UFC 100 is just over two weeks away, and Yahoo! Sports is counting down every UFC event leading up to the blockbuster night of fights on July 11. This week, we saw B.J. Penn win the lightweight belt, Tito Ortiz exit stage right, and finally, Chuck vs. Wanderlei.
At UFC 78, Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping didn't put on much of a show for the New Jerseyites in attendance.
The match didn’t really prove anything. Evans came into the fight with a 10-0-1 record and a lifetime of wrestling while Bisping, 15-0 coming into the fight, came from a country with little in the way of organized wrestling. Bisping was able to connect more often, but Evans’ had more power in his punches. The fight came down to the third round: Whenever Bisping would start to get something going, Evans would take him down, earning a split-decision win.
Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva finally met up at UFC 79, and their fight was a war.
It seemed some of the luster was gone from the fight, as Liddell was coming off losses to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Keith Jardine while Silva was coming off defeats at the hands of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Dan Henderson. As it turned out, the losses had no impact on the fan interest. The card reportedly sold 700,000 on pay-per-view and attracted a boisterous crowd of 11,075. The fight lived up to all the hype, as Liddell and Silva stood and exchanged bombs throughout the fight. Liddell mixed up his game a bit and took Silva down several times with his wrestling. Liddell wound up winning a unanimous decision in a fight that had the crowd roaring and on its feet throughout.
B.J. Penn's reign at the lightweight champion began with a win over Joe "Daddy" Stevenson at UFC 80.
Penn didn’t take long separating the men from the boys and dominated Stevenson in every aspect of the match. Penn took the first round easily and opened a horrific cut on Stevenson’s forehead with an elbow on the ground. There was some question whether Stevenson would be able to come out for the second round given the depth of the cut, but “Joe Daddy” came out fired up in the second. Still, Penn managed to fend off an early charge and began picking Stevenson apart. Penn finished Stevenson off midway through the round with a rear-naked choke.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira picked up the heavyweight interim belt at UFC 81, but that was hardly the high point of the evening as former WWE champ Brock Lesnar lost in his UFC debut.
Lesnar stormed Mir and took him down and began pounding him with hammer fists. Incredibly, Lesnar seemed on the verge of victory only seconds into the bout. Referee Steve Mazzagatti ordered a controversial standup when he ruled Lesnar hit Mir in the back of the head. That allowed Mir to clear his head, but when the fight resumed, Lesnar took him down again and began pounding. This time, though, Mir was able to grab one of Lesnar’s legs. The noted submission expert caught Lesnar in a knee bar and forced a submission at 1:30 of the first round.
Anderson Silva became known as more than just the best in his weight class after his UFC 82 win over PRIDE champion Dan Henderson.
Anderson Silva’s status as the mythical best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA picked up a lot of steam when he defeated Pride’s champion in the weight class, Dan Henderson, by submission in the main event of UFC 82, held March 1, 2008, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Henderson won the first round of their fight, but tired in the second round and was finished with a choke at 4:52 of the round. Silva’s argument strengthened since Henderson, the only man to hold simultaneous championships in different weight classes in a major organization in MMA history, had gone the distance in losing to Quinton Jackson, the light heavyweight champ, in his previous fight. And at no point in the Jackson-Henderson match was Henderson in serious trouble.
The UFC's debut in Canada was spectacular, with its native son, Georges St. Pierre, winning over Matt Serra at UFC 83.
The event attracted a UFC record 21,390 fans, who paid a live gate of $5.1 million. It sold out in just 24 hours and the gate was the second-largest in UFC history. They were coming to see the rematch between hometown hero Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra. Serra pulled off one of the most improbable wins in UFC history when he knocked out St. Pierre as an 11-1 underdog at UFC 69 a year earlier in Houston. St. Pierre, who had won the interim belt when Serra was off for a long time because of a back injury, established himself as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport with a dominant performance. St. Pierre hammered Serra from start to finish, winning the first round on 10-8 scores, and stopped him at 4:45 of the second round.
Tito Ortiz, one of the UFC's biggest stars throughout the years, Tito Ortiz, lost to current light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida in his final fight with the promotion at UFC 84.
The show drew a sellout well in advance, of 14,771 paying $3,752,420, plus a closed-circuit overflow at the ballroom at the hotel. Machida won all three rounds in a dull fight with Ortiz, with Ortiz’s only momentary glory late, clamping on a triangle in the third round that Machida admitted was close to finishing him. Still, it’s hard to say anyone ate crow. Ortiz couldn’t take Machida down in three rounds, or touch him standing. Machida frustrated a heavily pro-Ortiz crowd with his dodging in and out. But at the end of the night, Ortiz was still the person everyone was talking about.
Now, we want to hear from you. What was your favorite event from these events? Ortiz, Penn or Silva? Vote in the poll and share your memories in the comments.
No one should be shocked that 41-year-old Affliction VP Tom Atencio is stepping into the ring for a professional MMA fight this weekend. After all, this is the same guy running a 
