The centenial celebration of the UFC can be looked at in many lights. For in ways it was merely a celebration of the past, present, and future. The past was put on display all week as Spiketv(UFC's biggest cable tv affiliate)counted down UFC's 100 Greatest Fights leading up to the event. Also honoring UFC's past was one of its most dominate competetitors in Mark Coleman. Coleman, who was on the undercard and not featured on the ppv itself scored an impressive win over Stefan Bonnar.
The Present was also on display as Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre, defended his title against Welterweight phenomn Thiago Alves. Alves the young and powerful upstart, who as recently as two fights ago dismantled the greatest welterweight of all time (Matt Hughes), was in no way the same fighter against St. Pierre. Which I don't think anyone is or ever has been. GSP's wrestling and grappling is something off the Olympic amateur mats. He takes down his opponets at will, and this was no different with Alves. With ten total, GSP's takedowns set the tone for what was a very one sided five round fight. Alves went the distance, but was very unimpressive doing so. What is astonishing about Georges St. Pierre's wrestling is that he does not come from a wrestling background. Guys with wrestling backgrounds such as Matt Hughes flourished in the octagon, which is no suprise GSP's skills now have him holding the same belt Hughes had for so long. However, St. Pierre does not share this background, he has never wrestled, not in high school, certainly not in college. However, this has not kept him from obtaining an offer from the Canadian Olympic Wrestling team who sent him an invite to wrestle for them in the Olympics. Not often do you see Olympic like qualities, especially those that normally take years in disciplined training and matches to obtain. The special qualities though have propelled Georges St. Pierre through the likes of the UFC Welterweight division, and only parlay the question, who is next for him to fight. At 170, the answer is just another Welterweight served up for St. Pierre to win without effort. At 180 and the Middleweight division though lies a guy named the Spider, who is even more dominant than GSP. Will this Anderson Silva/Georges St. Pierre match ever take place? Who knows, but the two most dominant guys in the present will make for one of the more premiere fights in the future.
So with the past, and present accounted for, what about the future? Well after Saturday nights event in Las Vegas, that answer is simple, Brock Lesnar. A guy who was once dubbed the "Next Big Thing" during his time in the WWE, is now "The Big Thing" in the UFC. After having to stew on his heartbreak loss to Frank Mir for over a year and a half, Lesnar got his chance for revenge Saturday, and did not let it slip like he had that knee he let Mir get in the first fight. With viscous ground and pound, the fight was stopped early in the second round, leaving Mir unconsious and bloody next to the cage fencing, and leaving Lesnar the Unidisputed Champion of the UFC Heavyweights. Much like the St. Pierre/Alves fight, this one was a one sided drumming. Only instead of superior wrestling, Brock combined his unmatched wrestling background with vicious right hands that delivered his 3XL gloves to the face of former champ Frank Mir. The first fight Lesnar dominated Mir much in the same fashion, only to get hooked in a desperation knee lock, and only to be tapped out. This time Brock was not letting that happen. His 6'3'' 260 lbs frame smothered Mir the entire fight, and when Brock had him pinned against the cage early in the second round it didn't take long to finish it. Brock Lesnar's display of dominance, and the realization he is honing his MMA skills is serving as a clear consesus that he is the future. Now 4-1, Lesnar is already the two time champion of the UFC, and doesn't look ready to lose anytime soon. Personally, and untill Dana White gets Russian Fighter Fedor Emilienanko into the octagon, it will be all Brock Lesnar in the heavyweight division for a long time to come. BUT, Fedor is scheduled for his last fight with AFFLICTION on August 1st. If White can strike a deal soon after, a superfight of the two most dominant men in the sport will be right around the corner. Until then, it will be all Brock.
The highlight of the night for me though was undoubatably Dan Henderson knockign out Michael Bisping in their Middleweight matchup. For weeks and through the course of the show The Ultimate Fighter (In which Bisping coached the United Kingdom team against Henderson and the USA team) Britishman Michael Bisping talked smack. With two UK victories in the Ultimate Fighter finale, Bisping had even more reason to talk trash. Making up for the sluggish US performances on the Ultimate Fighter, Henderson put Bisping to rest with a picture perfect shot to the mug that buckled him unconcious. Henderson followed that up by smashing a flying elbow from the top to the downed Bisping. So with the only trash talked through his fists, Henderson shut Bisping up quickly and hopefully for good.
