Ten Greatest Fights in UFC History

10-  Maurice Smith unanimous decision Mark Coleman (UFC 14)
The UFC 14 main event between undefeated Heavyweight champion Mark Coleman and stand-out kickboxer Maurice Smith was the first time in UFC history you saw an elite level kickboxer who had evolved. Maurice Smith had spent time with Japanese star Tsuyoshi Kohsaka learning how to fight off his back and when Coleman took him to the ground he was prepared for it. After a brief stand-off, Coleman shot in and took Smith to the ground with ease. From there Coleman unleashed with right hands and headbutts as he had done in his previous six UFC contests. Smith though established his guard and began stifling Colemans attacks and making Coleman work to keep him on the ground. Coleman at one stage moved to mount, but Smiths knowledge of grappling allowed him to get back to guard and continue defending. Maurice briefly escaped after about seven minutes but Coleman took him down again. Coleman though was gassing and his efforts from on top became less and less and Smith escaped again just before the 15 minutes was up and landed some solid punches and leg kicks. The following two-three minute over times were all Smith as Coleman was gassed and could barely walk from the leg kicks he was taking. Smith picked his shots and landed at will while stuffing Colemans takedowns. Coleman somehow survived the onslaught, but Smith took the decision and the title in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.

9- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira submission (3rd) Tim Sylvia (UFC 81)
A battle a long time coming with Nogueira and Sylvia at one point holding the PRIDE and UFC Heavyweight titles at the same time. They eventually fought at UFC 81 for the interim Heavyweight championship after Randy Couture ‘retired’ and wouldn’t face Nogueira. Nogueira was out of form having split two fights with Josh Barnett by close decision and barely surviving against Heath Herring while Sylvia was looking to gain back some respect after losing his title to Couture almost a year ago. Sylvia came out with bad intentions, firing his jab and trying to follow it up. Nogueira pulled guard, but Sylvia wisely stood up and showed he had no interest in fighting on the ground with the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu stylist. Midway through the first Sylvia dropped Nogueira heavily with a right hand and move in to finish. Nogueira regained his senses and Sylvia invited him back up. Nogueira scored a takedown in the final seconds, but Sylvia was saved by the bell. Sylvia continued to batter Nogueira during the 2nd round while stuffing his takedowns and standing up whenever he pulled guard. In the third round Nogueira pulled half guard and quickly swept Sylvia. Now on top, he passed Sylvia’s guard with ease and began looking for a submission. Sylvia turned into Nogueira and was immediately caught in a guillotine choke and forced to tap out. It was an incredible comeback from Nogueira who has made a career out of coming back from the brink of defeat.

8- Don Frye submission (11:19) Gary Goodridge (Ultimate Ultimate 1996)
Probably not the fight most people would have put in their top ten, but in my opinion (obviously) one of the greatest fights in UFC history. These two engaged in a gruelling battle of attrition that ended in the first round of the champions tournament of 1996. Goodridge, wearing a gi for some strange reason, and Frye immediately locked horns and started trading shots from the clinch. Frye was using Goodridges gi for leverage and pinned Goodridge against the cage while delivering knees and elbows on the inside. Goodridge repeatedly made room and landed his heavy right hand but Frye simply ate it. This went on for a few minutes before they seperated and started trading bombs from the outside. Frye seemed to be taking control when Goodridge took him down and began to land heavy shots of his own. With both men tiring it was Goodridge who was now able to use his weight advantage and he was landing heavy shots from on top. Frye then showed the newest trick in his game, an ability to fight off his back as he survived Goodridges onslaught and then swept the much larger man. With Goodridge exhausted and now on his back, he conceded the fight and tapped out due to exhaustion. Frye would go on to win two more fights that night, one of them against Tank Abbott which was #23 on this list, to win the tournament.

7- Oleg Taktarov submission (17:47) Tank Abbott (UFC 6)
Speaking of gruelling fights, they don’t get more gruelling then the Final of UFC 6 between newcomer Tank Abbott and UFC 5 veteran Oleg Taktarov. Abbott had walked through John Matua (20 seconds) and Paul Varelans (two minutes) earlier in the evening while Taktarov had a tougher then it sounds 57 second victory over UFC 5 runner-up Dave Beneteau and a 10 second submission win over Anthony Macias. Abbott immediately went on the offensive, rocking Taktarov with vicious bombs before ending up on top in a scramble. Abbott tried to finish, but Taktarov played his guard well and managed to wear Abbott down. Tank would open up from time to time and everytime they stood up he’d rock and bloody ‘The Russian Bear’ but could do little offensively against the Sambo master on the ground. Taktarov though was showing signs of fatigue by 10 minutes into the fight as Abbotts bombs were taking their toll on him. Somehow late in the fight, Taktarov found the energy to move to Abbotts back in a scramble and had just enough strength left to secure a rear naked choke and force Abbott to submit. After the fight both men lay exhausted and Taktarov needed oxygen as he was completely spent.

