Seven years separate the historic UFC 100 and UFC 200. Photo: Disclosure
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Practically seven years after UFC 100, Ultimate will reach a new historic milestone this Saturday (9), with UFC 200. The occasion will receive a gala treatment from the organization, which has put together a week full of attractions in Las Vegas ( USA), completed with a stellar card at the new T-Mobile Arena.
Since 2009, a lot has changed in the UFC scene: several names have emerged, stars have gained strength, while others have retired and left the scene. However, the period separating the two historic events saw more profound changes in MMA than typically happens with other sports.
Precisely for that reason, the SUPER FIGHTS produced this special to show everything that happened in the UFC's history during the hundred events that separated the historic UFC 100 and UFC 200. Check it out!
THE “LEVINHOS” AND WOMEN ALSO HAVE A TIME
Ronda had her last fight in Australia. Photo: Disclosure
At the time UFC 100 was held, Ultimate only had five weight categories: lightweight (70 kg), welterweight (77 kg), middleweight (84 kg), light heavyweight (93 kg) and heavyweight ( 120 kg). All of these divisions were male, and at the time, the arrival of women in the octagon seemed absurd according to President Dana White's vision.
The range began to open in 2011. The WEC, an event that, in its final days, had lower weight categories, merged with the UFC, which brought two more divisions to the main organization on the planet: bantamweight (61 kg) and feathers (66 kg). It was only then that names like José Aldo, Dominick Cruz e Urijah faber were able to make their UFC debuts.
In 2012, Ultimate decided to go further by creating another category, the flyweight (57 kg), which since its inception has been dominated by Demetrious Johnson. In the same year, the UFC decided to merge with another large organization, Strikeforce.
This allowed the arrival of one of Strikeforce's biggest rising stars, Ronda Rousey. Faced with the enormous charisma of the former Olympic judoka, White gave her all and held the first female fight in the octagon in February 2013.
With the enormous success of Ronda and other athletes in the category, the UFC finally created the women's strawweight division (52 kg). In 2014, a season of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter was held specifically to crown the champion of the new weight class. Carla esparza triumphed, but lost the belt in his first defense to Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
UFC HAS ARRIVED ON OPEN TELEVISION
First fight on open TV was between Velasquez and Cigano, in 2011
In 2009, the UFC was already capable of generating incredible audiences, as seen at UFC 100 itself, which sold 1,6 million pay-per-view packages. However, in terms of media, Ultimate has a much greater reach nowadays, which is seen in television broadcast agreements.
At the end of 2011, the UFC signed a contract with FOX, which allowed several events to be broadcast on open television in the United States. The first of them, with junior gypsy x Cain Velazquez, had a peak audience of 8,8 million people.
Two years later, Ultimate launched its first digital platform, broadcasting fights via streaming: UFC Fight Pass. Not yet available in Brazil, the platform has a huge collection of old fights, in addition to live broadcasting of some isolated events.
In Brazil, the UFC also started to be seen by many more people. After tree of MMA in the country thanks to the duel between Anderson Silva e Vitor belfort, the main fight organization on the planet signed a broadcast contract with Globo. The broadcaster shows live the biggest fights from the main events held in Brazil, as well as other fights featuring famous names with a 30-minute delay.
UFC 200 or UFC 363?
Octagon has remained busy since 2009. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
With more weight categories, the UFC naturally started to have more athletes than it had in 2009. Furthermore, the agreement with FOX, plus the creation of Fight Pass, generated a greater demand for more and more events on the calendar .
Therefore, the current Ultimate scenario has practically fortnightly events, whether numbered (events broadcast on pay-per-view), Fight Night, or FOX.
To get an idea of how much more inflated the UFC calendar is in recent times than it was in 2009, some simple data: from UFC 1 to UFC 100, 132 events were held by the organization. From UFC 100 to UFC 200, there were 228.
HELLO ASIA, LATIN AMERICA AND OCEANIA!
UFC returned to Brazil in 2011 and planted its flag in the country. Photo: Disclosure
The greater number of events held allowed the UFC to implement an old plan: taking the octagon to all corners of the world. Since 2009, the UFC has planted its flag in several countries, including events in Asia, Latin America and Oceania.
During this period, the UFC returned to Brazil and Japan, in addition to making its debut in Mexico, Sweden, Ireland, Scotland, Croatia, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Macau, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Get a passport!
STRICT SURVEILLANCE
Jones fell victim to doping and was left out of UFC 200. Photo: Disclosure
One of the biggest changes in the UFC's sporting sphere was the partnership established with USADA, the United States Anti-Doping Agency. This means that all athletes under contract with the UFC, at any time, can be tested by the entity for banned substances.
Therefore, recent news that athletes fail anti-doping tests carried out during their training periods is not uncommon. The most recent case in which this happened, to the dismay of the UFC itself, was involving Jon Jones. The American was removed from the main fight of UFC 200 shortly before it took place, after committing an irregularity in a test in June.
REEBOK'S CONTROVERSIAL UNIFORMS
Agreement between UFC and Reebok came into effect in mid-2015. Photo: Disclosure
If the agreement with USADA brought good results for the fairness of the sport, another partnership had a largely negative repercussion. Since the second half of 2015, all fighters have been required to wear uniforms produced by Reebok during official event activities.
The fighters were against the agreement for two reasons: first, because they were prevented from wearing other brands on their clothing in the cage, which directly affected their financial income; second, because many questioned the quality of the products.
NEW OLD PROTAGONISTS
Lesnar (photo) was UFC champion between 2008 and 2010. Photo: Disclosure/UFC
It is interesting to note that the protagonists of UFC 200 are made up of a mixture of the same names that were relevant at the time of UFC 100, plus other athletes who were not even in the biggest MMA organization on the planet in 2009.
Stars of this Saturday's attraction, Brock Lesnar e Anderson Silva They were already relevant names at the time UFC 100 was held – Lesnar even held the main fight of the historic event seven years ago.
However, many of the show's other protagonists weren't even close to the UFC in 2009. Amanda nunes e Miesha Tate, who are making the most important fight at UFC 200, competed in regional organizations in Brazil and the United States, respectively.
Yes, José Aldo he was beginning to shine on the international stage with the WEC, but, at that moment, it seemed unlikely that his category, the featherweights, would be created in the UFC. Daniel Cormier, which will face Anderson Silva at UFC 200, he debuted in professional MMA just a few months after the historic UFC 100.
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