Inside the cage: The rise of female cage fighters

Earlier I watched the short documentary produced by the BBC and presented by Annie Price on the rise of female fighters in one of the fastest growing sports in Britain. In this documentary she met with Molly McCann the first English woman to win the ultimate fight championship top division and the UFC.

I personally have always noticed the lack of negativity in terms of viewers comments on female fights, it’s very hard to find trolling and discrimination of any women fighters in the comments section or tweets perhaps in comparison to a woman football match for say. I believe the woman fighters are at the same level of the males in the UFC and deserve all the credit they get just as much as the males do. Here are a few tweets I could find accurately presenting most peoples views on women fights.

Women UFC fighters show so much respect for the sport. I love watching them fight rather they win or lose. It's the respect for the hard work that's amazing.

— James Crumble (@JamesCrumble7) November 29, 2020

The elite 10-15 women fighters are just as technically good as the elite male fighters. They have just as much heart if not more. They are just as fun to watch if not more but the quality drop off goes from elite fighter to part-time fighter. UFC needs to pay these women properly pic.twitter.com/Fl17JuVq5J

— 🇯🇲 KHAMZAT WILL FALL AT THE FEET OF LEON🇬🇧 (@See_U_Soon_Boi) January 5, 2021

Just watched UFC with a bunch of male friends who are serious UFC fans

To them, the women’s fight was just as important and entertaining as the men’s fights. They knew the fighters, their styles, strengths and records

Very cool to see women’s sport genuinely equal with men’s

— Reuben Bramanathan (@bramanathan) February 9, 2020

The first thing I took from watching this documentary is my level of respect has risen for anyone who competes in this sport as it is clear to see the incredible determination and hardship a fighter must put their body through to even make weight to fight their opponent and the injuries that then come with it are potentially life threatening.

I noticed in the way it’s presented with a voice over from Annie Price who also meets the fighters and gets to know them on a more personal level. Asking some in depth questions about their lives and just hanging out with them where they train, attending fights and giving us the viewer behind the scene coverage. It even shows snippets of fights and the brutal injuries after to further emphasise the risks that come with being a professional cage fighter.

The documentary is scripted in a very natural manor, the way Annie Price speaks to the viewer makes it easy to be engaged and learn from what she is telling you about. There’s use of a variety of music during the documentary depending on the mood of what circumstance their in for example when showing a fight there’s more gritty music to that of when Annie is travelling or asking questions to fighters. They also emphasise the sounds of kicks and punches on screen to add to the viciousness of what your already seeing on screen to again put the point across how dangerous of a sport it really is.