6- Frank Shamrock submission (4th) Tito Ortiz (UFC 22)
The tactical brilliance of Frank Shamrock was never more on display then when he defeated future  Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in their title matchup at UFC 22. Ortiz was the hungry young contender who had just blown through Jerry Bohlander and Guy Mezger and was gunning for Shamrock and his belt. Tito had a big size advantage as he cut down to the weight limit while Shamrock walked around 5-10lbs below it. The fight started off with them briefly striking before Ortiz took Shamrock down. Comfortable off his back, Shamrock was the one who opened up and began trading with Tito from his back while making Tito work to hold him down. Tito was happy to engage from on top and was throwing heavy shots and Frank was just as happy as his plan was to wear Ortiz out. Shamrock would escape back to his feet only too happy to let Tito take him back down and expend some more energy. By the 4th round Ortiz was gassed but continued to score takedowns. Shamrock knew though that Tito was struggling to hold him down and as he escaped from the bottom at the end of the 4th round, he landed an elbow that hurt Tito and followed it up with a barrage of punches that forced Ortiz to tap out to. It would be Shamrock’s last fight in the UFC having gone 5-0 with all five fights being for the title.

5- Randy Couture unanimous decision Pedro Rizzo (UFC 31)
At the time fighters like Mark Coleman were calling it the greatest fight in MMA history and it probably was. The opening rounds of this fight saw both fighters take punishment that would have stopped most men, but they took it and continued and went the full five rounds. Couture was the champion again after returning to the organisation and defeating Kevin Randleman for the belt. Rizzo was on an impressive run following his loss to Randleman for the belt and was coming off a huge knockout over Josh Barnett. Couture opened fast, taking Rizzo down and relentlessly scoring with hard shots from on top. Rizzo was closed to being stopped in the first round as Couture pushed him up against the fence and unleashed with bombs. Rizzo survived and in round two it was his turn to be the aggressor. ‘The Rock’ scored with numerous hard leg kicks that had Couture limping as well as scoring with hard punches to the face. Rizzo punished Couture for the entire five minutes with mainly his damaging leg kicks. After two rounds of action, I had the fight scored 18-18 with Couture winning the first 10-8 and Rizzo the 2nd 10-8. The last three rounds were all heart as both men were exhausted and battered. Couture’s wrestling game him the edge on my card as he was able to get Rizzo down, but Rizzo did more damage to Couture’s legs which made the decision a 50-50 one. The judges cards read the same as mine and Couture retained his belt by unanimous decision.

4- Matt Hughes submission (1st) Frank Trigg (UFC 52)
This is UFC president Dana White’s favourite fight of all-time and it was an incredible turnaround in an incredible fight. Hughes and Trigg hated each other and there had been a lot of trash talk after their first battle at UFC 45. Hughes had since lost his title to BJ Penn before regaining it with a submission win over Georges St Pierre after Penn had left the organisation while Trigg had scored wins over Dennis Hallman and Renato Verissimo by knockout. During the final instructions Trigg bumped heads with Hughes prompting Hughes to shove him and Trigg to blow him a kiss. They clinched up and Trigg scored an unintentional knee to Hughes’ groin. The referee missed the illegal blow and Trigg pounced, nearly knocking Hughes out before mounting him, then taking his back and sinking in the same rear naked choke that Hughes had submitted Trigg with in their first fight. Hughes somehow muscled his way out of the choke, picked Trigg up on his shoulder, ran the entire way across the Octagon and slammed him hard into the mat. From there Hughes rained down punches and elbows that bloodied Trigg up. Hughes continued to punish Trigg from on top before Trigg gave up his back. Hughes again looked for the rear naked choke and after a brief struggle forced Trigg to submit.

