10 MMA Fights That Created Instant Legends

8. Brock Lesnar Vs. Frank Mir - UFC 100

Brock Lesnar famously made an explosive UFC debut at February 2008’s UFC 2008.

Despite dominating the opening minute or so of his fight against Frank Mir, a schoolboy error of judgement saw Mir latch on a kneebar and force Brock to tap out. Bouncing back with a win over Heath Herring and then defeating Randy Couture to become UFC Heavyweight Champion, the UFC 100 battle lines were drawn as Lesnar faced interim Heavyweight Champ Mir.

That UFC 100 fight in July 2009 saw Brock avenge his previous loss with a bloody, brutal second round TKO win – and it was this moment that really cemented Lesnar’s spot as a legend of the MMA world.

Did Brock Lesnar have the longevity of the other fighters featured in this list? Absolutely not. But what makes Brock such a legendary figure is the extra attention he brought to the sport. For example, UFC 100 brought in a record 1.6 million PPV buys.

To give some context on that figure, that 1.6 million number remained the highest ever amount of UFC PPV buys up until 2016 – when that record was finally toppled by Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor II at UFC 202 on a PPV that generated 1.65 million buys.

He may have only had eight fights in his UFC career, but Brock Lesnar was pure, undeniable box office for the fight game.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.