UFC 100 Reviews are in and they are bad, wait what?

UFC 100 was suppose to be a celebration of the UFC and mixed martial arts. Yet for whatever reason some media members, both mainstream and MMA, were left underwhelmed. 

Tom Casale of Five Ounces of Pain,

I had waited months to see UFC 100. Yet when it was over I turned to the room full of people I was watching it with and asked, "That was it?"    

Jonathan Snowden, 

For all the talk of competing with the NFL, with basketball, and even internationally with soccer, the UFC showed clearly last night that it wasn't ready for primetime. It was a promotion and a sport more comfortably spoken in the same breath with "WWE" or "monster trucks" than with "NFL" or even "Nascar."    

Was I watching the same fight card?

I mean did people honestly expect the UFC to re-invent their entire approach? I can understand how people wanted more; how great would it have been if the UFC aired the highlight package they use in stadiums before going live? But that wasn't what UFC 100 was about. UFC 100 was all about the fan expo and a great fight card for UFC 100 fans. Everything else was just gravy. In fairness to the UFC they did use a wire camera for better Octagon shots.

Now how about a little mainstream media perspective.

T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times,

I gave it a chance and here's what I now think about Ultimate Bore & Gore.

It's the 7-Eleven's Kid's birthday, back home there are reports Sam the puppy has lost his baby teeth, and I'm here. Amazingly, it's the guy in the octagon who has the hole in his head.    

And I thought newspaper writers weren't snarky, I guess you have to have a degree in journalism before you can be snarky (Steve Cofield informs us that Simers was pissed to be there and missed fights.  At MMA events I have gotten press passes to the newspaper writers usually seem upset and show up late.)

Of course a lot of us were being hypersensitive to how UFC would play out. Bloodyelbow has some great coverage about how we in the MMA blogosphere are acting thin-skinned over trying to gain mainstream acceptance.

Over all WKR thought UFC 100  went smoothly. Things could have been better, the screw up with Thiago-Fitch was inexcusable. Not to mention the weird Holly Madison appearance and no "Buffer 360."  But considering what could have happened and how much press (most of it positive) the sport and the UFC got, WKR chalks this one up as a win. 

UFC 100 coverage