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100. It's amazing; over the years there have been several points at which the UFC might have either been forced to close shop, or go under due to financial issues. Even Dana White recently admitted that Zuffa themselves almost pulled the plug shortly before the premiere of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter.

But with today marking the 100th iteration of the world's premiere combat sports event, the organization that sent shockwaves across the Martial Arts world will see the conclusive fight between a former Wrestler and the man that may be the top jiujitsu specialist. And while this may not exactly hearken back to the days of Royce Gracie taking on Gerard Gordeau, is there still a bit of symmetry with the inaugural event in that tonight's main event? Is this still essentially still a "style vs. style" fight, with Lesnar reprising Dan Severn's role as "the wrestler", and Mir playing out Gracie's part as the smaller Jiujitsu master?

Undoubtedly Lesnar is a supreme physical specimen at Heavyweight. Mir, on the other hand, has had his conditioning tested and found dubious at several points. Frank Mir is by no means a small man, but next to Lesnar he appears to be fighting up a weight class if not two. In his win over an injured Minotauro Nogueira, Mir looked spectacular. But will his dramatically improved striking and conditioning be enough to provide him the basis for implementing a successful game plan against a man who's able to hit people hard enough to send them tumbling backwards?

With Lesnar's recent wins over Randy Couture and Heath Herring, the question of his place in the Octagon is no longer relevant. He has established himself as a credible athlete, potential champion, and genuine Mixed Martial Artist.

So while this may not exactly be a "wrestler vs jiujitsu" fight, this will undoubtedly boil down to the essence of another kind of match up:

Exceptional athletic ability vs. finely-tuned skills.

The line-up for tonight's fights:

Brock Lesnar Vs. Frank Mir - Heavyweight Title Fight
Georges St-Pierre Vs. Thiago Alves - Welterweight Title Fight
Jon Fitch Vs. Paulo Thiago
Dan Henderson Vs. Michael Bisping
Yoshihiro Akiyama Vs. Alan Belcher
Mark Coleman Vs. Stephan Bonnar
Mac Danzig Vs. Jim Miller
Jon Jones Vs. Jake O'Brien
CB Dollaway Vs. Tom Lawlor
Matt Grice Vs. Shannon Gugerty

I won't get to see it live, so I'll be waiting for the spoilers tonight. :)

Just waiting to see Mir get the beating that the ref saved his ass from last time.

Great event, spectacular technique from the majority of fighters and pretty much the results I expected. However, IMHO, when ever a fighter (regardless of fight results) shows that he is a brawler without class as opposed to a martial artist it has a impact on the event, the fan base and eventually the sport. My background is more traditional and I train my students to fight, hopefully they fight well, but I do expect them to have Bushido. Brock is a super-heavyweight and will dominate most he sees in the cage. I have seen behavior like his last night before from Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, but this is something that keeps the New York state commission from certifying the MMA venue as these incidents just give them more ammunition to avoid endorsing the product.

Now I will batten down for the salvos to come.

I agree. His actions are not those of a fighter nor a martial artist but those of a businessman. He says after the fight that he will go home and drink a Coors light because Bud light "wont pay him nothin". Yes, he won, and in spectacular fashion, but the UFC already has businessmen running it. It does not need them in the cage.

I suspect Bud light will be furious over Brock's remark after paying so much for their advertising.

So we are once again back where we were after UFC 10. There is a certain symmetry to that too.

Severn, Coleman, Kerr, Erickson, Sapp... The Giant Freak Athlete reigns supreme until meets his natural enemy: New Breed Of Super Striker.
Royce managed the sole BJJ Superstar Beats GFA headline, but Rizzo is the one who ended Severn's UFC career forever.

Rizzo, Mo, Vov, Herring, Mirko. The guy who beats Brock will come from their stock. Mark 'em.

I'd say his are the actions of a fighter (the term martial artist means nothing to me short of complicated Kata) who is tired of not being taken seriously by MMA fans and fighters despite his obvious dominance. But hell, how much can booing bother you when you've just battered a UFC champion and came away without a mark on you?

I will agree that he is a fighter and that he pretty much waltzed his way to the title. Not many could stand up to that beast, right now. But I am also remarking that MMA needs wider acceptance for survival as a sport. The WWE antics need to go away.

Why? The WWE isn't a successful enough business model? Is Vince McMahon in danger of having to shut down? It's fine if you dislike Brock or ProWrestling, but don't pretend you don't like their antics on the basis that they're bad for business. They're not.

Indeed. It's okay not to like them, but without the "WWE antics" of Shamrock/Ortiz, the jackassery amongst the participants on the Ultimate Fighter, or the Ortiz / Dana White feud (that led to that bizarre TV special involving Ortiz noshowing his boxing match with White), the UFC would NOT be as successful as it is today.

Period.

^Truth.