UFC 100 Review: Brock Lesnar Goes Full Beast Mode

Ahead of the historic UFC 300 next month, Quintin van Jaarsveld looks back at the mixed martial arts leader’s first major milestone event, UFC 100.

Back in 2009, anticipation was at an all-time high as the UFC prepared to put on its biggest event ever. The mega card came together well with three main event calibre fights set.

Headlining the card was a colossal clash between bitter rivals Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir to crown the undisputed heavyweight champion.

In the co-main event, the great Georges St-Pierre defended his welterweight title against Thiago Alves, while Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping finally faced off after serving as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter.

Rounding out the main card was a welterweight bout between John Fitch and Paulo Thiago and the UFC debut of Japanese star Yoshihiro Akiyama, who battled Alan Belcher at middleweight.

Emanating from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on July 11, the event became the then-biggest pay-per-view in promotional history, generating 1,300,000 buys, a record that stood until 2016 when UFC 202, headlined by the rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, eclipsed it with 1,600,000 buys.

Lesnar Reigns Supreme

Lesnar’s transition from pro wrestling to MMA in 2008 brought with it a massive influx of fans from the sports entertainment to the combat sports world.

A freak of nature, Lesnar was no ordinary WWE superstar. He was a legit amateur wrestler – an NCAA Division I heavyweight champion who went the pro wrestling route because he’d been given the then-biggest contract in WWE history.

After becoming a worldwide phenomenon and WWE champion on multiple occasions, Lesnar no longer had the drive to keep up with the company’s ultra-demanding travel schedule and decided to make the move to MMA.

Signed by the UFC after just one fight, a 69-second TKO win over Olympic judo silver medalist Kim Min-soo, Lesnar was thrown straight into the deep end against Mir, a former UFC champion, at UFC 81.

In one of the most exciting debuts in UFC history, Lesnar dominated Mir before a rookie mistake saw the jiu-jitsu wizard grab a leg and lock in a fight-finishing kneebar, all in the space of a minute-and-a-half. 

The 6’1″, 120kg muscle-bound beast incarnate, who moved like a middleweight, proved he was the real deal with a 15-minute beat down of veteran Heath Herring in his next fight and in November 2018, in just his third fight in the promotion, he TKO’d the legendary Randy Couture to become the UFC heavyweight champion of the world.

A month later, Mir won the interim championship by doing the unthinkable, stopping the superhumanly durable Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with strikes, to set up the rematch with Lesnar.

With the world watching, a more experienced Lesnar mauled Mir and made sure he stayed out of submission danger. The heated unification clash came to a brutal climax early in the second half with Lesnar, having taken down and trapped his arch-rival against the fence, almost caved his skull in with a vicious barrage before the referee waved things off.

A fired-up Lesnar proceeded to deliver one of the most memorable and controversial post-fight interviews of all time in which he slammed the UFC’s beer sponsor and finished with, “I might even get on top of my wife tonight.”

St-Pierre Muzzles Pitbull

Riding a seven-fight win streak, including victories over former champion Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck, Alves was looked at as a serious threat to dethrone welterweight champion St-Pierre in the co-main event.

St-Pierre, one of the greatest of all time, proved otherwise, treating “Pitbull” like a puppy, taking him down at will in a wrestling clinic to win all five rounds convincingly and make the sixth successful defence of his title in his second reign as 170-pound king.  

Henderson’s H-bomb From Hell

Sick and tired of Bisping’s big mouth after enduring weeks of the Brit’s trash talk during their time as opposing coaches on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter, Henderson finally got his chance to shut The Count’s mouth and he took full advantage.

Circling towards Henderson’s power right hand proved disastrous for the future middleweight champion as the hard-hitting American uncorked the most devastating H-bomb of his career to knock Bisping out cold.

Not satisfied, he added a brutal follow-up shot on an unconscious Bisping.

Fitch Too Good For Thiago

After pulling off an upset win over top contender Koscheck with a big knockout in his UFC debut, Thiago landed himself a massive fight against former title challenger Fitch on the centenary card.

Fitch survived a few submission attempts in the opening round and took over from there to cool down the Brazilian and exact revenge for his teammate Koscheck, winning by unanimous decision.

‘Sexyama’ Delivers In UFC Debut

Japanese star Akiyama’s promotional debut was much anticipated, and it didn’t disappoint as he and Belcher put on a thrilling back-and-forth battle.

Recovering from a knockdown in round one, “Sexyama” returned the favour in the third round and eked out a split decision win. The middleweight banger ended up winning the Fight of the Night honours, earning both men a $100,000 bonus.

A Glimpse Into The Future

It’s well worth mentioning the prelims saw a young Jon Jones make his third Octagon appearance against Jake O’Brien. “Bones”, who evolved into the consensus greatest MMA fighter of all time, synched in a guillotine choke in the second round to take another early step on his road to legendary status.