A general view of the Octagon prior to the start of the UFC 250 event at UFC APEX on June 06, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
MMA is different from boxing in the number of rounds in a fight and the UFC has two sets of rules for the number of rounds in a fight
MMA is one of the fastest growing sports in the world with several different promotions broadcasting fights on various outlets.
The UFC is the biggest MMA promotion in the world and is based in the USA. However, they have held several events outside of the USA in Brazilian, Chinese, Arabian, Australian and European venues.
There are other big promotions as well like ONE Championship, which is based in Asia or Bellator and the PFL, which mostly hold their fights in the US. Despite there being so many different promotions in the MMA world, most of them follow the same rules when it comes to fighting.
While there are a few differences between the rules used in the UFC and say ONE Championship, for example, the length of the fights seems to be a constant across the board.
The simple answer to the question of how many rounds in an MMA fight are either 3 or 5 rounds. This depends on what kind of fight is taking place.
Normally, a regular fight on any part of the UFC card, prelims or main card, is for 3 rounds. This goes all the way up to the co-main event.
The main event is always a 5 round event. Most of the time a championship belt is on the line and that’s why the main events are 5 round fights. However, if a belt is being defended in a co-main event, that fight will also be a 5 round affair.
There have been some instances when the main event hasn’t been a championship bout, but it is still a 5 round clash. A couple of big examples of such an instance taking place is Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor 2 at UFC 257.
However, a recent co-main event was also for 5 rounds. When Belal Muhammad took on Gilbert Burns at UFC 288, the fight was the co-main event and went for 5 rounds. This is an anomaly since co-main events are 3 rounds unless they are for a title.
This is different when compared to boxing. Championship boxing fights last for 12 rounds, however, certain bouts could be for as few as four rounds.
There are a lot of exhibition and celebrity boxing fights which aren’t for more than 10 rounds. However, the number of rounds in MMA is set at either 3 or 5, depending on the above-mentioned conditions.
The time for a round in MMA or the UFC is set at 5 minutes. This is the same for all fights located anywhere on the card.
So a normal MMA fight can last a maximum of 15 minutes, thanks to 3 rounds of 5 minutes each. Championship and main event bouts can last a maximum of 25 minutes, thanks to the 5 rounds of 5 minutes each.
Of course, there is a minute break in between rounds where fighters can be tended to and discuss tactics with their coaches before the next round.
There is one major difference between the time of an MMA fight and boxing. Boxing rounds for men are 3 minutes each but for the women, it is 2 minutes. Some have asked for the men and women to have the same length, 3 minutes, for all rounds.
However, for MMA, men and women have the same length of rounds, 5 minutes.
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