In the UFC, a five-round fight has always been reserved for title fights. The fourth and fifth rounds are commonly referred to as the championship rounds. It’s been a simple and clear separation between the two, but often left fans wanting more from the more premiere non-title main events.
In a move that shows big changes can be made if and when they’re necessary (and if and when the fans want them), UFC President Dana White recently announced that beginning with UFC 134, all main events will be five rounds, championship or not. It’s the right move, although it has its cons as well as pros.
For example, I doubt Matt Hamill would’ve been too stoked having to avoid getting knocked out for 10 more minutes at UFC 131. He’d had enough after 15. But it’s great for the Rampage Jacksons of the world who were criticized for not finishing.
It’s not going to be great if we’re just adding 10 more minutes of boring to an already bad fight. Something like Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites (or Demian Maia) probably could’ve been cut down to three rounds to make the crowd happier. Nobody’s aching for preseason football games to be extended by two quarters.
More fingers, teeth and hair will get caught up in the janitors’ push-brooms. The organization’s medical bills may go up. The downsides are definitely there.
But too many three-rounders have seemingly ended prematurely, with the audience thinking, ‘I’m not even tired yet, why did they stop fighting?’ Too many fights reached the final bell just as it seemed the fighters were really finding their rhythm, and with beer still left in my mug. To finish a solid card with just another three-rounder is just a bit anticlimactic.
Most importantly, a five round fight has an added sense of importance. The fight means more, hence it lasts longer. And isn’t that the type of importance each main event should have? This puts added pressure on UFC matchmakers to come up with compelling and significant main events.
Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva was a classic battle, but at the end of three rounds both men still knew their names. Now we don’t have to worry about that as much.
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Previously on The Beatdown …
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Tim Gilmour is a sports reporter and author of the humor blog LetMeThinkForYou.com. His column appears each Monday.
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- vikesfansteve - Jun 21, 2011 at 4:48 PM
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Just what UFC needs is more rounds of wrestlers who can barely punch rolling around on the mat trying to put a submission hold on each other. How to make a full contact sport even more boring. YAWN.
