Must see cards from different UFC eras

[JDragon]

If you wanted to introduce someone to the UFC and its history, which PPVs do you think they need to see?

The rules:

3 cards per era (5 year period)

E.g. 3 cards each for

The early days: 1993/4 - 1998 - UFC 1 until UFC Ultimate Brazil
The dark days: 1999-2003 - UFC 18 until UFC 45
Resurrection: 2004-2008 - UFC 46 until UFC 92
Modern UFC: 2009-2013/4 - UFC 93 until UFC 173

Ok, I know this is somewhat random, but I wanted to introduce some kind of logic to make sure we have cards from every period.

I will present my own choices below, but I'm interested in your views because I only started following the UFC on a regular basis around 2010 or so, so my knowledge especially about earlier Pay-per-views is limited.

Here go my picks:

The early days:

UFC 1 - kinda obvious
Ultimate Ultimate 2 - Final appearances of Ken Shamrock before he went WWF/E; final appearance of Don Frye, who won the tourney, likely after winning a fixed bout
UFC 12 - First appearance of Vitor Belfort, and a display of Mark Coleman looking like a monster

The dark days:

UFC 30 - First UFC under the Fertittas, Tito Ortiz dominating, but overall a card when the UFC was likely closer than ever to folding
UFC 31 - Couture vs Rizzo, BJ's debut in the UFC, and Carlos Newton upsets the GSP of those days in Pat Miletich
UFC 40 - Ortiz vs Shamrock 1 - due to its coverage in mainstream media and

Resurrection:

UFC 47 - Chuck annihilating Tito, Nick Diaz stealing Robbie Lawler's soul, Lytle and Arlovski finishing fights
UFC 68 - Sylvia vs Couture - to understand what Randy Couture has achieved in this sport, I think this is a must see
UFC 79 - GSP vs Hughes in the Main Event, also featuring Chuck, Wand (both still not quite out of their prime), and Machida when he was still invincible

Modern UFC:

UFC 94 - St. Pierre vs Penn II - Again, GSP and Machida; also shows the first glimpse of Jon Jones' greatness
UFC 100 - A 'history' of the UFC would be incomplete without Lesnar, and this card actually lived up to expectations
UFC 166 - Velasquez vs Dos Santos III - just a great card

Your take?

 

[mchestnut]

The Belfast Ireland one....UFC 72
Frankilin
Forrest
Marcus Davis

good solid card. Reminds me of the UFC glory days. Forrest walking out in Ireland was awesome.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

i'll put 47 in the dark ages - underrated card, very entertaining

and add in UFC 84 in the resurrection.

UFC 100 for modern era for obvious reasons.

 

[ALAN PARTRIDGE]

Ufc 175

 

[Mr Boogaloo]

ufc 40 is proper must-see, wicked fights

 

[pudgelarson36]

The Belfast Ireland one....UFC 72
Frankilin
Forrest
Marcus Davis

good solid card. Reminds me of the UFC glory days. Forrest walking out in Ireland was awesome.

Haha is this a joke? I vividly remember the complaints about this crappy card back in the day. Twas a summer day, and I was drunkenly on Sherdog. Not a lot has changed in 7 years.

 

[SpladleKing]

Ufc 33

 

[TheMMAn]

UFC 52 was my favorite, by far. It was a fun card. First it was Riggs getting subbed by Ivan Salaverry (no one expected that). Then Hughes coming back from a serious nut-shot to slam and then choke Trigg by means of sheer force of will. The anticipation for the main event, the re-match between Chuck and Randy, was electric. The place was vibrating leading up to that match.

Good times...

 

[Diet Otsuka]

Ufc 34 and 37

ufc 52

ufc 84

 

[Unbreakabull]

Gotta get those old ones on some grainy vhs tapes though. Really feel like you're watching it in the mid 90's

 

[Drake]

Looking back at cards right now, 132 is crazy underrated.