3- Chuck Liddell unanimous decision Wanderlei Silva (UFC 79)
While this is my all-time favourite MMA fight, I do believe there are two better fights in the UFC, but this is the one I enjoyed watching the most. It was a battle between long time PRIDE 205lb champion Wanderlei Silva and long time UFC 205lb champion Chuck Liddell but it wasn’t for the belts, it ended up coming at a time when both men were on the back of two fight losing streaks. Accurately described by Joe Rogan as ‘two dogs who have been looking through the cage at each other for a long time’ these two let loose with some of the hardest strikes ever traded inside a cage. Both men circled for much of the opening round letting everyone elses anticipations of the slugfest that was about to be delivered boil over. Then just at the time when people might have thought the fight wasn’t going to live up to expectations, they began exchanging. The shots were wild and they were hard nd they were trading almost evenly, but Liddell was landing the harder blows. Wanderlei continued to stand in the pocket though and Liddell even started walking him down but everytime he landed his home run strike, Wanderlei returned fire and they traded bombs. Liddell won the first round and Wanderlei won the 2nd and the fight was up for grabs in the third round. Liddell surprisingly opened with a takedown but Wanderlei quickly escaped to his feet. Midway through the round (which was full of further exchanges) Liddell rocked Wanderlei with a spinning backfist and looked to finish. With Wanderlei pinned up against the cage, Liddell unleashed a barrage that had dropped men like Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz, but Wanderlei wouldn’t go down. Wanderlei lasted the third round and even landed some good shots later in the round, but the decision was Liddell’s. The only thing that could have made this fight better would be had they fought over five rounds for the UFC and PRIDE belts. It was almost a shame that they had to stop as both of them looked like they would fight like that all night.

2- Roger Huerta submission (3rd) Clay Guida (TUF6 Finale)
This was the crazy super fast lightweight battle. Clay Guida took on UFC poster boy Roger Huerta who was looking for a win to legitimise the hype around him. Guida had the advantage with his wrestling, but Huerta was the better striker and probably had the better submission game. Guida dominated early with his wrestling and was outworking Huerta on the mat in typical Guida fashion. In the 2nd round Guida rocked Huerta with an uppercut after a scramble and looked to be taking over. After losing the first two rounds, Huerta came out with a psychotic look on his face and went straight to work on Guida, rocking him with a knee. Guida shot in, but Huerta stuffed it and continued to punish him. Guida again shot in and Huerta took his back in a scramble, and began looking for the finish that he needed to win this fight. After sinking in the choke, Guida eventually tapped out and gave Huerta the victory. It was a spectacular comeback and finish from Huerta, who will unfortunately probably have his last fight in the UFC against Gray Maynard in September.

1- Forrest Griffin unanimous decision Stephan Bonnar (TUF1 Finale)
Seriously, have you seen a better slugfest before? This fight made the UFC into what it was today with the mainstream appeal it gave the sport. On non PPV TV, these two waged an incredible war that saw them trade repeated blows for a breathtaking 15 minutes. Back then it was hard for MMA fighters to make a proper living off just fighting and both of these guys needed that six figure contract to be able to keep on fighting professionally and they fought like it. Griffin got the better of the first round, landing the cleaner shots and rocking Bonnar once or twice. The fight briefly hit the mat in the first with Griffin using his underrated Jiu Jitsu game to nearly submit Bonnar with an arm bar. In the 2nd round Griffin gassed and Bonnar began landing heavy shots, one of which broke Griffin’s nose. It looked like the fight could be stopped because of a cut on Griffin’s nose, but the doctor allowed the fight to continue and the final round and a half saw both men leave the little they had left plus a lot more in the cage. It was a bar room brawl inside a cage on National TV and the crowd and TV audience were eating it up. Griffin took a razor thin unanimous decision, but the fight was so entertaining that Dana White declared  there was ‘no loser’ and gave Bonnar the same contract Griffin got. Bonnar unfortunately was thrown into several hard fights against the likes of James Irvin, Keith Jardine and Rashad Evans on Fight Night cards while Griffin was built up on a steady diet of fringe contenders before they were ready to gamble with him. It’s funny to think how such a close decision that could have gone either way could have changed the course of the careers of both men. It could have been interesting to see where both men would be now had Bonnar got the decision, just food for thought…..

See Also:

Part 4 (11-20)

Part 3 (21-30)

Part 2 (31-40)

Part 1 (41-50)

Couture vs Nogueira on Aug 29 at UFC 102

The UFC has officially announced it’s main card for the August UFC 102 card in Portland, Oregon and the main event will indeed feature the ‘losers’ bracket of the mini heavyweight tournament with former three time UFC Heavyweight champion Randy Couture set to face former PRIDE Heavyweight champion and former UFC interim Heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. The fight is one for MMA’s long time fans as both Nogueira and Couture held the PRIDE and UFC titles at the same time back in 2001/2002 before Couture was beaten by Barnett and Nogueira lost his title to Fedor. The fight could give us the next challenger for the division, but then again with contenders like Velasquez and Carwin emerging it may not. Also, with the chances of Lesnar beating Mir we could get the rubber match before we see anyone else challenge for the title.

