UFC
UFC looking to implement five round non-title fights; UFC 131's Lesnar vs. Dos Santos was almost the first
Apr 30, 2011 - 2:15:16 PM UFC looking to implement five round non-title fights; UFC 131's Lesnar vs. Dos Santos was almost the first

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC is moving closer to booking five-round non-title main event fights for their events, and UFC President Dana White said this week they were almost ready to roll it out this June.

"We were actually going to start it with Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos, but we had already made the fight," White said during a Q&A on Friday with fans at the UFC Fan Expo (transcribed by MMAWeekly.com). "We had already made the fight so it's kind of hard to go back to those guys after you already make the fight and say 'you know what this is going to be five [rounds] instead of three."

With the draw between B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch in February at UFC 127, as well as the close fight between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida at UFC 123 last November, the call for more rounds for the non-title pay-per-view main events is as loud as it has ever been, and though they're not quite there yet, White assured fans in Toronto that they're getting close.

Penick's Analysis: For main event fights, especially on pay-per-view, fights should be five rounds. If it's an important enough fight to headline the card - and most non-title main events at least have some type of affect on the top end of a division - then allowing both fighters a full five rounds to separate it from the other fights on the card is a great move. We could see this as early as UFC 133 in Philadelphia if the UFC doesn't have a title fight available for the card, and UFC 135 and UFC 136 in September or October could also be possibilities depending on how things shape up with regard to their respective title holders. Depending on the timing, I'd expect we'll see the UFC implement this before the year is out.