UWC 5: Man O' War in Pictures

I don’t necessarily feel three-minute rounds for women are more appropriate. All I can really say is that of all the women’s MMA matches I’ve witnessed, all but one has been conducted under a three-minute round structure, and the one that was not was the least exciting. That’s not to say that the fight was not entertaining (it was), or that women shouldn’t be able to compete across five-minute rounds (I feel they should).

I simply feel that there is an argument that can be made, after having watched this fight, to keep women’s matches at a three-minute time limit per round.

Of course, as was swiftly pointed out by another commentor, it’s not as though we haven’t seen dull fights, much more dull than Herrig v. Achhal, in fact, take place between men across five-minute rounds. Sex doesn’t necessarily play an issue, it’s true. Though, when a particular standard has been set, and a deviation from that standard leads to different results than that to which one has become accustomed, it’s easy to jump to conclusions. Really, that’s what I did.

I really did not intend to assert that I think women should not fight five minutes per round. I myself have felt that it made little sense to have different standards for the round duration based solely on gender.

As I said, I feel the extra two minutes being mistakenly added on to each round must have taken a toll on the fighters, who were not expecting to fight in five-minute rounds. It’s unfortunate, then, that the first female fight I witnessed with five-minute rounds occurred under this circumstance. While I can rationalize why the action may have gone the way it did, I wonder if others in attendance will be able to do so as well, or if they will simply conclude, as I previously suggested, that the three-minute time limit per round is more appealing.