Most Frequently Asked Questions About UFC: Guide to Basics

The following are given the most frequently asked questions about UFC with their answers:

• There is no fixed time duration for UFC fights. But there is a maximum duration, and that is 29 minutes if it is a championship fight and 17 minutes for a regular non-championship fight.
• How long the UFC fight will be depends on how it ends. It ends with any other issue, technical knockout, or knockout, but continues for all rounds if no knockout happens.

There are some factors that collectively decide the total time for a UFC bout:

• The total number of rounds is three for regular and five for championship fights.

• Each round is five minutes in both regular and championship bouts.

• After each round in both types of UFC bout, both players have one minute for rest, after which the next round begins.

• If the knockout happens, the match ends.

• If any other emergency or issue happens due to which players cannot continue their fight, the bout stops.

• If both above things happen, the match continues for three and five rounds of UFC. In that case, the total time will be 17 or 29 minutes.

Many people think that it is better for UFC to have no rounds and the players should fight until they cannot or one of the players accepts defeat. They also present the argument that a real fight does not have breaks or rounds, so why does UFC have breaks and rounds? But this concept only looks good as long as it is not implemented practically. Many reasons support that there must be rounds in a UFC match. The following are such reasons:

• Round allows the player to recover and have some rest.

• Players have the opportunity to make and adjust their strategy for the next round.

• The time limit and fixed number of rounds provide safety to a player so that the match is called off before the injury becomes serious.

• Multiple rounds act as multiple matches for the players to test the real winner. They can gear themselves up and perform better in the next round after a bad round.

Increasing the number of rounds from five to ten is not as straightforward as many people think. There are a number of reasons why there are five rounds in a UFC match. If the number is increases, it will provide some benefits such as real test of endurance, tactical depth of both players, more dramatic moments, but there are some downsides to it which people also should not forget and these include that the fighters are more vulnerable to the injures, they can get tired leading to a more significant fatigue, and fans might not enjoy long fights. So, because of these reasons, there is still no change in the UFC number of rounds.

UFC has formatted regular fights and championship bouts in a different manner. UFC has done to differentiate between regular and main matches or cards, to make the main ones as significant, allowing both fighters to display their skills better, a real test of endurance, and to have more fair decisions because long fights will give the real winner. Regular fights have fewer rounds because they are less critical fights and do not decide the champion.

• There is a big difference between MMA or UFC rounds and boxing rounds. In a boxing match, the boxers have to box for 12 rounds, and each round is 3 minutes long. So boxing matches demand good stamina and endurance. On the other hand, in UFC or MMA, the total number of rounds is three or five, and each round is not more than five minutes long. There is no UFC match with more than five rounds.

• So there is a lot of difference between the two. With this difference, the requirement for a fighter also changes. You need more stamina, endurance, physical and mental alertness to keep yourself leading the match in boxing. UFC demands diverse skills such as grappling, striking, and ground fighting.

Yes! The UFC fights, like any other sports event, can end in a draw. A draw or tie means that both fighters have displayed equal and the same fighting skills, and no one can be called a winner. Due to this, there can be a rematch or the defending winner can be given the title again. Draw can happen in three ways:

• If two judges call a match a draw and the third judge calls one of the fighters the winner, then it will result in a majority draw.

• If only one judge calls a fight a draw, while other judges call for one fighter as the winner, both giving a win to a different fighter, then it will result in a split draw.

• If all three judges call a fight a draw, then it will be a unanimous draw.

An MMA amateur bout has the same number of rounds as the other regular fights in UFC. It has three rounds, with each round consisting of three minutes and one minute break between them.

• The shortest UFC fight ever was just five seconds at UFC 239 between Ben Askren and Jorge Masvidal.

• The longest UFC fight ever was about 36 minutes and six seconds at UFC 1 between Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie.

• Yes! There are rules and regulations in UFC that the fighters fighting under the organization have to follow. The ruleset on which UFC regulates is known as the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.

• These rules inhibit the fighters from using any foul or illegal moves during the match. The rules are made to ensure proper discipline in the game. All fighters have to abide by the rules of UFC; otherwise, they would be disqualified.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a former undefeated UFC player from Russia. He has never lost a match against anyone. When we talk about rounds, Khabib has lost two rounds in his whole career of a total of 60 rounds, with one of them being against Conor McGregor in a famous fight. But even in that fight, he won the first rounds, lost the third one, and then won the fourth round again. He was just unbelievable.

• The metal piece used during the UFC fights, which you might have seen whenever a fighter gets injured, is known as Enswell. It literally means to end or stop swelling. It is a small piece of metal and has a handle for holding and keeping it on the affected area. It is kept on ice and is very cold. For application, it is pressed directly on the affected area of the fighter. This will prevent or reduce the swelling.

• Swelling stops because the pressure directly constricts the blood vessels of the area, and therefore, the blood flow decreases to that specific injured area. With the decreased blood flow, the chemicals causing inflammation also cannot reach the area, with the result that the swelling stops or reduces. The man who uses it is known as a cutman or corner team who goes to the fighter, gets out the enswell stored in the ice, and then uses it.

The numbers written after UFC indicate the order in which the UFC match was played or will be played. These numbers are given only to the major Pay Per View (PPV) events. These are the most influential and significant matches, and are also known as the UFC flagship events. The UFC 1, which indicates the first UFC match in a PPV event, was held in 1993. After that match, each coming bout was given a next number, but only to a PPV event. For example, UFC 200 means the 200th PPV match of UFC.

• The normal UFC or the numbered Pay Per View UFC events (PPV) are the bouts in UFC that include the fights between top ranked fighters of UFC and include the significant or flagship fights. They are less frequent and also demand more payment.

• On the other hand, UFC fight night includes the lesser known and lower ranked fighters and occurs more frequently and demands less payment as compared to UFC PPV bouts. You can watch them mostly on the ESPN+ subscription.

• This is a completely false statement. There are only a few sports events in the world in which something like that never happens, and UFC is one of them. There is no match in UFC that was fixed, and the fighter lost intentionally to get some bucks, risking their entire career and reputation in front of the whole world.

• But sometimes unexpected things happen, which gives a false impression that the match was fixed. This happens in every sport in the world. A fighter, even a top ranked, cannot play at their best all the time. There are always some setbacks in a match or during a tournament. Moreover, the referees also make mistakes sometimes. But all of this does not mean that the UFC fight was fixed or that the player was intentionally not giving their best. There can be a lot of reasons for such things. So, no match is fixed in UFC, and the fighter never loses intentionally for money.

• UFC allows the fighters to use some substances for their protection from injuries. One of the substances that fighters usually use during a fight in UFC is vaseline. It is a substance, like a white crea,m that the fighter applies to their face before the fight.

• The primary purpose of using this is to prevent the opponent from causing any serious injury to their face. It works in a way that when their opponent punches their face, the punch, instead of directly causing a lot of damage, cuts, and bruises to the skin, slips on the face. It slips because the cream makes the face slippery. So when they receive the punch on their face, the punch slips, and it reduces the damage to a great extent on the face of the opponent.

The UFC originally chose an octagon ring rather than a square or circle shaped ring due to several reasons. UFC is not a single martial art. Instead, it is a competition that allows the fighters from various martial arts to compete against each other and prove themselves and their art to be the best. This was how UFC started. Some martial arts use circular rings, whereas others use square shaped rings. So, UFC, with the aim of providing a neutral venue to all its competitors, chose an octagon ring. So it provides fairness and neutrality where no one gets an edge over the other. Moreover, it is also safer for fighters and has a better view for spectators.