The historic century mark of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has arrived. After nearly 16 years in the business, the UFC will celebrate UFC 100 after seeing the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) grow to a point not many believed was possible. Once banned by nearly every major athletic commission, MMA has skyrocketed in popularity due largely to the efforts of Zuffa, LLC, which is the company owned by Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta, and Dana White. The UFC went all out for this historic event, which includes a two-day UFC Fan Expo held right inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center. UFC 100 will also take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Saturday, July 11, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The event includes two championship bouts at heavyweight and welterweight. At heavyweight, Brock Lesnar will defend the UFC heavyweight title he won from Randy Couture against the only man to have defeated him in his young MMA career. The former NCAA Division 1 champion at the University of Minnesota and WWE pro wrestling champion will look to avenge the lone loss against the current UFC interim-heavyweight champion Frank Mir. After defeating Lesnar via kneebar in Lesnar's UFC debut (his second MMA fight overall), Mir went on to coach TUF 8, where he defeated fellow TUF 8 coach Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira at UFC 92 to earn the interim-Heavyweight champion status that Noguiera had gained with a win over Tim Sylvia at UFC 81, which was the same event Mir defeated Lesnar in February 2008.

At welterweight, one of MMA's pound-for-pound kingpins and UFC welterweight champion Georges "Rush" St-Pierre will defend his UFC welterweight title against American Top Team's Muay Thai wrecking machine Thiago "Pitbull" Alves. St-Pierre has secured his status as one of the greatest fighters in the sport with dominating wins over Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, and B.J. Penn in his last 5 fights. He has won the belt on two separate occasions, having also beaten the likes of Karo Parisyan, Jay Hieron, Jason "MayheM" Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, as well as additional wins over Hughes and Penn (he has defeated Hughes and Penn twice). The welterweight challenger Alves, has been unbeatable in the last 7 fights dating back to October 2006. In that time, he has redefined himself as a fighter by using some of the most brutal and effective Muay Thai striking power and technique in all of MMA. In those 7 fights, he has earned wins over some of the most dominant welterweights in the world, including Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes, and Josh Koscheck in his last 3 performances.

UFC 100 also features a middlweight bout between the two coaches of the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series on Spike. The Ultimate Fighter 9 - United States vs. United Kingdom featured a team of American fighters coached by Dan Henderson against a team of British fighters coached by Michael Bisping. Henderson is the only man ever two hold two title simultaneously in the once great Pride Fighting Championships (PRIDE). Meanwhile, Bisping is easily the most popular fighter in Europe and won The Ultimate Fighter 3 as a light-heavyweight. Both men have been successful at light-heavyweight, but even more so at middleweight. There has also been a lot of publicity worldwide from their roles on TUF 9, which means the winner should put themselves on the short list of candidates for a middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva. The event is stacked from top to bottom and had been announced as sold-out before the tickets were even made available to the general public. UFC 100 will be televised live via PPV at 7 p.m. EST / 10 p.m. PST.


Main Card:

-Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir (Heavyweight Title Bout)

-Georges St-Pierre vs. Thiago Alves (Welterweight Title Bout)

-Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping (Middleweight Bout)

-Jon Fitch vs. Paulo Thiago (Welterweight Bout)

-Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher (Middleweight Bout)


Preliminary Card:

-Mark Coleman vs. Stephan Bonnar (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Mac Danzig vs. Jim Miller (Lightweight Bout)

-Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Dong-Hyun Kim vs. T.J. Grant (Welterweight Bout)

-C.B. Dollaway vs. Tom Lawlor (Middleweight Bout)

-Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty (Lightweight Bout)