UFC Flyweight Tournament Fights Could Feature Sudden-Victory Fourth Round


(Get ready for 20 minutes of fun-sized beast-mode.)

Next weekend in Sydney, Australia, the UFC will debut their brand-new 125-pound flyweight division with a pair of fights on the main card of UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann; the winners will later meet to determine the first-ever UFC flyweight champion. And because a winner must be determined in each semi-final match, the UFC is considering an unprecedented solution. As Demetrious Johnson explained to Crooklyn:

“I don’t know if anybody has said anything about it, and this is the first time I’m mentioning it, is that we (Ian McCall and himself) had to sign for a ‘sudden death’ bout. If it goes to three rounds, and the judges can’t decide who the winner is, then we’ll do a fourth round…I can’t say if it’s going to be for Joseph (Benavides) and Yasuhiro (Urushitani), because I’m not gonna say that the UFC made those guys sign, too. I’m telling you, specifically, that I signed a contract for an extra round on the bout agreement. I’m not gonna say that they did. [But] I’m assuming, in my unprofessional opinion, that they did as well.”


(Get ready for 20 minutes of fun-sized beast-mode.)

Next weekend in Sydney, Australia, the UFC will debut their brand-new 125-pound flyweight division with a pair of fights on the main card of UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann; the winners will later meet to determine the first-ever UFC flyweight champion. And because a winner must be determined in each semi-final match, the UFC is considering an unprecedented solution. As Demetrious Johnson explained to Crooklyn:

“I don’t know if anybody has said anything about it, and this is the first time I’m mentioning it, is that we (Ian McCall and himself) had to sign for a ‘sudden death’ bout. If it goes to three rounds, and the judges can’t decide who the winner is, then we’ll do a fourth round…I can’t say if it’s going to be for Joseph (Benavides) and Yasuhiro (Urushitani), because I’m not gonna say that the UFC made those guys sign, too. I’m telling you, specifically, that I signed a contract for an extra round on the bout agreement. I’m not gonna say that they did. [But] I’m assuming, in my unprofessional opinion, that they did as well.”

To this point, the “sudden victory round” concept has only been used for the two-round fights in the early stages of competition on The Ultimate Fighter, and has never been used for official sanctioned competition in the UFC. But if there’s any group of fighters that has the gas to do another five minutes if necessary, it’s the flyweights. Demetrious Johnson will be facing Uncle Creepy at the UFC on FX 2 show, while Joseph Benavidez will meet reigning 123-pound Shooto champ Yasuhiro Urushitani.

So what do you think? Should sudden victory rounds be used in other important fights in the UFC, or would they only create awkward delays? The full lineup of UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann is below…

MAIN CARD
Thiago Alves vs. Martin Kampmann
Joseph Benavidez vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani [flyweight tournament semi-final]
Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall [flyweight tournament semi-final]
Court McGee vs. Constantinos Philippou

PRELIMINARY CARD
James Te Huna vs. Aaron Rosa
Anthony Perosh vs. Nick Penner
Cole Miller vs. Steven Siler
Kyle Noke vs. Andrew Craig
TJ Waldburger vs. Jake Hecht
Oli Thompson vs. Shawn Jordan
Mackens Semerzier vs. Daniel Pineda