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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.
UFC 34 was another major show on this road to UFC 100 for many reasons, starting with the debut of one half of the headlining bout at UFC 100, Frank Mir. It was also a great, action packed event that began the slow climb out of the ditch the UFC dug themselves with the botched return to pay-per-view at UFC 33.
Back in Las Vegas on Nov. 2, 2001, the opening bout at UFC 34 saw Frank Mir debut against vaunted multi time World Jiu Jitsu Champion Roberto Traven. Mir was impressive, pushing forward off the bat and getting Traven knocked down against the cage, where he grabbed an arm and forced the 6th degree jiu jitsu black belt to tap. Matt Lindland, the late Evan Tanner and Josh Barnett also picked up victories on this undercard.
The second half of the card kicked off with a bang, as future Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn showed everyone how "for real" he was when he took out Caol Uno in the first round. Ok, that's not an accurate description. See, what had happened was, Uno flew across the cage and went for a flying knee, which was sidestepped by Penn. As soon as he avoided the knee he unleashed a furious assault on Uno against the cage that finished the fight in ten seconds. It was one of the most devastating performances of Penn's career.
This card also had two titles on the line, as Randy Couture defended his Heagainst Pedro Rizzo for a second time after defeating him in a five round war at UFC 30. Carlos Newton then defended his Welterweight Championship against challenger Matt Hughes in the main event.
Couture wouldn't need all five rounds against Rizzo this time around. He dominated Rizzo through the first two rounds before bloodying him up in the third and securing a takedown. There he pounded out his foe, forcing the referee to stop it just past a minute and a half into that round.
It was the main event, however, that had everyone talking. It's certainly on of the most memorable finishes to a fight in MMA history. After a back and forth first round that saw Hughes pull off a couple of his patented slams, it was Newton locking Hughes in a tight triangle choke after Hughes took him down in the second. Hughes managed to lift Newton up to the top of the cage, however, and slam him with enough force to knock Newton out cold. Newton's hold did what it was supposed to, though, as at almost the same exact moment that he went out, Hughes went out from the choke. It made no difference, as the slam made Newton's knockout more apparent and Hughes was named the victor and new Welterweight Champion. It was the beginning of a reign of dominance the likes of which has rarely been seen in the sport.
So after one of the all-time great highlights in the sport and "Captain America" retaining his title, B.J. Penn and Frank Mir also made a big impression on this card. It was the beginning of the long and tumultuous road that has brought Mir to the main event, once again in Las Vegas, at 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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