newfish

I'd like to see non-title five round fights in the UFC. In boxing, a non-title main event is only two three minute rounds shorter than a title fight -- 30 minutes vs. 36 minutes. In MMA non-title fights run 15 minutes vs. 25 minutes for a title fight. What's more, in boxing there are a lot of belts, so there are more opportunities for the best fighters to go the distance.

The UFC is an excellent promoter. They employ a large number of fighters who are fast becoming household names. Unfortunately, many of these fighters occupy the same weight division. Too often it feels that the main events end mid-stride. To better showcase its talent, the UFC needs to institute non-title five round fights. MMA fighters these days are in exceptional condition, and so assuming a fight doesn't end suddenly, it more often than not would benefit from a couple of extra rounds. The 15 minute time limit is simply claustrophobic.

Further thoughts and questions:

* Five round fights seem to be as exciting as three rounders, even from round one (fighters don't slow down or stop taking risks in anticipation of the extra two rounds). However, would this change if to title were at stake?
* Would a 10-5-5 minute (ala Pride), or even 5-5-10, be a good compromise (a 20 minute non-title fight vs. a 25 minute)?
* How much extra money do fighters demand for those extra two rounds? My guess? Those extra two rounds are A LOT cheaper than the initial three.
* More importantly, would the five round time limit draw a larger audience?
* Any past fights that would have likely benefited from an extra two rounds?

Toxic

The level of fighters conditioning for 90% of the elite level fighters is alot better than your average undercard fighters, many guys on the main cards and undercards gas out in the second round a 5 round fight with them would be boring as shit, we'd also get less fights per card on television, 5 rounds would kill the audiance if Starnes/Quarry had been 25 minutes I literally would have changed the channell and the Montreal crowd probably would have rioted, its not a good idea and besides the athletic commisions are the ones that decide regualar fights are 3 rounds and championship fights 5 thats why all American organizations have that same system.

__________________

The Toxic Terrors (FFL)

Georges St. Pierre*Sarra McMann*Pat Curran*Patricio Freire*Uriah Hall

NP FFL Team Toxic Challenge

Fabricio Werdum*Gilbert Melendez*Rick Hawn*John Dodson*Urijah Faber

joey__stalin

That is pretty much everything I was going to say. And yeah, some undercard fights would get very boring. And they would have to make their ppv's longer if anything like that happened.

__________________
- A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.
- It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

See you Space Cowboy...

jdun11

I actually hate 5 round fights. I cant think of one fight that has gone into the 4th or 5th round that I consider a great fight. 95% of the time the fighter who wins the 3 round fight, would generally win the 5 rounder. For instance, with the Fitch/GSp fight, we didnt need to see Fitch get killed for 2 more rounds. Rampage and Forrest needed those extra rounds but they still didnt help us determine who won. Not to mention that fight was boring as hell in the 4th and 5th. I just cant think of a round 4 or 5 that I actually liked. The last round of the Randy/Sylvia fight was cool cuz Randy won but it would have been more enjoyable if it ended after 3. Pulver/Faber didnt have to go 4 or 5 rounds either. The fight was already decided. The 4th and 5th rounds were a formality.

I cant think of a fight where a fighter was losing through 3 rounds and he came out winning in a decision or finishng his opponent in the 4th of 5th. It doesnt happen. Thats why I hate 5 rounds. For the most part they are boring and unnecessary!

Think of all the boring 5 round fights. Sylvia/Monson,AA/Sylvia,Hughes/Sherk. I challenge you to name me a good 5 round fight. And I didnt really like the Fitch/GSP fight. It was 5 rounds of Fitch getting outclassed. The first round was fun tho

__________________



Mancrushes
1.Shogun
2.BJ
3.Fedor
4.Kos
5.GSP

Im in Porno's

The Legend

Well the guys that have already repsonded have made great points but another point a lot of people fail to realize especially the ones that whine all the time that we don't get to see all the fights on the PPV, is that the UFC has a time slot and if they were to put on more 25 minute fights they wouldn't be able to fit every fight in. Why do you think we don't see a lot of cards with two title fights on it? UFC 92 will be the first time since UFC 65.

__________________

SuzukS

If you look at the UFC's fight history, you can see that very few fights have actually been finished in the 4th/5th rounds. If two fighters haven't finished by the 3rd then chances are they still won't by the 5th. Plus, there are those boring fights that go the distance, imagine if some of those fights took up another 10 mins, also wasting a potential fight form the preliminaries being aired.

__________________

CornbreadBB

For me, sometimes 5 round fights make me feel like I'm getting my moneys worth, but like was said if a fight is boring for 3 rounds, I don't see why anyone would stick around for 5 rounds. After the 3rd, there is not enough fights that ends in an exciting matter, that they would have a reason to change it. Once a card, a 5 round fight is okay, but seeing two evenly matched opponents trade punches for 25 minutes gets a bit ridiculous. I feel like the championship matches should be longer than normal matches, for after all people expect more from champions and the #1 contender.

Edit: Posted the same time as the person above me.

__________________

The Dude Abides

I've felt for a while now that the UFC should, if its within their right, be able to show some discretion when it comes to 5 round fights. Obviously the undercards would remain 3 rounds. But when you get two elite level fighters i think most of us would like to see them go five rounds. Hendo v. Franklin and Rampage v. Wanderlei being the two prime examples.

The Dude Abides

Sherk and Sylvia putting on boring fights? No, never, lol!!

That i can think of now, Sylvia and Randy was a great fight, wouldn't of been half as great were it not for the belt, granted. Same goes for Forrest Rampage.

zath the champ

I like the current setup.

To be objective though...there is a ton of filler per PPV that could get cut. I usually DVR the fights and don't start watching for at least 45 mins, just to fast-forward through all the crap.

If the UFC were to ever consider adding rounds to non-title fights, I would hope it would be to the co-mainevent(s) only.

__________________
Always supporting:
Forrest
Machida
Wandy
Velasquez


Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones is the best match-up the UFC has ever been able to arrange. Here's to hoping it goes down.