by Adam Lawman

You see rule changes in major sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB however the UFC has not undergone many for some time. Until today.

As the sport grows, certain changes become necessary to adapt to the evolution of the game and of fighters’ skill sets. Today, UFC President Dana White announced that a change will be made to extend non-title main event matches from three rounds to five rounds. The change will affect any bouts signed from today and forward which means that the light heavyweight number one contender match between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis will not be extended.

This is a change that has been talked about for some time now. And it has been needed more so than ever lately. Think of all the great headliners that didn’t possess gold whose bouts were seemingly stopped short just because they only had fifteen minutes to do work. Now fights will be able to progress further and allow for a more epic atmosphere to test top contenders with ten more minutes.

This is another step in the evolution of the sport of mixed martial arts. We have already seen monitors approved for judges and now we have extended main event fights when no title is on the line. Soon, we could see changes to scoring criteria, round length or much more. Let’s just hope they keep rules adjustments minimal so as not to tame the sport like the NFL has been doing for some years now.

(image via Heavy.com)