Bellator non-title main events moving to five rounds beginning in 2022
Following the Bellator 268 main event between Michael Page and Douglas Lima, Bellator has made a fan-friendly shift moving forward in regards to their non-championship headliners.
On Wednesday, Bellator president Scott Coker joined Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and announced that moving forward, non-title main events will move from three to five rounds. Following the Page’s split decision win over Lima this past weekend in London, fans and media alike wondered why these card-capping matchups weren’t set for a potential 25 minutes.
That will no longer be a problem moving forward. Coker added that the changes will take place beginning Jan. 1, 2022.
“When the fight happened with Yoel Romero, I said ‘I would’ve liked to have seen two more rounds,’” Coker said. “Same with [the] MVP [fight], we needed to pull the trigger. So starting Jan. 1 [it will happen], but it’s been in the works for some time.”
The debate for three or five-round headliners in the Bellator cage as been a hot topic over the last few years, especially since the UFC made the move over a decade ago for all main events to be potential five-round fights.
Romero recently dropped a split decision in his promotional debut to Phil Davis in the main event of Bellator 267 and after the third round ended, Romero was confused as to why the fight was ending after just 15 minutes.