Maybe have the timer the amount of time stamina regs; when it ran out stamina reg stops but the player still can take the time to choose. Since its not multiplayer there aint another player to annoy with inaction.
IMO you could use that quite often; especially when the fighters are entagled in a hot animation loop. Bring some choices up before the effort meter pops so an kinky animation is not already over before it really started.
Outside of that; some higher resolution levels would be great; looks a bit like pixelart on a 4k screen.
And a victory round (although I assume that is already on the table) where the winner of the match can enjoy the spoils of victory.