UFC looks to make all main events 5 rounds

"President Dana White has confirmed the UFC is planning to make all future main events five-round encounters.

Currently only title fights are contested over five rounds, with all other bouts restricted to three. However, it appears imminent plans are in place to make the main event at all UFC events a 25-minute encounter.

As White acknowledged, many past events have seen classic battles ended prematurely due to the three-round format, with the likes of Rich Franklin v Wanderlei Silva (UFC 99) and Randy Couture v Antonio Nogueira (102) both leaving the fans wanting more, while Rampage Jackson v Rashad Evans (UFC 114) and Thiago Silva v Rashad Evans (UFC 108) both stopped as the fights were truly getting started.

"We've talked about that before," confessed White. "There's been fights that we've been watching that are three-round fights, and we were thinking, 'Damn, this should have been a five-round fight. It's the main event, it should have been five'.

"We could do it. We could make a main event a five-round fight. We're probably going to start doing that."

http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/73138.html

I hope it works out.

It seems like a good idea as long as they keep having quality main events

interesting

Actually I'd agree with it for some fights. But not all like sanhez vs kampman.Or ortiz vs lil nog.

My take on this is that any two fighters that have both been cleared for title fights previously should be allowed to fight for five rounds even if it isn't for a belt. If a fighter has never made it to championship level, they shouldn't be going five founds.

Bad phrasing there. Should be, "... any fighter that has been cleared for a title fight ... ".

Sloppy reporting by ESPN I think.

During fan Q&A session in Toronto, Dana was like "yeah we've thought about it and it could be cool, maybe we'll do it."

For ESPN to say "Dana White has confirmed that this will happen" is kind of weird, unless they got separate confirmation somehow.

this wont happen, nor will the athletic gaming commission allow this to happen. They specifically state in the rules that only a title fight can be 5 rounds.... ESPN is misconstruing Whites comments.

Townstar NSAC has already approved the use of 5 round non-title fights back in 2009. UFC has simply decided not to use them. I'm sure other athletic commissions will take their cues from NSAC and approve this if UFC pushed for it.

http://insidefights.com/2009/08/19/five-round-non-title-fights-approved-by-nsac/

Yeah, I know the UFC is allowed to do 5-round non-title fights. I think this is really bad reporting. I think it's definitely not confirmed. I think it should just be reserved for fights that would be for sure better with five rounds rather than three.

More 5 round fights is needed. Hate seeing fights like Griffin vs Franklin just end when they should have 2 more rounds to determine the real winner. Same with Rocha vs Ellenberger, that was a sweet fight.

I'm really torn on this issue...I can't count how many fights I've seen and wished there were 2 more rounds, but I really like the fact that title fights have their own model and not like every other fight.

om sort of in agreement with soccerkic. id prefer to keep 5 rounds for title fights.

i've always thought the idea discredits title fights and makes them less special...how about instead just giving a title fight main event every time on a ppv? you got 7 weight classes now

I dont really like the idea. Either leave it how it is or make all fights 5 rounds. It seems kind of dumb to make main events 5 rounds if they are for a belt. Whats the logic there, you might 2 more rounds on a exciting fight?? well you might also get 2 more rounds on a lack luster fight. And like CashBrewyn said, they have 7 weight classes now they could do a title fight every PPV and then the only none title main events would be on the non PPV cards.

Agree with some of your feelings there, LoneRonin. If they mess with the current system it could make things even more confusing or controversial. There's no perfect solution, so let's not screw it up.

But as a fan I want longer fights. We see it again and again that 3 round fights are insufficient.  So putting the details aside, I am glad to see Dana & UFC being more open to trying to address this problem.

I don't know about this. I like the uniqueness of the champion fights.