The co main event is a shocker to me. I thought with the lack of names at 185lbs that the Demian Maia vs Nate Marquadt fight was a certain for co-main event but it was beaten out by Thiago Silva vs Keith Jardine. Really, what does that fight do for the 205lb division? Maia vs Marquadt gives us the next top contender in the division and if Maia wins it as easy as he’s won some of his other fights then all of a sudden there’s a serious threat to Anderson Silva but not a marketable one. If Maia is featured on a countdown show in length, then if he gets the chance to fight for the title his fight is that much easier to market. Regurgitating Keith Jardine and Thiago Silva when they should take their rightful place lower on the card makes little sense.

The Full main card:

Randy Couture vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Keith Jardine vs Thiago Silva
Demian Maia vs Nate Marquadt
Matt Hamill vs Brandon Vera
Chris Leben vs Jake Rosholt

UFC 100: Lesnar vs Mir II announced

Over the last few days the UFC has officially announced the UFC 100 card that’s had everyone talking and it’s as good as people are expecting. While there’s one or two fights that are yet to be confirmed, every fight on the main card has major implications for the division that it’s in and some of the preliminaries would easily be main card fights on a different card. The main two fights on the card see probably the two most anticipated championship fights of the year in the UFC. The card, ‘UFC 100: Lesnar vs Mir 2′ takes place July 11th in Las Vegas.

Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will make the first defence of the title he took from Randy Couture last November against UFC interim champion Frank Mir. The fight is a rematch of Lesnar’s UFC debut at UFC 81 last year in which Lesnar started fast and landed some hard shots to Mir’s face on the ground before being caught in a kneebar from the former UFC champion. Mir was then locked in to fight interim champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira while Randy Couture was fighting the UFC in court with the two coaching on the 8th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Then with Couture’s comeback and the two coaches already set to do battle, Lesnar off the back of his domination over Heath Herring got first crack at Couture and took the title. Mir then dramatically became the first man to finish Nogueira with a 2nd round knockout leading to the mega fight. (There is that man from Russia named Fedor Emelianenko who would probably beat both guys on the same night, but I won’t mention him as this is a UFC post and it wouldn’t be appropriate now would it?)

The co main event is arguably the most anticipated fight of the year now that St Pierre vs Penn is out of the way. Thiago Alves last year ran through Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck to make himself the clearest contender for St Pierre’s title that he won back from Matt Serra last April. St Pierre has defended the championship twice now with a decision win over Jon Fitch and a 4th round TKO of BJ Penn. It’s always interesting when you get a contender who has proven himself to be head and shoulders above the rest of the division up against an outstanding champion. You’ve had fights like Hughes-Trigg II, Hughes-St Pierre II, Couture vs Liddell (any fight) and if you want to talk PRIDE there’s Nogueira vs Fedor, Fedor vs Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva vs Rampage II. In all of those fights the contender for the belt had dominated all of the other contenders in the past to make themselves the clearest possible challenger for the title and all of those fights were memorable.

Also on the main card you have TUF 9 coaches Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson doing battle for what will probably be a shot at UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Then there’s another Middleweight matchup between two of the top contenders in the division with new signing Yoshihiro Akiyama who has wins over the likes of Denis Kang and Melvin Manhoef taking on Alan Belcher. The main card is likely to be filled out with the Paulo Thiago-Jon Fitch Welterweight scrap but there’s also UFC Hall of Famer Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman (I’m sorry, everytime I go to write his name I think of the way Mauro Rinallo used to always announce him as ‘Mark The Hammer Coleman’ and it just ends up typing itself) fighting Stephan Bonnar and Jim Miller vs Mac Danzig that could take the last spot on the main card. Check the MMA schedule link at the top of the page for the full card.

2008 Angry Fight Fan MMA Awards

These are also late, but even more then boxing these had to be left until the new year so all the events could be done and everything taken into consideration. As it turns out, a few of the last few events of the year won some awards.

