Featuring two championship title fights and a host of other renowned MMA fighters, the UFC 100 main event promised to be one of the biggest and most exciting events in the history of The Ultimate Fighter.
On Saturday, July 11th, at a sold out show in Las Vegas, Nevada, UFC superstars like Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar and George St. Pierre clashed in the Octagon, but who walked away as winners?
Last week, we speculated how the star studded event would turn out, and today, College News brings you the results and an analysis of most of the spectacular and thrilling fights from UFC 100.
Middleweight: Dan Henderson vs Michael Bisping (Winner: Henderson by KO 3:20 2nd Round)
Pure and simple, Bisping was completely outmatched in this fight. Despite weeks of trash talking about the more experienced Dan Henderson, Bisping was unable to weather the patience, precision and power of the former Olympic wrestler.
For the first round, Henderson stalked after Bisping, chasing the Brit around the Octagon with his powerful right fist cocked back like a loaded gun just waiting to explode.
Henderson set the pace of the match, peppering Bisping with left jabs and kicks and waiting for the perfect opportunity to unleash that devastating right hook he is infamous for.
Henderson found it at around 3:20 in the second round. After faking a kick which Bisping tried to circle away from, Henderson caught his opponent in the cheek with a deadly right hook that instantly knocked Bisping out.
The British UFC fighter hit the mat hard and clearly out cold, but Henderson decided to not take any chances and lunged, landing a heavy elbow across Bisping’s face before the referee pushed Henderson off and called an end to the fight.
Some have criticized Henderson for the blatantly late hit, particularly because he admitted that he had thrown the extra blow to shut Bisping up during a post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
However, during the post-fight press conference, Henderson defended his actions, saying “The ref’s got to stop me. Who knows what’s going to happen? He could get back up. I didn’t go after him after the ref stopped the fight. It was just a reaction to keep going until I got stopped.”
Heavyweight Championship: Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar (Winner: Lesnar by TKO 1:48 2nd Round)
This fight was almost a repeat of the last time Mir and Lesnar squared off inside the Octagon, only this time Lesnar was better prepared for Mir’s prowess as a submission specialist.
Within seconds of the match starting, Lesnar used his huge frame to barrel over Mir, and, from there, trapped Mir’s wrist, unleashing a barrage of hammer fists that badly injured the former interim heavyweight champion. Mir managed to survive the first round, but after a brief exchange of blows during the beginning of the second, Lesnar took down Mir again.
From there it was pretty much over. Lesnar trapped Mir against the cage and destroyed him. Lesnar rained down punch after punch until it was obvious that Mir didn’t stand a chance and the referee mercifully called an end to the fight.
Mir’s best chance for a win over the bigger, heavier Lesnar was submissions, but he never had a chance to use them. Lesnar’s ground game had improved drastically since their last match, and he was able to almost effortlessly keep Mir from trapping him.
The real spectacle, however, started after the fight. Before the match, Lesnar had turned his back on Mir and refused to touch gloves. After the fight, he promptly got into Mir’s face, snarling and acting overall insane.
When the crowd began booing the new heavyweight champion, Lesnar turned to the estimated 11,000 attendees at the Mandalay Bay event center (not to mention the millions watching the fight on PPV) and gave them the middle finger.
But the controversy--and Lesnar’s poor sportsmanship--hardly ended there. During the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, he not only continued talking trash about Mir, but also criticized the UFC’s $3 million sponsor, Bud Light, because “[Bud Light] won’t pay me nothing.”
And then, for the finale of Lesnar’s class act, he said, “Hell, I might even get on top of my wife tonight.” This was all right after Lesnar stomped over to the Octagon’s ring side camera and drooled on it while snarling like an animal.
Afterward, it is reported by Yahoo Sports that UFC President, Dana White, shoved Lesnar into a nearby bathroom and berated the new heavyweight champion for his behavior.
Whatever White said, it was enough to shake up the muscle bound former WWE veteran. During the post-fight press conference, Lesnar showed up looking considerably more composed and holding a bottle of Bud Light.
Lesnar apologized for his actions, claiming that he had made the mistake of reverting to his old ways as a WWE entertainment wrestler.
“Dana came back and we had our whip the dog session” said Lesnar. “I screwed up and I apologize.”
Welterweight Championship: Georges St-Pierre vs Thiago Alves (Winner: GSP by Unanimous Decision)
Thiago Alves really never stood a chance against the far more technical George St-Pierre. Though an amazing striker, Alves’ one dimensional skill set became glaringly evident every time GSP took the fight to the ground. And that happened a lot.
GSP is renowned for being one of the best wrestlers in the sport, and he displayed his grappling and take down skills over and over again. He would wait for Alves to attack and then promptly take down the Brazilian fighter, seemingly at will.
On the ground, GSP landed a number of strong blows that bloodied Alves. Alves, on the other hand, was unable to do anything except to hold on and hope for an opportunity to escape.
To his credit, Alves’ brute strength was also apparent. Not only was he able to endure the brunt of GSP’s hits, but he was successful in keeping the Canadian champion from passing his guard.
Additionally, GSP tried a few times to slip around Alves’ back and apply a rear naked choke, but each time Alves was able to escape. Alves knew he wanted to fight standing up, but GSP’s amazing ability to get him on his back absolutely neutralized Alves’ deadly striking power.
GSP clearly established himself as the better, more technical and more well-rounded fighter. With his striking game made obsolete by GSP’s excellent ground work, Alves didn’t have much of a chance to fire back and earn points.
He wasn’t really taking a whole lot of damage and rarely seemed like he was on the verge of getting knocked out, but at the same time, the most damage he did to GSP was when the welterweight champion inadvertently pulled his groin muscle near the end of the third round.
It was hardly a massacre, but at the same time, GSP was obviously far out of Alves’ league, and easily retained his welterweight championship belt.
So what’s next?
With Brock Lesnar now the undisputed heavyweight champion (and there being so few good contenders in the heavyweight pool) Dana White is talking about bringing in Affliction’s beastly Fedor Emelianenko to take him on.
Henderson wants a rematch with Anderson Silva (who is fighting Forrest Griffin next month), but the fight everyone really wants to see is GSP vs Silva to find out who really is the best pound-for-pound fighter. They’d have to spend a little bit of time bouncing in between weight classes to accomplish that, but who knows?
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