Lesnar Becomes UFC Champion With Win Over Mir
UFC 100 was a historic night for the sport of mixed martial arts, and Brock Lesnar used the occasion to avenge his previous loss to Frank Mir with a lopsided TKO victory. With the victory, Lesnar unified the promotion’s heavyweight championship. The Mir/Lesnar tilt was the main event on an epic card which culminated an insane week in Las Vegas.
UFC 100 drew unprecedented attention from not only the MMA media but the mainstream sports media as well. While outlets like ESPN have long treated MMA with disdain they were forced by the interest surrounding the event to give it prime coverage.
While the big metric of the events success will be its PPV buy rate”which will almost certainly shatter existing UFC records”the attendance numbers and other tangible measures that are already known underscore the significance of the event. Fridays weigh in was a standing room only affair with over 2,000 fans turned away. A Fan Expo held in conjunction with UFC 100 counted over 30,000 visitors on Friday and an equal or greater number on Saturday. Even veteran fight media experienced in covering big boxing and MMA events worldwide have reported that the energy and general vibe around this event is like nothing theyve seen.
The main event established Lesnar as not only the UFC heavyweight champion, but the most hated ‘bad guy’ in the sport To his credit, he had a perfect gameplan for Mir that allowed him to use his strength and power to maul his opponent on the ground while minimizing his exposure to submissions.
Mir, on the other hand, made a tactical mistake by letting Lesnar put him on his back and pound away. He clearly underestimated Lesnar’s ability to defend his submissions and by the end of the first round had already suffered a nasty beating.
Lesnar diminished his dominating performance with his postfight antics”he taunted Mir after the stoppage, prompting the crowd to boo him mercilessly. He responded to this with a double handed middle finger salute before a short and arrogant postfight interview that would have been much more at home in the WWE than in this setting. Mir was the consummate professional in defeat, giving credit to his opponent and generally displaying all of the class that Lesnar lacked.
Ross Everett is a staff oddsmaker for Sports-1 Sportsbook as well as a widely published freelance sportswriter specializing in fight sports, investing strategy and how to bet on NFL football. He is a well known authority on Internet sports betting, food and wine and fencing. He lives in southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a pet wallaby.
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