FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Staff Columnists UFC 100 MEGA COVERAGE: Bent editorial - The Only Thing Bigger Than UFC 100...

Jul 9, 2009 - 4:16:33 PM
By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist
Editor's Note: Catch our bonus coverage of UFC 100 with daily UFC 100 focused audio shows and daily VIP-exclusive UFC 100 articles, profiles, roundtables, and predictions with our UFC 100 Mega-Coverage VIP website. We're two weeks in with one week to go, and for just $5 you can gain access to all 15+ audio shows and over 75 UFC 100 VIP-exclusive articles right away, and be a member for 30 full days, well into our UFC 101 Mega-Coverage which starts in two weeks! For info, visit mmatorch.com/vip and click on sign-up or click here.

The following is an editorial from Jason Bent that has been available to VIP members since launch day. There are even more exclusive articles and fighter profiles and audio updates available right now on our VIP site. You can show great support for MMATorch by becoming a VIP member today for just $5. It's easiest to sign up on your PC, but you can access all of the features on your smart phone's web browser in an ad-free environment or, of course, on your PC.

Is it?

Jared Fogle's Old Pants?

Lee Murray's Bond?

The 'Affliction: Banned' Fighter Payroll?

The Diaz Brothers' Hookah?

Brock Lesnar's Fists?

The Clog In The Guida Family Shower Drain?

Elite XC's Ineptitude?

Team Hammer House's Monthly "Supplement" Bill?

The Hardcore MMA Fan's Summer 2009 Cable Bill?

The Number Of Fans Who Claim To Have Ordered UFC 1 On Pay-Per-View?

Or is nothing bigger than UFC 100?

UFC 100 is nearly as big as its coverage and is certainly the biggest MMA event to ever take place. Well, unless you really, really believe that Affliction knocked the ball out of the park with "Banned" and a Megadeth performance. No competent company has ever accumulated this amount of talent and presented them on one card or event, ever.

UFC 100 is the equivalent of Bob Arum, Don King and Cedric Kushner getting together to bring us Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Ricky Hatton vs. Oscar de la Hoya and Wladimir Klitschko vs. Vitali Klitschko with Mike Tyson on hand to ring the bell between rounds. If you want to know why MMA has eclipsed boxing, one only needs to look closely at the UFC and just this past year's events.

UFC 100 has become its own monster, and gotten so big that it is almost as if this were a brand new venture and not just the culmination of years and years of hard work and collective efforts. Who would have imagined that this sport would have not only survived since its inception but rather has thrived and become bigger than anyone could have even wished.

It is many things but it is not the best ever.

That's right. UFC 100 is not the best UFC card ever put together.

This is because there is no such thing as the best. The best is whatever you think is the best, and it most certainly is not what someone tells you is the best. It is your mindset, no, our mindset as fans which shall determine which event is indeed the best.

The best fight for many fans has been Stephan Bonnar vs. Forrest Griffin from 'The Ultimate Finale' following season one of 'The Ultimate Fighter.' This was the fight which caused nearly every fan to shake the person next to them and then call everyone else they knew in order to tell them to switch channels immediately. The moments following that particular fight were so special for so many reasons, and every single fan from the hard-nosed devotee who had been following the sport for years to the fan who had only found 'TUF' after watching WWE Monday Night RAW had something in common at that particular moment. They knew they had just watched something very, very special.

Fast forward just a few years and this sport has grown leaps and bounds with super fights being put together at a dizzying pace and many, many fights providing us with those Bonnar-Griffin moments. Just over a week ago, we were in awe of Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez from 'The Ultimate fighter 9 Finale' and for that moment it was the best fight some of us had seen in a while.

You can break down anything to its core and then put it back together piece by piece and find imperfections along the way. Anything done can always be done better and those great fights were great for so many reasons, and still we could break them down and find many flaws which suddenly take them down a notch.

Take Brown vs. Faber 2 from WEC 41 from a few weeks ago. Those watching this fight knew that this was going to be a solid if not spectacular fight and it delivered on its promise and then some. Many of us quickly hailed it the best WEC card in history and implored those who had not seen it to watch for the replay on Versus. Yet, in its wake, we can break down the fight and look at the fact that Brown was unable to finish a fighter who basically had no hands while at the same time we can look at Faber's performance and maybe place this fight on a higher pedestal.

It was great. Certainly a great effort by Faber and an ever greater one from Brown in winning the bout but overall just a fantastic bout no matter how you look at it.

But was it the best?

No.

The best has yet to come and it is with this in mind that we so anxiously await each title fight or major PPV event. Those who have been bored by the recent efforts of Anderson Silva are nearly beside themselves over his upcoming light heavyweight bout against Forrest Griffin at UFC 101. Then you look at the fact that B.J. Penn will be defending his UFC Lightweight Championship against Kenny Florian on the same card and you realize that UFC 101 is just as exciting to you as UFC 100 is.

UFC 100 is big, and for now there is absolutely nothing in the MMA world or even the sporting world at this immediate moment that is any bigger. This is bigger than Shaquille O'Neal being traded to the Cavaliers and Yao Ming's injury ending his career. Words cannot possibly begin to describe or to put the sheer size of this event into proper perspective.

Nothing may ever be bigger than UFC 100 for many, many reasons.

But, something will be better.

It is inevitable.

We will never, ever truly see the best fight. Perhaps this is because the best fight has yet to take place or more likely it is that there can be no way to truly declare which one is the absolute best. One thing I can say for certain is that this feeling of anticipation that I feel for this event is truly the most I have ever felt for any one particular MMA event.

It is the best feeling and when I look at where this sport has come from UFC 1 through the dark ages and on to UFC 100, it makes me feel even better to know that tomorrow this sport may bring me even more joy.

This feeling as we head into UFC 100 is pure. There need not be any bickering amongst fans who like to engage in a pissing match over who was a fan of the sport earlier. It matters not if you ordered the first UFC PPV or hopped on the 'TUF' bandwagon. You are a fan of this sport and the UFC, and right now is quite possibly the best time to be a fan.

For now.

There will one day be a better fighter than Fedor Emelianenko. There will one day be cards bigger and better than this one and fights which immediately replace all of those which we have on our top ten lists.

The one thing bigger than UFC 100 is the knowledge that something else will surpass it in the future. This sport has come a long way since its inception and the present time is a fantastic time to be an MMA fan.

Tomorrow is bigger than today and holds even more promise. The best has yet to come and with each day brings even more anticipation and hope for those who are fans of this sport.

The anticipation is bigger than UFC 100 and it will start all over again as we move towards UFC 101 and beyond.

Beyond UFC 100.

This is what is truly bigger than UFC 100.

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