Ice Cage Fighting is a Finnish combat sports promotion. The events incorporate mixed martial arts, boxing, muay thai and kickboxing. [1] The first Ice Cage event was held in December 2023. [2] The events are promoted by Max Hynninen and his Ice Cage Fighting Oy -company. [3]
Ice Cage, alongside social media, has been considered influential on the rise of combat sports in Finland in the mid-2020s. Ice Cage 4 filled the 8 000 seat Helsinki ice hall. The highest profile bout of Ice Cage 4 was between a social media influencer Joni Takala and a former criminal and mixed martial artist Mika Ilmén. [4] Ice Cage 5 was headlined by Theo Kolehmainen and the former UFC-fighter Makwan Amirkhani. [5] [6]
Controversies
Ice Cage has been criticized for giving visibility for social media influencer Joni Takala, who has previously made some misogynistic comments on social media. [7] Efforts were also made to build a show around the social media phenomenon behind Takala. Female boxer Eva Wahlström has told she was offered a match against Takala, but she refused the bout. [8]
The chairman of the Finnish mixed martial arts federation Aleksi Kainulainen has criticized Ice Cage, considering the discussions surrounding the event to be detrimental to the reputation of mixed martial arts in Finland. Kainulainen believes that fighting events should be marketed with high-quality matches instead of social media buzz. He has considered the entertainment aspect of the event to be a worrying development. Similarly, the chairman of the Finnish muay thai Federation has emphasized that in fighting events, the focus should be on the sport and the athletes. However, the muay thai federation has not felt that thai boxing has suffered reputational damage or that events such as Ice Cage are detrimental to the reputation of the sport. [9]
Ice Cage has also drawn attention for the vulgar language used by fighters at the press conferences. According to promoter Max Hynninen, the comments do not reflect the values of Ice Cage. [10]
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