MMA teams led by former UFC champions Frank Mir and Henry Cejudo will go toe to toe at the United Fight League 5 on August 30, 2024, at The Gila River Wild Horse Pass Casino in Arizona. The sold-out event will be streamed on Kick and Rumble for free as well.
Mir and Cejudo coach UFL's Team Las Vegas and Team Phoenix, respectively. Although the fighting rules are the same, the state-inspired teams and the team-based scoring system in the promotion are like a breath of fresh air in MMA. It is also the first and only combat sports league to provide health insurance to fighters.
Here's how the UFL aims to set a new standard for combat sports promotions through its newly introduced scoring system...
Frank Mir Explains How Relying On Stars Like Conor McGregor Produces Inconsistent Results For The UFC
Mir appeared on the talkSPORT MMA YouTube channel to discuss UFL 5's format and innovative scoring system. Including Las Vegas and Phoenix, UFL will have a total of eight teams with Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson confirmed to lead Team Florida and Southern California, respectively.
Here's how teams will score points at UFL 5:
- Finishing a fight in the first round grants 4 points in a standard bout and 6 points in the main event.
- Finishing a fight in the second round grants 3 points in a standard bout and 5 points in the main event.
- Finishing a fight in the third round grants 2 points in a standard bout and 4 points in the main event.
- Finishing a main event fight in the fourth round grants 3 points.
- Finishing a main event fight in the fifth round grants 2 points.
- A decision win grants 1 point in a standard bout as well as the main event.
In case there's a tie after all the fights, the team with the least cage time will get the nod, bragging rights, and $50,000.
As per Mir, this is how the UFL aims to tackle the problem of being overly dependent on a limited number of stars. He claimed that the UFC benefitted heavily from Conor McGregor but the promotion will always produce fewer numbers when he isn't fighting.
It made sense to me because I was like, you know, it sucks because when fighters come and go. You know, he's like, Conor is a phenomenal example. Conor moved the needle like no other fighter, but when he's not on the card, or he's not part of there, everybody suffers. He doesn't know, not as many people are going to view the fights because he's not fighting. And so, I was like, how can we get around that. And I always watch college wrestling and seen how, here in the States, you can have a guy from Iowa, you know, wrestling Penn State, Minnesota, and Ohio, and all these powerhouses of wrestling that have long traditions and they have, you know, a car stadium, it fills up 60,000 people.
The two-time UFC heavyweight champ also stated how this isn't an issue in wrestling. For instance, team-based college wrestling events in the United States attract thousands of viewers constantly despite the absence of huge names. Mir believes that a team-based setting helps them build loyal fans who care more about a team's progress instead of just wanting to see one fighter.
It is too early to predict how commercially successful UFL's new format will be in the long run. For now, fans can enjoy Team Phoenix vs. Team Las Vegas which features a bantamweight championship main event bout between Hunter Azure and Vince Morales.