UFC 100: Making History Blu-ray offers solid video and audio in this overall recommended Blu-ray release
Seen all over the world 'UFC 100: Making History' was a triumphant night for UFC. This
collection captures the unforgettable event with a new sense of scope and a Herculean amount
of special features. It’s an amazing thrill to see these highly-skilled athletes in all their rip-
roaring glory, and 'UFC 100: Making History' is the one the fans have been waiting for and
it’s the one that will make fans of the uninitiated. With some of the best match-ups of the
year, and the biggest re-match of the year - Lesnar vs. Mir - you can’t get more historic than
this.
Never has there been a buzz like there is tonight.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has evolved from a curiosity that debuted in Denver,
Colorado on November 13, 1993 to a crowd of 2,800 to a dominant sport across the American
landscape and, indeed, around the world. In but 15 short years and through 100 UFC
tournaments, the sport has produced an incredible array of talent and, by extension, a legion of
fans that can't get enough of the sport's hardcore but honest and real fights. UFC doesn't pander
to its audiences or base its very existence of fictitious story lines and rigged outcomes; from
Royce Gracie to Brock Lesnar and all the champions in between, the sport's best earn their belts
the old fashioned way: through dedication to their sport, hard work in the gym, and by besting
their opponent in the Octagon. Fans crave more not necessarily for the hard-hitting knockouts or
blood-splattered mat, but for the integrity of the fights, the sportsmanship the fighters, and, yes,
the spectacle of the best of the best squaring off for a three- or five-round punishing fight that
pits highly trained and perfectly conditioned men one against another in the ultimate in hardcore
sport. UFC 100, a milestone in number but also a wonderful example of what UFC is all about,
took place in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 11, 2009 with thousands in attendance and more than a
million watching around the world, the event cementing the sport's rapid evolution and stature
as not only spectacle but a legitimate sporting enterprise with an ever-growing and devoted fan
base eager for the next 100 Ultimate Fighting Championships -- and beyond.
The champ.
Fortunately, this historic UFC delivered the goods inside the Octagon in addition to the pomp and
circumstance surrounding the sport's 100th event. UFC 100 featured a broad array of
match-ups with various levels of appeal and outcomes; it served up fights that lasted less than a
minute (Dollaway vs. Lawlor), full three- and five-round classics (Kim vs. Grant & St-Pierre vs.
Alves), bloody battles (Danzig vs. Miller), and of course, major title fights
between superstars with implications that extended well beyond the Octagon (Lesnar vs. Mir).
The nearly four-hour event as depicted herein contains not only the fights but also pre- and
post-fight analysis and, for some of the bigger fights, extended interview clips with the fighters
and their entrances into the Octagon presented in full. As the evening advances through the
Preliminary
card fights and into the Main card confrontations and the final two championship bouts featuring
superstars Georges St-Pierre, Thiago Alves, Brock Lesnar, and Frank Mir, the crowd fills in and the
fights become more than mere bouts between warriors: UFC 100 becomes a spectacle, though
once the fights begin, it all fades into the ethers and the best of the best of UFC square off for
two of
the most intense and exciting match-ups the sport has ever seen.
After 100 UFC events, it seems time to recognize the broadcasting tandem of play-by-play man
Mike Goldberg and color commentator Joe Rogan. They bring to the table a wide range of
knowledge on the fighters and their styles which helps both newcomers become familiar with the
techniques each fighter attempts to implement into their fights and better understand the hows
and the whys of many of the outcomes. They pull no punches in their comments, both praising a
style or questioning a fighter's methods based on history and skill; for example, they question TJ
Grant's approach in his bout with Dong-hyun Kim, and in Kim's post-fight interview, he's asked
about Grant's approach and whether or not Grant's fighting to Kim's strength was a factor
in Kim's victory. Their comments add some depth to the experience that casual fans might find
lacking amidst the punching and grappling, and it also reinforces that UFC is more than two men
pounding one another into submission. There's style, skill, and technique behind each fight, and
while every bout organically evolves into its own identity and moves beyond the fighters' preset
plan of attack with every punch, kick, and takedown, there remains an underlying depth and
purpose to each fighter's approach inside the Octagon, all well-evidenced by the collection of
eleven heart-stopping fights that comprise UFC's centennial event.
