At this point I'm all for letting them hype all they want. Not a lot of fighters left to be hyped anyway.
5 round fights ARE title fights. There's no comains that aren't title fights that are 5 rounders. The only reason they do 5 rounders for non title main events is so people don't realize they are being ripped off by paying for a PPV with no championship main event.
Having a 5 round fight is not NECESSARY for anyone prior to having a title shot. In fact, it's very common. Comparing to current champions: Stipe: Did have two 5 round main events before his first title shot (lost first, won second) Jan: Did have two 5 round main events before his first title shot (lost first, won second) Israel Adesanya - No 5 round fights before his interim fight with Kelvin Usman - Had a 5 round main event before his first title shot Khabib - No 5 round fights before first title shot Volk - No 5 round fights before first title shot Yan - No 5 round fights before first title shot Fig - No 5 round fights before first title shot Nunes - No 5 round fights before first title shot Shev - Had a 5 round main event before her first title shot Weili - No 5 round fights before first title shot So, among the current champs, 7 never had a 5 rounder before their title shot. 5 did. It 's definitely not something that is necessary. It's more of a fluke of circumstance than anything else.
It's been scheduled TWICE as a 5 rounder. They might as well make it the co main with 5 rounds and make Rozy vs Gane a 3 round fight.
I know it's bad but don't take it too serious, people are just looking for a new guy to get behind who calls his shots and has an arrogant swagger so that when he loses they can shit can him and have some fun with it. Kazmat carries that torch right now for the fans.
You know full well his lungs were damaged from Covid. He can fight in a 5 rounder after he smashes Leon and fights for the title.
Whining about being "fast tracked" is so lame. He still has to be Leon. Anything he gets if he does that, will be well deserved