Monday, 20 July, 2009 1:12 PM
UFC 100 at
Mandalay Bay Beach was thrilling and action-packed
| 
Poster
credit: www.ramadaeasthanover.com |
LAS
VEGAS -- The night of Saturday, July 11th turned into
a full-blown festivity at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the
Bay's Event Center played host for the UFC event fight card,
UFC 100: Lesnar v. Mir--the most viewed string of fights
in UFC history. While the actual event was held at their Event
Center, Mandalay Bay also provided closed-circuit viewing on
their beach at the resort. There, hundreds of other UFC fans
gathered to watch the televised fight, cheering away for their
favorites.
The Mandalay Bay Beach, which broadcasted the fight on a closed-circuit,
big-screen T.V., had a number of food stands, an indoor restaurant
and fan stand to purchase UFC items, full-size bars and mini-bars,
and most importantly--the beach itself, with sand and the resort's
wavy pool.
UFC 100, which showcased the widely anticipated heavyweight
bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir as the main event of
the evening, also had other prominent fights that exciting night;
Georges St. Pierre v. Thiago Alves, Dan Henderson v. Michael
Bisping, and last but not least, a bout between Alan Belcher
and Yoshihiro Akiyama, as well as a fight between Jon Fitch
and Paulo Thiago.
In the main, heavyweight event of the evening, Lesnar (4 wins-1
loss) defeated Mir (12 wins-4 losses) in the second round via
technical knockout. In both rounds, Lesnar took Mir down to
the mat, using his weight advantage in keeping him there. While
in this superior position for moments at a time, Lesnar landed
short punches on Mir’s face. By the second round, while
still above Mir on the mat, Lesnar had Mir against the cage,
landing more blows to Mir’s head—this time much
more violent ones, with Mir unable to defend himself. Accordingly,
the referee stopped the fight in the second round at 1:48.
The welterweight fight showed heart of behalf of Alves (16-4),
but not near the amount necessary to come close to overcoming
fan-favorite and UFC Champion, St. Pierre (21-2). Most said
he wasn’t a slight threat to the throne of St. Pierre.
In this bout, St. Pierre clearly dominated Alves throughout,
taking him down constantly. After a few takedowns, it appeared
that St.Pierre was attempting to turn this into his personal
take-down fest; this certainly was the case, as the welterweight
champion took Alves down constantly, resulting in total domination
and a five-round decision for St. Pierre over what was previously
thought to be an extremely threatening opponent.
Knock out! That's likely what all would call the middleweight
grudge match, which is exactly what happened. Here, Henderson
(25-7) put a halt to Michael Bisping (17-2) of Britain, knocking
him out cold with a devastating right hand in the second round
of the bout. As Bisping began circling throws towards Henderson's
right side--known to be Henderson's knock-out power side--Henderson
landed a destructive right hand to the temple of Bisping, knocking
him out cold. Despite this, Henderson then jumped and landed
a forearm on Bisping’s face, as he just lay there without
movement, with referee stoppage at 3:20 of the second round.
Bisping was out cold for minutes before awaking and being unaware
as to what had just happened.
In the first bout of the night, Belcher (14-6) went up against
Akiyama (13-1), and lost in a split decision after three rounds.
That fight mostly consisted of kicks on behalf of Belcher, and
takedowns on the part of Akiyama. In the final bout of the night,
Fitch (23-3) fought Thiago (11-1), and reigned victorious, winning
by decision after the third round. Here, Thiago initially had
Fitch in a guillotine choke during the first round, which Fitch
had a tough time getting out of. After that, though, Fitch wrestled
Thiago to the mat for the remainder of the fight, leaving Thiago
without many options in terms of skillfully fighting back.
This was certainly a thrilling, action-packed night at Mandalay
Bay, with fans on the edge of extreme excitement. So be sure
to come by Mandalay Bay when another exciting event is set to
be showcased.
Many thanks go to Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for allowing access
to cover this event, making such coverage possible. Mandalay
Bay is located at 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S., on the world-renowned
Las Vegas Strip. Mandalay Bay hosts a number of UFC events regularly,
and will continue to host such fights, as well as other exciting
events. For more information on Mandalay Bay and their events,
please visit MandalayBay.com.
