FanHouse BrockLesnar

UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is hoping to avenge his only loss and unify the heavyweight title against interim champion Frank Mir at UFC 100. And Lesnar says Mir is going to find out when they fight that Lesnar is a much better fighter than he was when they first met a year and a half ago.

"I've improved dramatically," Lesnar said on a call this week to promote their main event bout at UFC 100.

The conventional wisdom says that the main event at UFC 100 will come down to Frank Mir's technique and agility against Brock Lesnar's power. And Mir says the conventional wisdom is right.

Frank Mir is getting ready to fight a 275-pound behemoth when he takes on Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight title at UFC 100. But Mir's biggest concern isn't Lesnar's weight. It's Lesnar's reach.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has a 265-pound limit for its heavyweight division, but that weight limit usually doesn't matter because most fighters weigh well under 265 pounds. For UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, however, it's a little bit different.

Brock Lesnar will fight Frank Mir in the main event at UFC 100 in a contest that could establish Lesnar as not only the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion but also the undisputed biggest star in UFC history. But one longtime MMA star, Dan Henderson, thinks Lesnar has been pushed to the forefront too quickly.

Henderson, who is preparing to fight Michael Bisping on the UFC 100 undercard, said Friday on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning that he thinks the UFC gave Lesnar a shot at the heavyweight title too quickly last year, when Lesnar had just a 2-1 MMA record.

The UFC has requested the date of November 21 for UFC 105 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, according to a calendar on the Nevada State Athletic Commission's website.

After UFC 99, I wrote that Cain Velasquez looks like a future UFC heavyweight champion. I've heard some pushback on that from people who take a contrary view, saying Velasquez didn't look very good in the stand-up, and that he ate some hard punches from Cheick Kongo at the start of all three rounds of their fight.

I agree that Velasquez needs to work on his stand-up, and he definitely needs to learn better head movement so he doesn't get punched right on the button the way he did against Kongo. But I also think Velasquez showed a lot of heart in taking those punches from Kongo and managing to quickly take him down in all three rounds, and I think people are too quick to dismiss how impressive it is to win all three rounds against Kongo: In nine previous UFC fights, Kongo was 7-2, and the two losses were by split decision. No one has ever dominated Kongo in the Octagon the way Velasquez did. And that's why Velasquez is on my list of the Top 10 heavyweights in MMA, which is below.

UFC 99 has just ended, and we've still got the Ultimate Fighter Finale ahead of us this Saturday, but the hype is already building for UFC 100. And UFC President Dana White has some very strong words about Brock Lesnar, who will fight Frank Mir in the UFC 100 main event.

Is Brett Rogers really one of the 10 best heavyweights in mixed martial arts? It still sounds crazy to say it, but really: After he destroyed Andrei Arlovski in just 22 seconds, running his record to a perfect 10-0 with nine first-round stoppages, how can I deny him?

So in my latest rankings of the Top 10 heavyweights in MMA, I've got Rogers on the list for the first time, and Arlovski off the list for the first time. I've also got great news for fans who like to see heavyweights: This summer is stacked, with Cheick Kongo vs. Cain Velasquez at UFC 99 on June 13, Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar at UFC 100 on July 11, Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett at Affliction Trilogy on August 1, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Randy Couture at UFC 102 on August 29 and maybe Rogers vs. Alistair Overeem at the Strikeforce event on August 15.