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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.
Before embarking on a lengthy and successful career in Japan in PRIDE, Dan Henderson would win two bouts at UFC 17 to win the mini middleweight tournament on that event.
He began the night against Allan Goes, a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Carlson Gracie who would go on to compete in Pride and make a comeback in the IFL. Henderson was the benefactor of a restart after getting knocked down by Goes, as Goes then delivered an at the time illegal kick to Hendo on the ground before taking his back. Given time to regain his bearings, Henderson went on to win a unanimous decision.
In his tournament final, Henderson would face Carlos Newton, the future UFC Welterweight Champion who was on the receiving end of one of the most talked about finishes in UFC history in a loss to Matt Hughes at UFC 38. Henderson took the middleweight tournament by split decision.
The other significance for this event was the debut of another future UFC legend, the "Iceman" himself, Chuck Liddell. Defeating Noe Hernandez via unanimous decision as an alternate in the middleweight tournament, Liddell only fought the one time as both Henderson and Newton were able to compete in the final.
Mark Coleman also fought on this card, getting knocked out for the first time in his career by a head kick from Pat Smith. The main event saw Frank Shamrock defeat Jeremy Horn.
It would be over nine years before Henderson would compete once again in the Octagon, and now after a stint as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter he is gearing up for a clash with Michael Bisping on July 11th.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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