabib’s crew jumped the fence to attack Conor.
In a situation like that, a taller fence could have helped prevent it or slow down the effort to ensure security could handle it.
