UFC President Dana White Says All Non-Title Main Events Will Be Five Rounds, Why That Is Good For Business
Two months ago prior to UFC 129, UFC president Dana White said that UFC was strongly considering making the company’s main event fights five-round contests. The idea was to eliminate some of the draws, as well as making the main events seem more special, even if they aren’t championship bouts.
At yesterday’s UFC 131 press conference, White made the official announcement that all future main events that are signed will be five-round fights.
From MMAFighting.com:
“From this day forward, any fight that is signed after right now today will be a five-round fight,” White said.
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Of course, “from this day forward” also means, ‘excluding main events where three-round bout agreements have already been signed,’ such as the impending bout between Phil Davis and Rashad Evans that is scheduled for UFC 133. White explained that he didn’t want to force fighters who had already agreed to three-rounders to suddenly prepare for five, but going forward, any fighter in a main event should expect to be signed up for a 25-minute tilt, he said.
This is a significant change, and one that will benefit the company and the fighters in the long-term. It will be more difficult for a fighter with little stamina to be able to make it through an entire main event fight without actually doing anything.
Plus, it will really help eliminate the potential for fights to end in a draw. At UFC 127, for example, if Jon Fitch had another two rounds to work with, he would have gotten a victory over B.J. Penn instead of fighting to a draw.
It makes every main fell like a bigger deal, which can help draw more interest in the fight. We will have to wait until at least UFC 134 to see the change take place, but it’s a step in the right direction to take some work away from the judges.