One Championship mixed discipline in the ring

[Alexandoy]

Last night was the One Championship held in Manila. Instead of the usual cage, it has the 5-rope ring for the arena. The rationale is for the bouts to be mixed martial arts and/or Muay Thai which uses the ring as the standard arena. With mixed martial arts, the referee has to be conscious that during a clinch on the ground, the head of the fighters should not be in the line of the ropes. It looked good although that radical change may not sit well with other MMA leagues.