The UFC's first-ever flyweight bouts could each potentially go four rounds now that the promotion has instituted a "sudden victory" round in the case of a tie.
MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed the plans, which were first revealed by tourney participant Demetrious Johnson in an interview with TapouT Radio.
However, an additional round will not be scheduled for the finals, which will utilize a five-round format to crown the UFC's first-ever 125-pound champion, MMAjunkie.com was told.
The UFC's four-man flyweight tournament sees Johnson (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) vs. Ian McCall (11-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Joseph Benavidez (15-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani (19-4-6 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at this weekend's UFC on FX 2 event, which takes place at Sydney's Allphones Arena (the main card airs live on FX on Friday night). The winners then meet later this year to decide the promotion's flyweight champ.
The UFC already uses the "sudden victory" round on "The Ultimate Fighter," in which bouts go to a third round if scores are tied after the first two. In this instance, the semifinal fights will go to a fourth round if there's a tie after three regulation rounds.
Johnson looks to rebound from an October loss to UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz in a failed bid for the promotion's 135-pound title. "Mighty Mouse" has long been considered an undersized bantamweight, yet he still put together a four-fight win streak while competing for the UFC and WEC.
He now meets McCall, who makes his UFC debut. "Uncle Creepy" also competed three times under the WEC banner, where he earned a win over Coty Wheeler but also fell short to Cruz and Charlie Valencia. McCall currently boasts a four-fight win streak and will vacate Tachi Palace Fights' flyweight belt in order to move to the octagon.
Benavidez, who's been competing at bantamweight, looks to remain undefeated in the UFC after notching back-to-back decision wins over Eddie Wineland and Ian Loveland. The Team Alpha Male product's lone career losses came in the WEC in two failed attempts to down Cruz.
Urushitani brings a five-fight win streak into his UFC debut. The 35-year-old Shooto bantamweight champion has been fighting professionally since 2001 and holds notable career wins over John Dodson and Mamoru Yamaguchi, among others.
Source: UFC institutes 'sudden victory' rounds for UFC on FX 2's flyweight-tourney semis