Fight of the Year- Eddie Alvarez TKO 1 (7:35) Tatsuya Kawajiri (DREAM.5)
This fight took place in the semi finals of the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix and a cut suffered by Alvarez in winning this fight left him unable to continue in the tournament marking the way for alternate Joachim Hansen, the man Alvarez beat in the Quarter Finals, to fight in and win the Final against Shinya Aoki. Both fighters traded heavy shots on their feet throughout the fight and both fighters were knocked down. Alvarez dropped Kawajiri with a left hook-right cross about three minutes in but he used good survival skills to get himself out of trouble. After the doctors ruled Alvarez’s cut was okay to continue, Kawajiri dropped him heavily with a right hand and then passed his guard and mounted him. Alvarez escaped the mount and got back to his feet where both guys traded heavy shots and hurt each other more then once. Alvarez then pinned Kawajiri against the ropes and dropped him again, took his back and finished him with heavy strikes to the head. I picked this fight over some of the other ones on the list because it was fast paced for the full distance of the fight unlike some of the other candidates this year and because the whole way through the fight you had no idea who was going to win. If you haven’t seen the fight, here it is:

Honourable Mentions- Miguel Torres TKO3 Yoshiro Maeda (WEC 34), Forrest Griffin UD5 Rampage Jackson (UFC 86), Eddie Alvarez UD (15 mins) Joachim Hansen (DREAM.3).

Fighter of the Year- Gegard Mousasi
This might come as a strange pick to some people, but the big factor in this pick was that he went 6-0 this year (plus his victory under K-1 rules against MUSASHI) and four of those wins were against decent opposition in winning the DREAM Middleweight Tournament. After winning two fights early in the year (one over PRIDE veteran Evangelista Cyborg), Mousasi entered the Grand Prix as one of the dark horses. Matched up against PRIDE 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix Runner-up Denis Kang in the first round of the tournament, Mousasi’s triangle choke victory came as a big upset to most people. A workman-like decision win over Dong Sik Yoon in the Quarter Finals earned him his spot in the Final Event where he had to face Melvin Manhoef in the Semi Finals, and then fight again on the same night to win the title. Most were expecting a Manhoef-Ronaldo Jacare final, but Mousasi had other ideas, scoring a victory again via triangle choke in 88 seconds over the feared striker. Facing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert Jacare in the Final, Mousasi ended up on his back early, but at the 2:15 mark of the first round a dramatic upkick followed up by punches with Jacare in his guard left his Brazilian opponent unconscious and made Gegard Mousasi the new DREAM Middleweight Champion. Some of the other fighters (particularily in the UFC) scored bigger wins this year, but all of them fought only twice this year and you can question the level of some of their wins. While some of Mousasi’s opponents certainly wouldn’t make it in the UFC, going 6-0 against that sort of competition is very impressive stuff. I definately don’t think he’d beat Anderson Silva or anything like that so save your time from writing some idiotic comment saying Silva would crush him or whatever because that’s not what this is about. It’s about which fighter accomplished the most in the calendar year and it was in my opinion Gegard Mousasi.
Honourable Mentions- Frank Mir, Rashad Evans, Georges St Pierre.

Knockout of the Year- Rampage Jackson KO1 (left hook) Wanderlei Silva (UFC 92)
This knockout just edged out Rashad Evans knocking out Chuck Liddell. I almost made it a tie, but then I measured my closet and realised I wasn’t big enough to fit into it so I could come out of it after making it a tie and acted like a man and made the pick. I think the deciding factor was the importance of the knockout for Rampage in this fight after avenging two brutal KO losses to Silva from their PRIDE days with an equally if not more devastating KO win himself. I would put a clip of the KO up, but ZUFFA are pricks about this sort of thing and don’t allow any of their fights to be on youtube so I’ll have to describe it. Wanderlei attacked Rampage while he was near the fence and threw a left hook-right hook combo. Rampage countered the left hook with a tighter one of his own and caught Wanderlei square on the jaw with his own hook putting him out cold right away while he was in the middle of throwing his own shot. Rampage then followed it up with two or three shots while Wanderlei was out. Both Rampage and Rashad will likely fight for the belt later this year and hopefully we’ll see another KO of the year candidate (and hopefully it’s Rashad who is on the receiving end).
Honourable Mentions- Rashad Evans KO2 (overhand right) Chuck Liddell (UFC 88), Wanderlei Silva KO1 (rape choke + right hands from mount) Keith Jardine (UFC 84), Anthony Johnson KO3 (left high kick) Kevin Burns (TUF8 Finale).

