Published Saturday, July 11, 2009 | 5:30 p.m.
Updated Saturday, July 11, 2009 | 11:59 p.m.
UFC 100
- Complete UFC 100 coverage
- Brock Lesnar: Can anyone beat this man?
- St. Pierre dominant despite injury
- UFC co-owner addresses fans at Expo
- Love story leads to UFC
- Lesnar wins, puts on WWE-style show afterward
- Win or lose — Mir a class act
- 702.tv: All-In: UFC 100
- Punchy Points: Key aspects about UFC 100
- Interactive Timeline: UFC Countdown: 1 to 100
The UFC's historic 100th show ended with fireworks Saturday night at Mandalay Bay, but not exactly kind of theatrics UFC president Dana White and co-founders Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have been working so tirelessly over the last eight years to promote.
Moments after pounding out Frank Mir in the main event, Brock Lesnar, the former WWE sensation turned mixed martial artist provided a return performance to his pro wrestling days when he had to be restrained after going after Mir again in the Octagon — before turning his attention to the booing crowd of 11,000 fans.
"I love it! Keep booing! Keep booing!" Lesnar yelled, before lobbing a couple of obscene hand gestures to the audience.
While Lesnar tried to lighten the mood by bringing a Bud Light into the post press conference, he did admit to be sorry for his actions in the Octagon.
"First, I want to apologize. I acted very unprofessionally after the fight," Lesnar told a packed room of reporters. "I'm a sore loser, OK. I don't like to get beat. I believe that first bout between Frank and me, I gave that fight to him. "There was a lot of emotion in this fight for me. … You guys have asked if there is something I can bring over from WWE. You saw a little of it tonight. I'm used to selling pay-per-view tickets. I came from a business that was purely entertainment.
White shook his head at the press conference, but said Lesnar had already apologized to him back stage and "felt embarrassed."
"It’s not who we are and it’s not who he is," White said of Lesnar's over the top antics. "He doesn't have to act like someone he's not. This is not the WWE. You're an amazing athlete, what you've accomplished is phenomenal. Let that speak for itself.
White said he truly believes Lesnar's remorse was real and an isolated incident.
"I'll take his word for it this time, and move on. If he does it again, that will be a fun (expletive) press conference."
It may have been a celebratory night for the UFC, antics were also occurring outside the Octagon when the two coaches, Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, for the upcoming season of "The Ultimate Fighter" had to be restrained from each other.
Welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre was on his best behavior, however, and put on a career performance despite suffering a painful groin injury in the middle of his title match against Thiago Alves.
"I don't know what happened, but I am in real bad pain," said St. Pierre, who was dominant in his third title defense. "It happened in the third round and when I was on my back. … It could have been a very bad night for me if this thing would have turned bad."
In honor of its historic 100th show, the UFC gave out $100,000 bonuses, the organization's highest incentive yet. Yoshihiro Akiyama and Alan Belcher earned "Fight of the Night" honors, while Dan Henderson took "Knockout of the Night" for dropping Michael Bisping and Tom Lawlor got "Submission of the Night" for choking out C.B. Dollaway in the first round.
Main event (9:10 p.m.)
Love him or hate him, Lesnar's entry to he Octagon is one of a kind with Metallica's "Enter Sandman."
Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar
Round 1
About 30 seconds in, Lesnar is able to secure a takedown. He quickly tried to pounce, Mir recovered and the rest of the round came on the ground as the crowd lobbed out a smattering of boos.
Round 2
Lesnar secures another takedown, but Mir fires back with a couple of solid punches. He's up against the cage and tries to throw a flying knee that partially connects. Lesnar again gets the bout back to the canvas and the crowd wants Herb Dean to stand them up. Too late Lesnar unleashes a series of hammer fists while on top and it's all over a 1:48 into the second.
Afterwards Mir and Lesnar almost got into it again. The crowd began booing Lesnar, he responded with two middle fingers in the air.
"Keep going, I love it. Keep going," the former WWE star said to Joe Rogan, egging the fans on. "Frank Mir had a horseshoe up his ass. I pulled that son of a bitch out and beat him over the head with it."
Rogan tried to ask a couple more questions, but Lesnar was doing his own thing.
"I'm gonna go home tonight and drink a Coors Light, it's a Coooorrrssss light because Bud Light won't pay me," Lesnar said laughing. "Hell I may even get on top of my wife tonight."
Co-Main event (8:15 p.m.)
As Georges St. Pierre made his way to the Octagon, his patented rap music blaring through the speakers, it’s clear the Canadian is the most popular fighter in the UFC. The fans that minutes earlier sang out chants of U-S-A for Henderson quickly changed their chorus to “G-S-P.”
Georges St. Pierre vs.Thiago Alves
Round 1
Both fighters feel each other out, St. Pierre avoids a couple of strikes and shoots in for the take down.
Round 2
GSP keeps control with his ground game, and his able to work in a series of elbows and fists. Alves' strikes do little damage.
Round 3
St. Pierre drops Alves with a right, he falls on top trying to land punches but his offensive attack eventually stalls out.
Round 4
St. Pierre slams Alves to the mat with another vicious takedown on the side of the cage. GSP is just too powerful with his takedowns and the fight heads to the final round.
