This Week In MMA History (October 23-29)

UFC 121: Lesnar vs Velasquez took place on October 23rd, 2010 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. California.  Main event featured Brock Lesnar returning after a long layoff due to sickness to defend his Heavyweight title against Cain Velasquez.  Receiving extra hype with UFC's Primetime series Velasquez was able to become the new (and current) UFC Heavyweight champion with a TKO win late in the first round.  In the co-main event former Strikeforce Middleweight and Elite XC Welterweight champion made his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann.  The fight went to a split decision with Shields coming away with the victory and earning a title shot against George St. Pierre.  Matt Hamill defeated Tito Ortiz while Diego Sanchez and Brendan Schaub also were victorious to round out the main card action.

UFC 104: Machida vs Shogun took place on October 24th, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.  Main event featured a Light Heavyweight title fight between Champion Lyoto Machida and Maurico Rua.  In a contervial decision which lead to an automatic rematch Machida was deemed the winner in the back and forth afair with scores of 48-47 by all 3 judges.  Dana White thought it was such a robbery that he awarded Rua his full pay including his win bonus.  Wins by Cain Velasquez, Gleison Tibau, Joe Stevenson, and Anthony Johnson were also featured on the main card while Ryan Bader, Pat Barry and Chael Sonnen picked up wins on the prelim portion of the event.

UFC 90: Silva vs Cote took place on October 25th, 2008 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.  Main event featured Anderson Silva looking to defend his Middleweight title for a 4th straight time against Patrick Cote.  At the time Cote was the first fighter in UFC history to reach the 3rd round against Silva but his moral victory was short lived as 39 seconds into the round he suffered a knee injury that took him out of the bout.  wins by Thiago Alves, Gray Maynard, Junior Dos Santos and Sean Sherk were also on the main card.

Pride 30: Fully Loaded took place on October 23rd, 2005 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.  Main event featured a rematch between Mirko Cro Cop and Josh Barnett.  Their first bout unfortunately ended early because of a Barnett injury and this bout ended just as unfortunate as it ended in a decision win for Cro Cop.  Wins by Kazuski Sakuraba, Sergei Kharitonov, Quinton Jackson, and Murilo Rua also highlighted the event.

Bellator 34 took place on October 29th, 2010 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.  Main event featured Hector Lombard defending his Middleweight title against Season 3 tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko.  Lombard was able to keep his lengthy winning streak intake with a decision win with the scores being 49-26 on all 3 scorecards.  The co-main event featured the final round of the women's 115 pound tournament as Megumi Fugi took on Zoila Gurgel.  In a controversial split decision Gurgel was able to squeeze by Fugi handing the Japanese fight her fight loss in 23 fights.

Dream 12 took place on October 25th, 2009 at the Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka. Japan.  Event featured the use of a cage and 3-5 minutes rounds for the first time in a Dream event.  Event featured Alistair Overeem submitting James Thompson 33 seconds into the fight, as well as Kazushi Sakuraba and Eddie Alvarez getting submission wins.

Birthdays
Mark Bocek born on October 24th, 1981 in Toronto, Ontario
Rafael Dos Anjos born on October 26th, 1984 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Semmy Schilt born on October 27th, 1973 in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Glover Teixeira born on October 28th, 1979 in Sobralia, Brazil

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