Submission of the Year- Shinya Aoki Sub1 (5:12)(Aokiplata/Gogoplata from mount) Katsuhiko Nagata (DREAM.4)
I watched this about 50 times in a row after I saw it. It was so cool it has to be given it’s own name and I will from now on refer to this as the Aokiplata no matter how much my friend who has done Jiu Jitsu longer then me tells me that the gogoplata was originally done from the mount before the guard and that the one he did on Hansen should therefore be the Aokiplata because I think he’s wrong. Anyway, unlike KO of the year, I have a clip, so I’ll shut up and you can enjoy:

Honourable Mentions- Dustin Hazelett Sub2 (Flying Armbar from Whizzer) Josh Burkman (TUF7 Finale), Dustin Hazelett Sub1 (Cutting Armbar against his own leg) Tamdan McCrory, Demian Maia Sub2 (Triangle Choke from Mount + Punches) Ed Herman (UFC 83).

Event of the Year- UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 (December 27th)

The UFC stacked their last show and it proved to be the best event of the year. On the card we had two title fights between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir for the UFC interim Heavyweight title and Rashad Evans challenging Forrest Griffin for the UFC Light Heavyweight title in the main event. Also on the card was a fight featuring one of the best grudges in MMA between Rampage Jackson and Wanderlei Silva; one that has been around for more then five years since before their first bout at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003. Thw two other fights that filled up the main card saw an excellent knockout by Cheick Kongo over Mustafa Al Turk as well as a great Middleweight battle between CB Dollaway and Mike Massenzio. The UFC put six of it’s top starts against each other in fights that had plenty of impact on their respective divisions as well as plenty of impact in future fights that can be made. This card had great matchups that turned into great fights, upsets plus some great finishes and you really can’t ask for anything more (other then the odd submission).
Honourable Mentions- Affliction: Banned, UFC 81: Breaking Point, UFC 84: Ill Will.

Performance of the Year- Fedor Emelianenko Sub1 (36 seconds) Tim Sylvia (Affliction: Banned)
There was a lot of hype around Fedor’s return to US soil and him fighting his (apparent) first ‘real’ opponent in former Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia. Plenty of people thought that Fedor was all hype and no skill and the new promotion he represented, Affliction, depended on him to prove them wrong in order to succeed. That he did. After a brief feeling out process off about 10 seconds, Fedor dropped Sylvia with a series of big punches, battered him on the ground with even heavier punches, took his back and made him tap with a rear naked choke. It was easily the most you could dominate someone in just 36 seconds. Anyone who wasn’t impressed by Fedor in this fight is an idiot and I really don’t care what anyone has to say about it. Fact of the matter is he’s the best Heavyweight in the World until someone beats him. Guess what, I found a clip of it as well:

Honourable Mentions- Anderson Silva Sub2 Dan Henderson (UFC 81), Frank Mir TKO2 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 92), Georges St Pierre TKO2 Matt Serra (UFC 83).

Upset of the Year- Mike Brown TKO1 Urijah Faber (WEC 36)
Faber was easily the top Featherweight in the World and was considered miles ahead of anyone else. He was a top pound for pound fighter as well and no one expected him to lose anytime soon. Mike Brown was a former UFC competitor (he had one fight and got tapped out by Genki Sudo) who had only lost to top fighters and usually fought at Lightweight. While a respectable fighter no one really thought he standed much of a chance with Faber. Two minutes 23 seconds later he had caught Faber with a big right hand as Faber attempted a spinning elbow and rained down punches until the referee pulled him off. I didn’t even bother watching this fight until I saw the result (plus I would have had a hard time finding it online because they broadcast fuckall down under in terms of MMA) because I thought this would be business as usual for Faber. None of the other upsets this year come close to that one.

Honourable Mentions- Junior dos Santos KO1 Fabricio Werdum (UFC 90), Rashad Evans KO2 (UFC 88), Frank Mir TKO2 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 92).

Before I get onto some of the lesser more comical awards, I’m going to explain my lack of a round of the year award. I prefer the Japanese 1 10 min/1-2 5 min rounds because I think MMA is a sport that doesn’t need rounds. It’s a proper fight and while I don’t care about having rounds as much as I care about say stand-ups and while I understand that they allow more fights to get sanctioned and make some fights more exciting, I still prefer the fighters to go for as long as they can for a round or two then a couple of shorter rounds at the end so I will not include a round of the year. If I did have one I’d give it to Alvarez-Kawajiri because it ended in the first round even though that round was 10 minutes long.

Now, seeing how MMA isn’t as old as boxing, these are all going to be completely new and made up awards named after whoever wins them as I go remembering some of the funnier moments of the year.

