‘Inside the Cage: The Rise of Female Fighters’ follows presenter Annie Price as she takes an important behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to become the next rising star in the world of UK mixed martial arts.
The documentary is focused on three fighters: Molly McCann, Shanelle Dyer and Cory Mckenna, all of whom are at different levels within the sport and come from different backgrounds.
McCann is the first British woman to have recorded a victory in the pinnacle brand of MMA: The UFC. She shows Price the basic fundamentals of UFC training, instantly shedding light on the high-octane intensity of the sport before stepping into the cage itself.
The piece is built around interviews conducted with the three fighters, who share their stories about their motivations behind wanting to get into the sport and their aspirations within the industry.
McCann’s mentality changed after her mother, a struggling addict, managed to kick her addictions to benefit the lives of those around her, which is what motivates McCann to this day.
Dyer’s motivations are equally as dark as McCann’s. She knows that MMA keeps her off the streets and from winding down the wrong path, as she strives to earn enough money to provide a better life for herself and the rest of her family, in the hopes that they can move away from their area which is riddled with knife crime.
Mckenna’s story is more somewhat unexpected, as she went from being a straight A student to full-time fighter after she had finished her GCSE’s. When asked by Price on whether she thinks she’s missing out on her teenage years and partying, she replies: ‘If it doesn’t benefit me long term or help me achieve my goals then there’s no point wasting time on it is there’.
The documentary is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and is brilliant on portraying the grind that up-and-coming fighters have to go through in order to achieve their dreams of making it within the sport.
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