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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
One topic in MMA that has always driven some debate is the notion of running non-title main event fights in the UFC as five round bouts. The issue has come up on numerous occasions, most recently in regards to the Quinton Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida bout at UFC 123, where most felt an extra two rounds would have helped that fight avoid the controversial split decision.
Well, those hoping to see five round non-title fights in the UFC should rejoice, as UFC President Dana White has warmed to the idea, and told fans in Toronto on Tuesday that the UFC may be implementing that for non-title headliners.
"We've talked about that before," White said in response to a fan question. "There have been fights that we've been watching that are three round fights that we were like, 'damn, this should have been a five round fight. It was the main event, and it should have been five.'"
"We can do it, we could make a [non-title] main event a five round fight and we're probably going to start doing that."
Penick's Analysis: Now, until the UFC actually implements this for a non-title fight, this is just White paying lip service to a fan. But, the fact that they are open to it and have discussed the concept makes it more likely that we will eventually see this happen in the Octagon. The first fight we could possibly see get the five round treatment would be Brock Lesnar vs. Junior Dos Santos in June. Coming off a season of The Ultimate Fighter, and with a title shot on the line, this would be a perfect fight for the UFC to begin implementing the five-round limit.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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