hands on the fence??

[john kavanagh]

i guess one for mr.goddard or any other experienced officials. this rule is one of the most confusing to me. what is the EXACT ruling on it?
i can certainly understand you cant hold on to it so as to avoid a takedown but can you lean on it when you have someone pinned to the fence or basically any position where your hand is on it?
its impossible to put your hand on it without your fingers slipping through. you may not be 'holding' it, just leaning on it but as its chain link your fingers will go through

anyway any clarification on the ruling about this would be appreciated

[Reedy]

Also this..

bottom guard uses the cage by grabbing it to cut the angle needed for arm bar or triangle.

[The Gimp]

Think fingers that curl up means fence grab, also ditto with the toes as that can be deemed as grabbing the fence. Open palm and fingers straight = leaning against. If someone tries to take you down and your hand is keeping you up its pretty obvious that you are gripping the fence and therefore it is a penalty

[ChunkyMonky]

Got the following from the ABC website, don't know if it will help you in anyway.

1. Holding or grabbing the fence;

A fighter may put their hands on the fence and push off of it at anytime. A fighter may place their feet onto the cage and have their toes go through the fencing material at any time. When a fighter's fingers or toes go through the cage and grab hold of the fence and start to control either their body position or their opponent's body position it now becomes an illegal action. A fighter may not grab the ropes or wrap their arms over the ring ropes at any time. If a fighter is caught holding the fence, cage or ring rope material the referee shall issue a one-point deduction from the offending fighters scorecard if the foul caused a substantial change in position such as the avoidance of a takedown If a point deduction for holding the fence occurs, and because of the infraction, the fouling fighter ends up in a superior position due to the foul, the fighters should be re-started by the referee, standing in a neutral position.

http://www.abcboxing.com/unified_mma_rules.html

[hysteresis]

The only MMA fights I've seen live have been in a ring. Does the cage actually obscure the view of the fights at all? Is an octagon made out of clear perspex ever likely to happen and would it make even the slightest of difference to what the crowd can see? It would stop any holding on to the cage.

[markjitsu]

Two heavyweights hitting a sheet of Perspex is probably a bad idea

[john kavanagh]

hmm none of that really helps

point being that its pretty much impossible to 'lean' on a chainlink fence without your fingers going thru. i've had my fighters hands slapped down when it was clear there was no 'tactical advantage' to holding the fence. they were just leaning on it, it was unavoidable that there fingers went through. try it. put your hand on a chain link fence and you'll see your fingers go thru.

anyway just hoping i can get a clear answer on this reedy's extra question is a good one too

[markjitsu]

Maybe stick this in the "referee room" as well.
I'm guessing it all comes down to the ref's interpretation of intent, like so many other things.
But it's not my answer you're looking for...

[marc goddard]

john - will answer this in detail tonight! its pretty clear and i will explain to you [all] later thanks mate.

[loves nutella]

Reedy thought u was banned