Shonie Carter Award for Best Referee Stoppage/- Shonie Carter (Tyler Bryan vs Shaun Parker)
Bryan/Parker Award for Double KO of the Year- Tyler Bryan vs Shaun Parker
And here it is:

Just a prior warning, the next few awards go to EliteXC for their ‘Heat’ show, so make sure you have a bucket handy.

Shamrock/Kimbo Award for Most Entertaining Weigh-in of the Year- EliteXC: Heat
This weigh-in had two big feuds that almost flared up as well as some nudity from someone not quite as ugly as Kimbo Slice. Undercard attraction and probably the most well known female MMA fighter Gina Carano failed to make weight for like the 4th time in her MMA career but instead of letting it go like what has happened in the past, EliteXC officials made her strip all the way to see if the limited clothing she was wearing accounted for extra weight that she was over. Somehow it did. About four towels covered Carano (and from what I read on a few message boards the wet dreams of many fight fans) that were being held up by her handlers and a very embarrassed Carano made the contracted weight for her fight with Kelly Kobald. After the Arlovski-Nelson weigh in went off without any problems, EliteEX Welterweight Championship competitors Paul Daley and Jake Shields had to be seperated after Shields blew Daley a kiss during the staredown. The main event for this fight was between UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock and Youtube star Kimbo Slice (well at that stage it was) and going with his usual style, Shamrock decided to start some shit before the fight. While posing for the media in attention, Shamrock for absolutely no logical reason (Shamrock thinking he’s been disrespected isn’t a logical reason) pushed Slice in the back and caused the second near brawl of the weigh-in. This one took a lot longer to calm down though as both fighters had bigger entourages then Daley and Shields. Unfortunately, the actual card was no where near as entertaining as the weigh-in.

Jared Shaw Award for Worst Matchmaking of the Year- Kimbo Slice vs Seth Petruzelli (EliteXC: Heat)
Kimbo Slice Award for Most Pathetic Knockout of the Year- Seth Petruzelli KO1 (14 seconds) Kimbo Slice (EliteXC: Heat)
Ken Shamrock somehow got himself cut warming-up for the fight and EliteXC needed someone to step in and fight Kimbo Slice in their main event. After an offer from commentator Frank Shamrock was turned down because Shamrock, despite being 50lbs lighter then Kimbo, has some serious skills and would likely have beaten Kimbo anywhere the fight went and EliteXC couldn’t risk their main drawcard getting beaten by a Middleweight. Instead Jared Shaw came up with former TUF2 competitor Seth Petruzelli who was fighting in a Light Heavyweight bout on the preliminary card. Petruzelli was an unorthodox but fairly handy striker who also had some wrestling ability and Shaw tried to make sure it was his striking skills that he would be using against their apparent ‘top 10 Heavyweight boxer in the World’ by asking that Petruzelli stand with Kimbo. What Shaw didn’t know is that there is a difference in levels of striking between your good street fighters and your trained fighters. It took only 14 seconds for him to be wishing that he picked Frank Shamrock. Kimbo rushed across the cage in his usual fashion and backed Petruzelli against the fence. Petruzelli flicked out a jab while off balance and to his and everyone else’s surprised it dropped Kimbo onto all fours. Petruzelli pounced and landed several shots while on Kimbos back, then rolled him over and landed a barrage from, side control that forced the referee to stop the fight at just 0:14 of the first round.

Bob Sapp Award for Biggest Mismatch of the Year- Jan Nortje vs Bob Sapp (Strikeforce: At the Dome)
Some people might be surprised that I picked this fight over the Kinniku Mantaro fight against Sapp at the end of the year. Well the answer is obvious, that fight was competitive, this fight wasn’t. Jan Nortje was receiving a lot of hype for his 1-5 record that earned him a spot in the Strikeforce main event. They brought in monster of a man Bob Sapp to fight him because that wanted to see what happens when Nortje picks on someone his own size. The fight ended quickly after Nortje landed several hard blows that forced Sapp to run away, then chased him down and finished the job 55 seconds into the first round. It truly was a mismatch and the matchmakers at Strikeforce deserve an enquiry much more then EliteXC officials for bringing in someone as poor as Bob Sapp to fight a stud like Jan Nortje.

