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UFC: Best of 2009 DVD.

Along with putting all the UFC pay per view events on DVD for you to own, fortunately for us FightDVD also release all the best of collectors discs. One such recent offering is UFC Best of 2009.

Originally aired on ESPN, this unique DVD has the function of choosing extra bouts in their entirety as you view the main feature or you can pick to see the fights separately from the menu.

2009 without a doubt was an exciting year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, seeing new champions crowned, emerging top contenders plus returning cage warriors returning to better form. If you weren’t able to catch all the UFC’s output last year then this DVD for you.

Highlights include the epic battle of champions, Georges ‘Rush’ St Pierre (Welterweight champ), challenged by the then reigning lightweight title holder BJ ‘The Prodigy’ Penn.

Another pivotal title fight was the crowning of new light-heavyweight king Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida, who devastated ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans.

One of the biggest moments of them all had to be at the monumental pay per view – UFC 100. That huge moment there on July 11 being former WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar beating Frank Mir. Yes, ‘the next big thing’ stamped his moniker on Mir and the heavyweight division, thus avenging his only MMA lost.

Along with dominant champions, 2009 saw a huge return for octagon icon Chuck Liddell. The KO loss to Shogun Rua reminded us the best is behind the UFC Hall of Famer. Former PRIDE FC legend Rua of course went on to greater glory, putting in a great performance versus Machida, earning a return title fight in 2010.

Still in the LHW bracket, 2009 was the year a UFC great – Tito Ortiz made his return to active MMA competition and the ranks of the UFC. A new arrival making an impact Brazilian Little Nog.

The newer emerging talent featured on the 2 disc set that get a shout are Brits Dan ‘Outlaw’ Hardy, who had a fantastic year, plus Scouser Terry Etim, another rising star from our fair isles. Can’t forget the success of the UK contingent on season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter. Lightweight winner Ross Pearson in particular is a fighter to watch the progress of.

A fight aired at part of TUF 9 finale making the compilation here is Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez facing Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida, in possibly the best slug-fest of ’09.

TUF 10: The Heavyweights receives a mention but here too, but not enough time here given to winner Roy Nelson, a fighter Dana White didn’t seem to appreciate.

The Best of 2009 may not be personally all what you might pick for the DVD but it’s clearly a value for money addition to your MMA DVD collection, boasting 345 minutes worth of ultimate-fighting action in total, including bonus material, peeking behind the scenes of memorable 2009 cage-clashes.

UFC Best Of 2009 is out now on DVD, available direct from www.fightdvd.co.uk and all good retailers.

Keep visiting BluRayMMA.com for more reviews of brand new UFC, related combat sport and martial arts DVD releases.

UFC 100 will air on UK TV but we've still got to wait a bit longer.

UFC 100 – July 11th, Mandalay Bay Centre, Las Vegas

The mammoth fight card UFC 100 is fast approaching, as I type there are under
4 days to go until the big one. UFC 100 is a monumental milestone for the
Zuffa owned Ultimate Fighting Championship organisation. This Saturday’s
pay per view event is more than just hype, once again matchmakers Dana White and Joe Silva have put together a stacked bill of highly anticipated clashes in the cage.

First of all let’s take a look at the triple threat lined up at the top of the
event for all you mixed martial arts junkies out there.

Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar – Heavyweight Title unification
You can easily label this one UFC the next generation as when you look back at what established the UFC originally was Royce Gracie vs Ken Shamrock,
a pro wrestler taking on a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert in a fight to see which
style was supreme. Now reaching the century history repeats itself as
once again a former pro wrestler battles it out with a BJJ expert.

Lesnar going in as defending champion has everything to prove. There are still many who do not feel he had earned his spot as top dog. As a former WWE wrestler The vanila Gorila has got to work harder to prove he is the real deal but ultimately getting the win is all that counts despite the opinions of others. Both fighters looked impressive in their last outings inside the octagon, but despite beating the best of the old guard – Randy Couture and Antonio Minotauro Nogueira it can be said that they were both past their best. It was clear Nog wasn’t in his best condition for their fight but Couture looked good but just did not have what was needed to beat the almost not human Brock Lesnar.