The following fights comprise UFC 100:
Grive vs. Gugerty Dollaway vs. Lawlor Kim vs. Grant Jones vs. O'Brien Danzig vs. Miller Coleman vs. Bonnar Akiyama vs. Belcher Fitch vs. Thiago Henderson vs. Bisping St-Pierre vs. Alves Lesnar vs. Mir
UFC 100: Making History debuts on Blu-ray with a good 1080i, 1.78:1-framed transfer.
Like the other recent UFC/Starz releases -- Ultimate Knockouts
7 and Ultimate 100 Greatest
Fights, the quality isn't going to compete with a newly-minted, big-budget
feature-length film, but the event delivers a clear, nicely detailed, and
abundantly
colorful viewing experience. UFC 100, like its other high
definition brethren, offers a fine array of nicely rendered hues. Whether the Bud Light
advertisement that's seen in the center of the Octagon, the brightly-colored shorts worn by the
competitors, or the bright red blood dripping from Mac Danzig's forehead, the disc never misses a
beat in color reproduction. Detail is appropriately high across the entire
spectrum, from freckles and tattoos on fighters to advertisements on the competitors' shorts.
Graphics -- whether the countdown clock or the "tale of the tape" introductions that list a
fighter's place of birth, height, weight, age, and reach -- are sharp and nicely rendered. All in all,
UFC 100: Making History delivers a pleasing high definition experience within the context
of its original presentation.
UFC 100: Making History features a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, available both in English
and Spanish. Despite the limited source, it offers a crystal-clear presentation in every facet.
There's a nice sense of reverberation when Octagon announcer Bruce Buffer belts out the names of
the combatants. Background chatter and ambience throughout the Mandalay Bay Events Center
spreads out nicely across the front, particularly as the crowd grows and becomes more rowdy when
the Main card and title fights draw near. The buzzer that announces the end of a round has a nice
sharp edge to it. Finally, the announcers' voices are crisp and clear, focused straight up the middle
but intelligible and perfectly fine for the material. The 2.0 channel presentation leaves the
presentation sounding
a bit cramped, but it's suitable for what it is.
UFC 100: Making History features several bonus features. Countdown (1080i,
40:56) is a good pre-event piece that looks not only at the upcoming fights but the history of the
men about to step inside the Octagon. Behind the Scenes (1080i, 21:21) features a look
at the pre-fight weigh-ins and trash talking, event rehearsals, the technology implemented to bring
the event to viewers around the world, the fighters' arrivals and preparations, and much more. Also
included is Promos (1080i, 3:05), a collection of
advertisements for UFC.com, UFC: Best of 2008, UFC: Ultimate
Comebacks and additional UFC DVDs; and BSN (1080i, 0:37), an advertisement
for Syntha-6 protein drink. This disc is also BD Touch enabled, a feature that allows for control of
the disc via an iPod Touch or iPhone equipped with BD Touch software.
A night to remember, UFC 100: Making History was not only a celebration of the sport's
100th UFC event, but it delivered a full array of classic bouts that span the entire spectrum of what
the sport has to offer. From short and sweet victories to full five-round title bouts, from bloodied
warriors to a pair of champions squaring off for the most coveted of titles, the event lived up to its
billing and has quickly solidified itself as one of the best UFCs in the sport's short but storied history.
This Starz/Zuffa Blu-ray release contains every fight in its entirety in addition to several solid
behind-the-scenes bonus features. Along with good audio and video presentations, UFC 100:
Making History comes recommended for fans.
Anchor Bay Home Entertainment has announced that they will bring the pay-per-view event 'UFC 100: Making History' to Blu-ray on October 20th, day-and-date with the DVD release. No technical specs have been announced at this time, but we do know that the disc will ...
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