How would 3x3 minute rounds do? How many fights should be on a card?

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What if fights were 3x3 minute rounds as opposed to 3x5 minute rounds? More explosive fights, more fighters going for the finish. Not sitting around waiting on something to happen, which is roughly 50% of watch time.

The last fight card took 7 hours for 14 fights. I have recently been watching less prelims because fight cards have been taking so long. How many fights should be on a particular fight card to get the perfect card duration?

I personally am less hyped for the main card if I had to sit around and watch 3 hours of prelims more times then not. I think 8 fights is perfect. 4 prelims and 4 main card. I will dedicate 3-4 hours to watching fights, but not 6-7.

I personally think 1x10 minute round is the best way to score MMA, but they aren't letting go of the 10 point must system, so what other adjustments could be made?


Fights in real life rarely last more then a few minutes
 
your first preference is one 10 minute round, but you also prefer 3 min rounds over 5 min rounds?

that's interesting.

my guess is that your 'solution' (shorter rounds) won't solve the problem you say you're trying to fix (less down time between fighting).

but ya, i rarely watch it real time anymore. fast forwarding through commercials is a luxury.
 
your first preference is one 10 minute round, but you also prefer 3 min rounds over 5 min rounds?

that's interesting.

but ya, i rarely watch it real time anymore. fast forwarding through commercials is a luxury.

10x1 minute round, and 1x5 minute round for sudden death. Similiar to Bushido rules would be my ideal round preference, but I am curious to see what people might think about 3x3 minute rounds. Never said it was my preference.
 
I have the solution:

Making joints. Problem solved.

Id argue we need the downtime honestly.
 
10x1 minute round, and 1x5 minute round for sudden death. Similiar to Bushido rules would be my ideal round preference, but I am curious to see what people might think about 3x3 minute rounds. Never said it was my preference.
ahhh.

historically, the argument against it is that it isn't enough time to set up submissions, making the sport more stand-and-bang friendly instead of 'NHB'
 
Yeah guys need to be able to work for subs and there needs to be a flow to the fight. Longer rounds are better. If time is an issue then it's best to have fewer fights on the undercard.
 
My opinion, I don't like it. That's amateur level.

If a professional fighter can't go 15-25 mins that is on them.
This has been the standard for years and it's not broken.
I do enjoy pride/bushido rules of an extended first round. But 5mins is plenty of time to work in a round.
While you are fighting it feels like much longer.
 
Not enough time for grappling. Should be no rounds and fight straight to the death.
 
Watch amateur fights, 3*3 rounds. Maybe you'll get an idea of it would work for mma. I think less finishes because stalling would be huge
 
3 rounds x 5 minutes is a good length

25 minutes is punishing and maybe just entertainment wise, too long

3 x 3 is what I did while a full time young parent and full time job so I’d expect UFC fighter to go hard for more than 9 minutes
 
I’d prefer one ten minute fight/round for entry level guys
A twenty minute fight/round for top ten fights
And a half hour for title matches.
 
@Andre Xiong
@AJ Garcia

If you could pick your ideal number of rounds and time of the rounds. What would you pick?
3 rounds of 5 minutes

If someone is going to stall they’re going to stall for the whole 25 minutes so at least with 15 minutes we won’t sit through more of it

5 minute rounds let’s grappling play out (offensively and defensively)

One 10 minute round sounds awesome but PrideFc has died :) just not in our hearts
 
Watch amateur fights, 3*3 rounds. Maybe you'll get an idea of it would work for mma. I think less finishes because stalling would be huge
Came to say watch amateur fights if you want 3 minute rounds they already have them. There really isn't a better structure for rounds I've seen discussed. Bit to fix the down time between fights is placed strictly on the promoter, bellator is really good about moving the cards along as they don't have near the backing from big corps like ufc and don't need to run as much advertising would be my guess.

The fights themselves have no real bearing on the time between, save for quick knockouts when the fighters coming up next usually haven't started warming up yet causing a bit of a delay to warm up.

Longer fights like decisions fighters will start warming up around mid fight to be ready in 30 minutes or so. Just my 2 cents.
 
3 minute rounds feels too short to me. I'm also a fan of a first round 10 minutes long followed by a 5 minute "sudden death" type round. For championship fights maybe a 15 minute round followed by a 5 minute round. This would give a ton of time for people to actually work for submissions, but I can see the potential for a "lay and pray" first round followed by 5 minutes of "avoiding contact" for a guaranteed win. I don't know what the answer is but to be honest I think what we have now is just fine.
 
3 rounds of 5 minutes

If someone is going to stall they’re going to stall for the whole 25 minutes so at least with 15 minutes we won’t sit through more of it

5 minute rounds let’s grappling play out (offensively and defensively)

One 10 minute round sounds awesome but PrideFc has died :) just not in our hearts

I love the 1x10 minute round idea. It is super hard to mess up the scoring.
 
3, 5, and 7 round 5 minute fights would be best. 3 minutes is too short for grappling.
 
What if fights were 3x3 minute rounds as opposed to 3x5 minute rounds? More explosive fights, more fighters going for the finish. Not sitting around waiting on something to happen, which is roughly 50% of watch time.

The last fight card took 7 hours for 14 fights. I have recently been watching less prelims because fight cards have been taking so long. How many fights should be on a particular fight card to get the perfect card duration?

I personally am less hyped for the main card if I had to sit around and watch 3 hours of prelims more times then not. I think 8 fights is perfect. 4 prelims and 4 main card. I will dedicate 3-4 hours to watching fights, but not 6-7.

I personally think 1x10 minute round is the best way to score MMA, but they aren't letting go of the 10 point must system, so what other adjustments could be made?


Fights in real life rarely last more then a few minutes

I have always thought 3x5 and 3x7 would be better for the sport. I think it would actually lead to fewer pull outs due to injury. The stress of training to complete in 5 min bursts is much greater than for 3 min burst.

With 5 minute rounds I think increasing the rest periods to 2 mins would also be beneficial to the sport.
 
@Andre Xiong
@AJ Garcia

If you could pick your ideal number of rounds and time of the rounds. What would you pick?

I don’t mind five minute rounds, but I will say those extra two minutes make a huge difference. I never felt like I would get tired during 3 minute round fights. Getting used to five minutes was a big thing when I first went pro. You kinda have to pace yourself even if you’re in amazing shape.

A guy I always see come out and blow his wad is Abel Trujillo. Every punch he throws in the first round is a power shot and if he doesn’t get the ko, you see him slow down drastically in the next couple of rounds. Fading like that never seemed to be an issue with three minute rounds but making sure your cardio is where it needs to be is part of being a pro.
 
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