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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 57 was again headlined by Ultimate Fighter season one coaches Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell in a rubber match for the Light Heavyweight Title. The first great trilogy of the new era of MMA came to a close to new record numbers in terms of live gate and pay-per-view for the UFC on February 4th, 2006, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.
Improving upon the records set at UFC 52 immediately following the first season of the Ultimate Fighter reality series, UFC 57 brought in 400,000 pay-per-view buys and a live gate of $3.3 million, both new UFC records. This was the fast-becoming-legend in Randy Couture looking for one last shot at Chuck Liddell and the Light Heavyweight Title he once called his own. For Liddell, it was the chance to further cement himself as the man in the 205 lb. division after avenging one of his only other losses against Jeremy Horn in his first title defense.
The fight ended in similar fashion to the first bout, though this time Couture lasted until the second round. For only the second time in his career, and both to "The Iceman," Randy Couture was knocked out. Chuck Liddell's popularity exploded even further, and Couture retired after the bout in a memorable post fight interview that still gets replayed in his career highlights. Of course, he would return his original heavyweight division the following year to begin a new reign, but at the time many believed it was the last we would see of "Captain America" in the Octagon.
This card also saw the return of Frank Mir to the cage after his serious motorcycle accident a year and a half earlier. It was not the performance he was looking for. A very much ill prepared Mir was beaten and battered in bad fashion by Marcio Cruz, and it would take two and a half years before we would see the Frank Mir of old, or perhaps better than he was before the accident.
The other major noteworthy bout on this card is bringing a rematch in the Strikeforce promotion for their Welterweight Title on August 15th. Joe Riggs and Nick Diaz battled for three rounds to a judges decision that saw Riggs pick up the victory. At the local hospital the two went to after the bout for treatment they decided to continue the fight in the waiting room before being broken up be security.
This was the beginning of the UFC's most lucrative year to date on pay-per-view, and it was Chuck Liddell waving the flag for the promotion and the sport at the outset of 2006. Now Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, along with Georges St. Pierre, look to take up the 2009 versions of pay-per-view superstars the likes of which we haven't even seen yet. UFC 100 is where it begins.
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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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