Netflix's The Cage ending explained: Does Taylor beat Ibrahim in the end?

All 5 episodes of the French sports drama series The Cage were released on Netflix on November 8, 2024. The show tells the story of an underdog who faces challenge after challenge and braves them all to become a professional fighter.

The series revolves around Taylor Keita, an amateur MMA fighter who wants to enter the brutal arena of professional fighting. He has to grapple with numerous hardships before he can taste success. The antagonist of the story is Ibrahim Ibara, the current welterweight division champion.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers ahead.

Throughout The Cage, Taylor and Ibrahim face off against each other on multiple occasions. The series concludes with a high-stakes fight between the two, where Taylor defeats Ibrahim to enter the field of professional fighting. However, his success is also tinged with some negativity.

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Taylor and Ibrahim represent two different moral sides in The Cage

In The Cage, Taylor is introduced as a hardworking MMA fighter who puts hours and hours into practice. However, the coach, Boss, does not pay heed to his efforts. On the other hand, when Ibrahim is portrayed as a celebrity professional fighter who dispenses with rules and regulations to fetch points.

Taylor and Ibrahim represent two very different sides of the sport, and the contrast in their personalities and worldviews serves as a leitmotif in the series. The show features multiple showdowns between the two. In fact, towards the end of The Cage, Taylor must face his arch-nemesis one more time, but the stakes at this point are very high.

For instance, Taylor has just learned about his mother’s treachery. Further, it has been established that it was Ibrahim who orchestrated the attack that put Boss in a coma. Thus, the fight between the two within the cage is not just a display of power and persistence; it becomes the means through which Taylor can channel his rage and frustration and avenge the assault meted out to his coach, Boss.

When the fight begins, Taylor suffer some initial setbacks. However, as the fight continues, he rattles his opponent by mentioning the latter's past misdeeds. This psychological trick works and Taylor ends up winning the fight against Ibrahim. Following this, he gets invited to participate in the UFC.

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What has Niko done?

Niko is a fellow fighter who starts his career alongside Taylor. However, unlike Taylor’s other friends, Niko is not exactly pleased with his meteoric rise. Further, he is offended by the fact that Elena, the girl who once rejected him, falls in love with Taylor.

These factors make Niko jealous of Taylor, and eventually, he starts giving him ill advice. For instance, when Taylor feels pressured by his mother to earn some quick cash so that she can pay off some debts, he considers fighting in underground tournaments.

These tournaments pose a serious risk to professional fighters, as participants often ignore the rules of professional fighting. Boss, for example, outrights asks Taylor not to participate in these. Niko, however, eggs him on to do it.

A still from The Cage trailer (Image via Netflix/YouTube)

The ending of The Cage leaves off with a cliffhanger. After beating Ibrahim, Taylor becomes a huge name. During the celebrations, Niko mixes some pills in Taylor’s water. As luck would have it, the latter ends up drinking it. After a while, the doping test team shows up.

Though season 1 of The Cage does not show the test results, Taylor would certainly fail in the test, and face a considerable obstacle in his career. This is something the series could focus on if a second season happens.

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What is Taylor’s mother up to?

Taylor’s mother, Isabella, has never liked her son’s passion for MMA. She has constantly asked him to leave the field and do other jobs to bring in money. She has a boyfriend named Régis, with whom she shares a good bond.

When Boss visits their home one day, he is surprised to see that Isabella feels no pride in her talented son; instead, she is solely focused on money. At one point, she and her boyfriend ask Taylor to intentionally lose a fight so they can win a bet.

Later, she sends Taylor a picture, showing her face all bruised and beaten up. Isabella says that Régis has heavy debts and the debtors have beaten her up. To procure some quick cash, Taylor risks his life to participate in the underground tournament.

A still from the trailer (Image via Netflix/YouTube)

However, towards the end of The Cage, Taylor finds out that those bruises were inflicted by Régis to put up an act. In reality, there was no debt, and Isabella and Régis only took Taylor’s hard-earned money to use it to settle elsewhere.

After learning this, Taylor finally gives up all hope of reconciling with his mother. He enters the ring and channels his rage into his opponent as The Cage comes to a close.

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The Cage is now streaming on Netflix.