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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 48 was another card featuring both Georges St. Pierre and Frank Mir, although neither were near the main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on June 19, 2004.
Despite being in a Heavyweight Title fight with Tim Sylvia, Mir was not the top bill here in his hometown of Las Vegas, instead this card was headlined by a rematch between Ken Shamrock and Kimo Leopoldo. Shamrock dropped Kimo with a knee with such force that he busted open his own knee. The fight didn't even last ninety seconds.
Georges St. Pierre came into his bout with Jay Hieron a 6-0 professional, and he was coming off a victorious UFC debut at UFC 46. His bout with Hieron would show his ability to dish out the punishment as he blasted through Hieron and stopped him in the first round. The TKO victory was just a sign of things to come.
This card, however, will forever be remembered for one moment. Frank Mir was supposed to face Tim Sylvia earlier than this June bout, but with Sylvia failing a steroid test a second time after having his title stripped due to the same thing it was delayed. The fight would go like no one expected, with Sylvia deciding for some reason to take Mir to the ground almost right off the bat. Mir was fine with that as he locked in the arm bar seen around the world, visibly breaking Sylvia's arm and causing Herb Dean to stop the bout.
The crowd booed the stoppage as they didn't realize what had happened, and the announcers weren't sure themselves until seeing the replay, as Sylvia did not tap. But once the replay showed on the screens everyone realized what actually took place. X-rays would show that Sylvia suffered four fractures to his forearm from the submission.
Of course, Mir would not be able to defend this title, as his motorcycle accident happened in September of that year. He's now looking to reach that heavyweight pinnacle once again against Brock Lesnar 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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