TORONTO -- Five-round non-title fights are in the UFC's immediate future, UFC president Dana White said on Friday afternoon.Until now, only championship fights have been five rounds, while all other fights have been three. The different structure would likely only be utilized for non-title main events, or other important bouts, like No. 1 contender fights.
White said that the UFC had planned to make June's UFC 131 main event, No. 1 contenders match between Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos a five-round fight, but felt it would be unfair to inform the fighters of the change after they had already begun preparations for the bout.
Five-round, non-title fights are allowed under the current unified rules, but have yet to be used by a major U.S. promotion. The motivation at least in part stems from the increased possibility of draws in three-round fights. As recently as February, Jon Fitch and BJ Penn ended a No. 1 contenders fight in a draw.
"I hate draws worse than anything," White said, then explaining that the possibility of a tie was one of his problems with soccer.
"You sit there and watch a game for hours and nobody wins?" he said. "I don't get it. That's one thing I hate about fights, too. Draws suck."
White gave no timetable for the first time the new format would be used.
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