Round 5
The takedowns keep coming, even with GSP lowering his head making him quite vulnerable to Alves' powerful strikes. St. Pierre's tactical assault and ability to keep the match on the ground has worked out brilliantly. The fans show their appreciation and they clap off the final few seconds.
The judges award the unanimous decision victory to a limping St. Pierre with the scores of 50-45, 50-44, 50-45.
"It could have been a very bad night for me. When I was on my back he pushed my leg down," said St. Pierre. "Thiago Alves was my toughest opponent so far. He's very young. This happened to me when I lost Matt Hughes. He'll be back."
Main card (6:00 p.m.)
Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping
Henderson said he wanted to shut Bisping up with his fist and he got his wish granted in the second round. Hendo's American pupils on "TUF" No. 9 might not have had as much success in the Octagon, but the coach did, dropping the Brit with a big right and adding another blow while he was snoozing for emphasis.
"That second one was to shut him up a little bit," Henderson said with a smile.
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher
Japanese import Akiyama was successful in his long awaited UFC debut, scoring a split decision victory over Belcher.
Undercard bouts (4:30 p.m.)
Mark Coleman vs. Stephan Bonnar
The 44-year-old Coleman, the UFC's first heavyweight champ, used his strong wrestling in the last two rounds and some sharp elbows to hold off Bonnar by unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three cards. An excited Coleman, who loud out a big roar after the victory said he proved that he's not too old for the fight game.
"Right now this has to rank as No. 1 because I had a lot of doubters. I can't stand being called an old man," said Coleman, who was a near 4-to-1 underdog. "I'm going to come back and be a factor in this division. I'm a world class wrestler and Bonnar emptied his tank.
Coleman, who look out of shape in his match against Shogun Rua at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland in January, said he re-committed himself to training the right way.
"I didn't prepare like a champion before, but I have a great group of trainers so everybody watch out because the Hammer is back."
Mac Danzig vs. Jim Miller
This one was bloody, with Miller opening a large cut on Danzig's forehead in the first minute. Blood flowed into Danzig's eye throughout the fight, but nearly pulls off a guillotine before times runs out in the second round. The three judges all score it 30-27 in favor of Miller.
Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien
Jon Jones ran his perfect record to 9-0 with the second round submission win over O'Brien. The athletic Jones, 6-foot-5, with a long reach, used his leg kicks to give him space from the former wrestler. But in the second round Jones close the gap himself and moved in applying a guillotine while standing up against the fence.
"We've been working a lot of submissions from the front-headlock position," said Jones, who turns 22 next week. "We knew he was going to try to take me down. It was there and my muscle memory took over."
Dong Hyun Kim vs. T.J. Grant
The stronger Kim utilized his strength and full guard to dominate Grant and earn a 30-26 win from all three judges.
"I knew I could dominate on the ground, so I wasn't afraid. A lot of people don't know that I'm good at grappling," said Kim (12-0-1 overall MMA mark), who picked up his third UFC win.
CB Dollaway vs. Tom Lawlor
Another quick ending by guillotine, which made Lawlor's outrageous walk-in (he came in pulling teammate Seth Petruzelli on a leash while "Who let the dogs out" blared in the background.
"I'm ecstatic. I trained really hard because people were looking at CB as one of the top guys at 185," said Lawlor, making his first fight after dropping down from light heavyweight."
Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty
Gugerty started UFC 100 off with a quick victory, putting Grice to sleep at 2:36 in the first round with a guillotine choke.
Earlier tonight
Thousands of fans once again filled the Mandalay Bay Convention Center today for the second and final day of the first-ever UFC Fan Expo.
UFC co-founder and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta offered up an interesting key note speech, but the real action came afterwards when 40 bikini-clad women competed to become the next UFC Octagon Girl in a contest co-sponsored by Maxim magazine.
But as fans shifted away from the fighter autograph sessions, to the actual event location inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center the buzz began to build. Men in TapouT tees chugged the last of their beers on their way in, while several Canadian flags in honor of welterweight champ George St. Pierre waved in the large atrium area at the golden casino on the famed Las Vegas Strip.
While every UFC event in Las Vegas is a special occassion, the first show at Mandalay Bay in a year obviously has a different feel to it because of the historic importance. Long before the main event, a packed crowd signals its pleasure on every strike or takedown.
The lights went down after the 44-year-old Mark Coleman, the first heavyweight champ in UFC history defeated Stephan Bonnar by 29-28 on all three cards.
The nearly full house showed their support as a special tribute video flashed on the big screens in the arena, taking fight fans through a quick version of UFC history. The video ended with the narrator saying: This is our time, this is our sport, and were just getting started.
Special Octagon girl Holly Madison is in the house and so are the flash bulbs as the Playboy star takes her seat next to Arianny Celeste.
Bruce Buffer is ready to go and pipes his trademark "We are liiivvvee!" phrase.
At 7:40, fans got their first glimpse of the champs. The video screens showed Georges St. Pierre first and the packed crowed went wild. Brock Lesnar was next as a large echo of boos reigned down. Hometown hero Frank Mir came next and was greeted by the loudest ovation.
The first of the night super fights is underway as "The Ultimate Fighter" season No. 9 coaches Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson meet up in the Octagon.
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