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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief The UFC has been through many ups and downs throughout it's 16 year history. From the beginnings of the sport as "anything goes, which style is better" contests, to the dark ages with little pay-per-view coverage to this booming mega sport garnering millions of dollars in live gates and pay-per-view buys, it's been a long road getting to UFC 100 on July 11th. With this series we will highlight many of the key numbered events, in chronological order, that have led to this historic pay-per-view card. New events will be covered daily as we come up on the July 11th event.
Some of the biggest shows in the UFC's history have come from Superfights. UFC 100 features just that in the rematch between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar, UFC 94 had Georges St. Pierre against B.J. Penn, UFC 91 with Lesnar vs. Couture and the list goes on. The first such Superfight came about on April 7th, 1995, at the Independence Arena in Charlotte, N.C.
Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie met in the semifinals of the first Ultimate Fighting Championships event, and Gracie forced Shamrock to tap in less than a minute. At UFC 3, both started on opposite ends of the bracket with fans expecting to see them clash in the finals. Gracie wore himself out in his victory over Kimo Leopoldo and pulled out of his semifinal bout. Shamrock made it to the finals but was dealing with an injury himself, and seeing as he really only wanted to face Gracie again he pulled out of the final to avoid further damage.
That set the stage for the first event featuring an individually set fight outside of a strict tournament. And fans came ordered this event in droves, setting a pay-per-view record with 260,000 buys, a record for the UFC that held fast for just over ten years until the second Chuck Liddell-Randy Couture bout at UFC 52.
The payoff for the bout didn't match the hype, unfortunately, as the two of them were pretty much stalled on the ground for a very long 36 minutes. Shamrock got an early single leg takedown and on the ground Gracie pulled guard. There's your fight description. For the entire 30 minute time limit Gracie couldn't get a submission and Shamrock couldn't do anything himself. They restarted for an overtime period and found themselves back in the same spot. At that time there were no judges for these competitions and the bout was ruled a draw.
It was a disappointing fight for those in attendance and watching from home. The setup for the fight itself, however, set the stage for the rest of them to come. It may not have been the best fight, or the most important, but it was the biggest for a long period of time, and thus deserves it's mention on this road to UFC 100.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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