Bridgestone Arena has served as host to many sports events since first opening its doors on Dec. 18, 1996, but perhaps the biggest of all will be the NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 31.

The game will bring thousands of fans to downtown and to the home of the Nashville Predators. The facility has also served as home to the Arena Football League Nashville Kats as well as host to figure skating, gymnastics, basketball, boxing, mixed martial arts and other events.

Here are our picks for the top 10 sports events that have taken place in the arena:

10. Don King’s Night of Boxing

Jan. 11, 1997: The bombastic promoter Don King put together an impressive card, which was televised live on Showtime and drew a crowd of 8,777 to the arena. In the main event, World Boxing Organization champ Henry Akinwande defended his heavyweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over fellow Englishman and No. 1 WBO contender Scott Welch. Nashville boxer Terrance Churchwell brought the crowd to its feet with a first-round knockout of Charles Sims. Deirdre Gogarty, who replaced Christy Martin, one of the world’s top female boxers at the time, knocked out Deborah Stroman in 43 seconds.

9. UFC Fight Night

April 1, 2009: There were 11 bouts on the card, which was televised on Spike TV and was the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the arena since Tennessee began regulating mixed martial arts fighting in 2008. A crowd of 10,267 watched Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann win a narrow split decision over Carlos “Natural Born Killer” Condit in the featured bout.

8. Nashville Kats playoff game

July 29, 2000: The largest crowd of the season (14,781) turned out to see the Arena Football League franchise claim a 57-14 win over Grand Rapids in the first round of the playoffs. The Kats included former Tennessee Vols quarterback Andy Kelly and receiver Cory Fleming, and former Tennessee State receiver Jarrick HIllery. The Kats went on to win their next two playoff games on the road and advanced to the Arena Bowl where they lost to Orlando, 41-38.

7. U.S. Gymnastics Championships

June 2-4, 2004: With the 2004 Olympics in Athens starting just a few weeks later, national and international attention was focused on the U.S. Gymnastics Championships at the arena. Carly Patterson emerged as the women’s champion and Paul Hamm as the men’s champion. Both went on to win Olympic gold medals.

6. SEC women’s basketball tournament

March 1-4, 2012: Legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt’s final SEC Tournament championship came at the arena. Diagnosed earlier in the year with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type, Summitt continued to coach the Lady Vols. In the SEC Tournament she led UT to wins over Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals, South Carolina in the semifinals and LSU in the final. The average attendance for Tennessee’s three games was 10,688. Summitt retired in April 2012.

5. NCAA men’s basketball tournament first and second round

March 17-19, 2000: Local college basketball fans had clamored for the return of the NCAA men’s tournament to Nashville since it was last played at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym in 1993. It finally did when the first two rounds were awarded to the arena in 2000. First rounds results: Miami, Fla. 75, Arkansas 71; Ohio State 87, Appalachian State 61; Tulsa 89, UNLV 62 and Cincinnati 64, UNC-Wilmington 47. Tulsa eventually advanced to the regional finals, where it lost to North Carolina 59-55.

4. SEC men’s basketball tournament

March 8-11, 2001: During the construction of the arena the most anticipated event was the SEC men’s basketball tournament. It first came to the arena in 2001, when Kentucky beat Ole Miss 77-55 in the finals before a capacity crowd — mostly Wildcats fans. That first impression must have been a good one because the SEC selected Nashville again in 2006, 2010 and 2013 before awarding a 12-year agreement that began in 2015.

3. NCAA women’s basketball Final Four

April 6-8, 2014: The arena’s first opportunity to serve as host for an NCAA national championship brought Connecticut, Notre Dame, Stanford and Maryland to the Music City. Connecticut and Notre Dame advanced to the championship game, marking the first time two undefeated teams had ever met in the final. The Huskies won 79-58 to earn their ninth national title.

2. U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Feb. 8-16, 1997: The first sports event in the arena was the weeklong U.S. Figure Skating Championships before a prime time national television audience and several sellout sessions. Tara Lipinski, who was 14 at the time, performed a triple-loop, triple-loop jump and beat heavily favored Michelle Kwan.

1. Predators inaugural game

Oct. 10, 1998: The Predators faced the Florida Panthers before a sellout crowd of 17,298. Ray Whitney scored the only goal and Kirk McLean earned the shutout in a 1-0 game. Starters for the Predators were Andrew Brunette, Greg Johnson, Sergei Krivokrasov, Joel Bouchard, Bob Boughner and goaltender Mike Dunham.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-802 and on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.