10 MMA Fights That Changed The Business

8. UFC 100: Lesnar vs. Mir

Brock Lesnar€™s UFC arrival was met with much skepticism from MMA fans. Despite his accomplishments as a Division I NCAA Amateur Wrestling Champion, Lesnar€™s career choice of Professional Wrestling made him impure to much of the fan base. Brock would make his debut in 2008 at UFC 81, facing BJJ Heavyweight Frank Mir. The fight only lasted 90 seconds as Mir was able to exploit Lesnar€™s inexperience and lock in a kneebar from the ground, forcing Lesnar to tap. However, previous to the submission, Lesnar had been completely man handling the veteran Mir, taking him down at will and administering ruthless ground and pound. The potential for €œThe Next Big Thing€ was painfully obvious.

Lesnar would move on to defeat Heath Herring then defeat Randy Couture to claim the UFC Heavyweight Title. His first defense would come at UFC 100 in a rematch against Frank Mir, headlining the biggest card in UFC history. The build for the fight was quite heated with Mir acting quite brash in openly ridiculing Lesnar for his lack of Jiu Jitsu knowledge and expertise. Lesnar countered by joking that Mir was a €œglorified karate kid€ and vowed to pound Mir to a victory € and he did.

The UFC 100 main event fight saw Lesnar get into some brief trouble in the stand-up game, but ultimately take Mir down to control the fight to a 2nd Round TKO stoppage. What followed was a tirade from Lesnar that buried Mir, knocked Bud Light - a major sponsor for UFC €“ in favor of Coors Light, and proclaimed that wife Rena was in for a fun night. Brock catapulted himself to become the most viable and marketable Heavyweight on the roster for the next two years until Cain Velasquez finally put an end to his Heavyweight Title reign.