“We blew it tonight. It should have been a five-round fight,” Dana White told MMAJunkie following his promotion’s first main event on Fuel TV.
As the final seconds ticked away in an exciting bout between welterweight contenders Jake Ellenberger and Diego Sanchez, fans were left wondering why they wouldn’t get to see the pair of fighters go at for another two rounds, as five-round, main-event fights have become the standard on the UFC’s pay-per-view and FOX events.
After announcing in mid-2011 that all future main events would be five-round affairs, the UFC narrowed that statement to exclusively include the featured fights on its biggest shows.
However, the outstanding performance displayed by Ellenberger and Sanchez on Wednesday night led the UFC brass to recognize their mistake. As such, the UFC is now serious when they say that all of their main events will be scheduled for 25 minutes inside the Octagon.
“Already thought and done,” White said of future Fuel TV and FX main events being five-round fights.
Not only will this change bring more entertainment for fans who had hoped to see 10 more minutes of Ellenberger and Sanchez, but it promotes consistency.
If the organization is going to feature fights with title-shot implications at their smaller shows, such as UFC on Fuel TV’s main event, it only makes sense to treat those fights the same as they would a main event between top contenders on a pay-per-view or FOX card.
Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSmithMMA.
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