Title Fight and Rematch Slated to Draw Huge Numbers

While both of the championship main events could be considered headliners, the showdown between current champion Brock Lesner and Frank Mir is likely to be the biggest draw of the night.  This is a title match and a rematch that will see grudges from February 2008′s UFC 81 come to light.  Mir came out on top in that fight, winning with his trademark submission moves after he took Lesner out after just a minute and a half into round one.  Lesner left his leg open to Mir, who is a submission specialist – and it cost him the bout.  Lesner’s back for UFC 100 and ready to draw blood; he’s now more experienced and unlikely to make such a beginner’s mistake again.  For that reason, Lesner is considered to be a -240 preferred favorite by UFC odds makers for the fight while Mir’s odds are tabled at +190.

St. Pierre vs. Alves: UFC Welterweight Title Bout

Georges St. Pierre is the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship Welterweight champion, but not if Thiago Alves has his way in the octagon.  UFC 100 will mark the first time that St. Pierre has had to defend his title since UFC 94 a few months back when he shamed challenger B.J. Penn with a TKO in a match that had to be stopped by the referee in round four.  Penn later went on to allege that St. Pierre covered himself in a slippery Vaseline-like substance before the fight – giving rise to what is known in mixed martial arts sports history as the Vaseline Controversy.  Will Alves “slip away” with the Welterweight title this time? Adoring fans will be fascinated to find out.  Alves is entering the UFC 100 title bout after winning an incredible seven fights consecutively – with five of them by knockout.  (Could be that St. Pierre will get a taste of his own medicine with a TKO by Alves this time around).  Alves’ last fight was at UFC 90 when he took on Josh Koscheck.  Regardless of the momentum that Alves has built up by winning his last seven fights, he is certainly set to square off with a different kind of beast when it comes to St. Pierre, is considered to be among the top three in the pound for pound class in other rankings across the Internet.  Although St. Pierre is the favorite with -300 odds, you cannot completely count Alves down and out – he’s a hefty underdog and will no doubt be throwing out all the stops to take home the title.

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Tough Call on Lesnar vs. Mir

The betting card for UFC 100 is filled to the brim from beginning to end with UFC matchups that could be just as big as the title bout.  Like the longed-for match between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir which favors Lesnar, who is younger and not sporting an injury like Mir who has also been out of action recently while he was welcoming home a new baby.  Lesnar’s improvement since his notorious loss to Mir a couple years back has a lot of people betting that he’ll come out on top this time.  UFC “bossman” Dana White is hoping (from a marketing point of view anyway) that rumors of a “remade” Lesnar come to fruition in the octagon come fight night.

Pound for Pound – St. Pierre or Leites?

Another exciting matchup pits Georges St. Pierre against Thales Leites in a UFC confrontation that promises to bring ultimate carnage among this pair that is ranked among the top five pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.  While Leites is questionably the most formidable opponent that St. Pierre has ever squared-off against, odds makers are still crossing their fingers to see if Leites will “fatten” up enough to make the weigh-in for the event  – hopefully that will not be an issue.

Coaches in the Ring?

We knew it was just a matter of time.  At long last, the UFC coaches are set to square off at UFC 100.  Dan Henderson will be taking on Michael Bisping in a fight that Bisping has been craving for some time. It seems that Bisping has grown tired of pounding on the likes of mid-carders like Chris Leben, and is ready to roll with the big “dogs”.  Odds makers in the grapevine have it that Henderson is the man to watch in this bout – largely due to the fact that he has familiarity with the world title.  Pitting Henderson (a wrestler) against Bisping (a striker) sets the stage for a classic battle that will boil down to who can implement his game strategy with the most speed and in the most effective way.  If Henderson loses, it means that an era has sadly come to an end; inversely, if Bisping wins, he’ll certainly be thrown into the hunt for a title and become an overnight superstar.

UFC 100 will go down on Saturday, July 11, 2009 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Grudge Match? Lesnar vs. Mir

The rematch between Mir and Lesnar was set to go down at UFC 98, but was delayed due to Mir injuring his knee.  When Lesnar lost to Mir (UFC 81, 2008) it was a big upset as Lesnar had basically controlled the fight up until the point where Mir caught a “rookie” slip-up by Lesnar and forced him into submission.  From a bettor’s stand point, it must be considered that Lesnar was younger then – with less experience – and was not quite prepared for a fight with tough guy Mir.  Now that a year and a half has passed, it could be a different story.  But that raises the question – just how much has Lesnar improved following his UFC disgrace – and how will that play out in Vegas at UFC 100?  The rumor mill has it that Lesnar has made substantial improvements and that Mir may still be nursing his knee – but many odds makers still favor Mir to become the undisputed heavyweight regardless.   Mir is confident that he will take the title.  Why is he so confident?  Well, he says that one of the things that everyone is always talking about is his skill versus the power of Brock.  Mir thinks it’s sort of humorous in fact.  Mir has been quoted saying that if he were to go down the street to an athletic club that he would find it difficult to find men that are stronger than himself and he stands strong to the fact that he feels that you wouldn’t find Brock not in possession of the facts about grappling.  Mir knows that Brock has the capability of training with men that are top notch in the industry for at least a couple years.  We’ll soon see whether Mir’s just blowing steam or if he really has what it takes to bring Lesnar down again.

If Mir Wins

If Mir does take Lesnar at UFC 100, he will become the undisputed heavyweight champion, there’s no doubt about that.  That would probably mean that there would be no upcoming Lesnar-Mir 3 but it would put Mir in the right position for a match up against the winner of the rising star bout between newcomers Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez, who are set to do battle at UFC 104.

If Mir Loses

If Mir loses to Lesnar at UFC 100, the stage is set for a Lesnar-Mir 3, since each fighter would have one win against the other under his belt (and the “thrill-ogy” would have no choice but to continue).  But that would likely only happen if Mir takes down another super star of the UFC in the meantime – or he might not be considered worthy of another match up with Lessnar.  If Lessnar wins, he will be the chosen one to go head to head against the UFC 104 battle between Carvin and Velasquez.

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