UFC 194 vs UFC 100

UFC 194 vs UFC 100

           UFC 194 takes over the crown as best fight card, the UFC ever held? UFC 100 took place on July 11, 2009 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and has since been considered, by most, the best event the promotion has presented to date. The Main Event of the night was a rematch of Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar for the Heavyweight Championship. Let’s examine the specifics and determine which event ranks as number one.

 

With Pay per view buy totals not yet available (UFC 100= 1.6 Mil. 194 predictions over one million buys) the first thing to consider is the attendance: for UFC 100 was 10,871 with a gate of 5,128,490 while UFC 194’s attendance: 16,516 with 10.1 million at the gate. Advantage 194.

Now let’s look at each match both on paper and actual result:

100-Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Alan Belcher. This was Akiyama’s first time in the UFC, but he was on a 13 fight unbeaten streak. Belcher, 25 at the time, had a record of 14-5 with 5 Sub and 7 KO wins already. The result was a robbery, Akiyama granted a split decision win despite being outworked by Belcher.

194-Max Holloway vs Jeremy Stephens. Holloway came in on a seven fight win streak with six finishes, while hard-hitter, Stephens fresh off his sixteenth career KO, a third round TKO of Dennis Bermudez. The result a Unanimous Decision for Holloway. Advantage 194.

100-Dan Henderson vs Michael Bisping. This match up followed season nine of The Ultimate Fighter where “The Count” and “Hendo” coached against each other. The result an H-Bomb that KO’d Bisping before his back hit the mat and the flying exclamation point to follow in the form of a follow up right to the unconscious Englishman.

194-Demain Maia vs Gunnar Nelson. Each fighter came in with ten Sub and three KO wins a piece. The result Maia by UD. No contest here Advantage 100.

This is when UFC 100 got weird, for some reason the Jon Fitch vs Paolo Thiago bout was held and took place after the main event. Fitch won by UD, his usual dominant top game held Thiago to the mat.

194-Yoel Romero vs Ronaldo Souza. Going into the fight it appeared the next MW contender would come from this bout. Each fighter riding a significant win streak (Souza 8 w/ 7 finishes) (Romero 6 w/ 5 KO’s). The result, neither looked ready to take on the new or former champ, Romero by SD. Advantage 100.

100-George St Pierre vs Thiago Alves. This was before GSP was considered so dominant and, the much physically larger, Alves had many believing he would take the title. The result UD St Pierre (two judges scored it 50-45 and the other 50-44).

194-Luke Rockhold vs Chris Weidman. Rockhold former Strikeforce champ and finisher of last four opponents (3 Subs 1 KO) took on undefeated Weidman. Weidman had dethroned the GOAT, Anderson Silva. The result was an even exchange through two plus rounds until Rockhold capitalized on a poor spinning kick by Weidman. Rockhold pounded on Weidman for the remainder of the third and continued dominance into the fourth round until Herb Dean stopped it at 3:12.

This is a comparison of a great performance by St Pierre and a great battle that made way to even better finish. In a close call Advantage 194.

100-Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir. This was a rematch, Mir tapped Lesnar by Knee-bar in their first encounter (just Lesnar’s second career MMA fight) at UFC 81, Feb 2, 2008. The now champion Lesnar looked to even the score between the Heavyweights. The result was a dominant performance by Brock and TKO stoppage at 1:48 of the second round. Lesnar was the biggest star in the UFC at the time and his proportions looked more like He-Man character than those of Mir.

194-Connor McGregor vs Jose Aldo. Like Mir v Lesnar this matched up an interim Champion with the division’s rightful champ. Aldo dominated the Featherweight Division and was the weight class’s only UFC Champion. McGregor had 16 KO’s in his 18 fight career and his ability to sell a fight is unmatched. The result, 13 ticks into the fight McGregor stoned Aldo and took home the belt.

With all the hype of the first Aldo/McGregor match up (cancelled due to injury to Aldo) in July and the world tour, a TV ad priced at over a million dollars, this was the most promoted MMA fight ever. Both fights were dominations. Advantage 194.

As time passes the view of these events relevance to history may change, but as for today UFC 194 takes the crown as the best fight card to date.