So going back to their first outing what has changed? Has Lesnar now got what it takes to avenge his loss to the interim champion? I am going to answer yes being slightly biassed as a fan of pro wrestling before getting hooked on MMA. I feel Lesnar since losing to Mir having fought and beaten both Heath Herring and the legend that is Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture now has the experience under his belt not to make the same rookie mistake getting caught in a heel hook. However there is still the possibility it could happen again. The clash of their opposing styles is the Yin and Yang principle used in traditional martial arts. You use your opponents
strengths to your advantage. That is what the power of Lesnar’s wrestling
versus Mir’s BJJ is – Yang versus Yin.

My prediction is a TKO win within the first 2 rounds for Lesnar.

Georges ‘Rush’ St Pierre vs Thiago Alves – Welterweight Title bout
GSP the welterweight champion and arguably the best pound for pound mixed martial artist in the world will face his tougest test yet in the form of
Muay Thai kickboxing specialist Thiago ‘Pitbull’ Alves. We all know St Pierre
is a well rounded fighter but he usaully enters the cage with the size
advantage, this time it is not the case. Alves a man naturally of 200lbs cuts
weight to 170lbs but come fight time he is back up there with an added 30  pounds. Both combatants are at the top of their game but the question is wether they will both be issue free. In the past GSP has lost mentally where as Alves’ had drug issues.

My prediction is GSP to win, the dude just keeps on improving and I would love to see him clash with Anderson Silva next year for a dream match.

Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping vs Dan Henderson – TUF 9 Coaches Collide 
A non title fight but like Lesnar versus Mir it’s another highly anticipated
showdown. Having built up via the recent Ultimate Fighter 9 which saw
Bisping’s Team UK beat Henderson’s Team USA by snatching both the lightweight and welterweight prizes in the Ultimate Finale. Bisping seen as the cocky Englishman by the Americans is the dynamic opposite of mild mannered Olympian Dan Henderson. Henderson a former PRIDE FC star in Japan and title holder does not have father time on his side. Bisping is younger and an ever improving fighter of the TUF generation of UFC star names.

I am hoping Bisping impresses with a TKO win elevating the Brit fighter to
title challenger status.

Time for all the talk to cease as all the questions will be answered in the
octagon on Saturday July 11th.

The rest of the card.

Jon Fitch vs Paulo Thiago

Yoshiro Akiyama vs Alan Belcher

Mark Coleman vs Stephen Bonnar

Mac Danzig vs Jim Miller

Jon Jones vs Jake O’Brien

Dong Hyun Kim vs Jonathan Goulet

CB Dollaway vs Tom Lawlor

Matt Grice vs Shannon Gugerty
Limp Bizkit will be performing on the weekend plus there is a grappling
competiton, fanfest, UFC Hall of Fame inductions including Mask the
recently passed away founder of Tapout Clothing plus much more happening.

You can read an interview with Mike Bisping on the Henderson trash talk at Mirror.co.uk
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more-sport/mma-and-wrestling/2009/07/02/ufc-100-interview-exclusive-michael-bisping-s-fury-at-dan-henderson-s-trash-talk-115875-21489783/

Keep an eye the official UFC 100 website for videos and news build up.

http://100.ufc.com/

It appears to still be up in the air what channel will be airing UFC 100
in the UK but having just seen the Sky EPG fans in Ireland needn’t worry
since Setanta Ireland seems to be still on air scheduled to show the event
live at 3am despite the demise of the subscription channel back in the UK. Well I have my new Sky + installation booked ready for Saturday
with our package including Sky Sports  free for a month so all being well
I won’t have to wait to see this one.

Don’t forget if you want to take advantage of the latest offers from Sky
or Virgin Media join http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/DuaneDaStinge via the link in my signature and you will earn yourself upto £65 cashback in the process plus you’ll be supporting BluRayMMA.com as I’ll receive £2.50 as a referral.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

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