YAMMA Award for Worst MMA Show of the Year (maybe ever)- YAMMA Pit Fighting
Seriously this was just horrendous. The creators of the UFC tried to bring back eight man-one night tournaments and make MMA ‘more exciting.’ The tournaments were impossible to do like they used to be done, so they had to compromise. Because fighters could only fight five rounds a night, the first and second rounds of the tournament would be one round of fighting each with the Final fight being three rounds. YAMMA also had a ‘revolutionary’ new fighting surface in which the area of the mat around the edge of the fence would go up on an angle so that the wrestlers couldn’t just pin you up against the cage and drop elbows on your head. Basically YAMMA wanted their organisation to be striker friendly. Instead, the wrestlers backed their opponents onto the ‘ramp’ then took them down with ease because they were off balance and because the fights were only one five minute round, the fight was over right there and then. The tournament consisted of every match being won by lay and prey (including the three round final). The only slightly entertaining part of this event was the super fights between Butterbean and Patrick Smith (mainly because Butterbean got royally fucked up) and Oleg Taktarov vs the man who ate Mark Kerr (Taktarov won by kneebar about one minute in). The event was bad from the fights to the Ring Announcer, who was so bad I’ve named an Award after him.

Scott Ferrall Award for Worst Ring Announcer of the Year- Scott Ferrall (YAMMA Pit Fighting)
Scott Ferrall was funny but I wasn’t laughing with him. The guy was way too weird to be allowed to have his thoughts expressed on a microphone. He first announced referee Dan Miragliotta as “Big Dan Miragliotta STOMP YOU OUT!” and then “Big Dan the Man, How can I be the man if you’re the man, Dan Miragliotta (to which Dan shook his head in disgust).  Pulled off a terribly lame call in “Travis ‘The Diesel’ Gimme a room with a Wiuff.” One fighter he said “hadn’t eaten in a week because he’s going to the electric chair.” Referred to the YAMMA Championship belt as ‘the strap-on’ and probably the weirdest call he made was “Kevin Mulhall will be the referee for this beautiful matchup of warriors and freaks ready to pound and dance…”

Gone but not Forgotten
It’s sad that I have to do one of these for MMA. Boxing has been around for over 100 years and past champions are going to pass away each year and I feel it’s important to remember them. MMA on the other hand has been around for just 15 years and this year my favourite fighter, Evan Tanner, passed away way earlier then he should have.

Evan Tanner- Former UFC Middleweight Champion. Challenged Tito Ortiz for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title at UFC 30 but lost. Defeated Dave Terrell for the UFC Middleweight title at UFC 51 and won with strikes in the first round. Lost the title to Rich Franklin on a doctors stoppage in his first defence at UFC 53. None of this was why I liked Evan Tanner. He kept a blog on his website which I read for over a year about everything that went on in his life, including all his adventures and even his battle with alcohol which he beat in order to return to the UFC this year. I admired not so much the way the man led his life but the way he was completely honest with himself about who he was and who he wasn’t. He died in September of this year from heat exposure after his motorbike broke down in the desert and he ran out of water. He was 37.

Evan Tanner (1971-2008)

Evans, Mir, Rampage score KOs at UFC 92

Evans pounds out Griffin in three
In what was the best fight of the night, undefeated winner of season two of The Ultimate Fighter Rashad Evans won the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship with a third round technical knockout over Season one winner Forrest Griffin. The win marks the third man to hold the Light Heavyweight belt this year, with Griffin taking it from Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson at UFC 86 before losing it in his first defence yesterday.
Both fighters started the first round of the fight slowly with Griffin landing more shots compared to Evans solid but infrequent bombs. The second round saw some furious exchanges with both guys looking hurt at different points in the fight. Evans ate a left hook early in the round which prompted Griffin to open up and chase Evans across the Octagon raining down blows. Evans retaliated by tauning Griffin then countering with a left hook. Later in the round Evans landed a series of bombs on Griffin that looked like they hurt the champion but Griffin fired back. Griffin landed heavily with a right hand at the end of the round which cemented the round for him on my card.
In the third round the fight finally hit the deck after Griffin slipped and Evans was quick to pounce, landing some hard shots from inside the champions guard. Griffin entually got wrist control but couldn’t control the challengers posture which made his submission attempts near impossible. Griffin tried a kimura from his back but Evans never let him get close. A triangle choke attempt from Griffin saw Evans briefly pass his guard and land some shots although Forrest was quick to get back to full guard. Evans finally got the opening he was after and landed a thunderous right hand from the guard which dazed Griffin. Numerous follow-up shots with first the right hand and eventually both hands had Griffin seriously hurt. Steve Mazzaghatti finally stepped in and halted the bout after what looked like Griffin tapped (although he claimed in the post fight interview that he didn’t and was just flailing from the punches) and crowned Evans the new champion at 2:46 of the third round.

Mir becomes first man to stop Nogueira
Fedor Emelianenko couldn’t do it. Josh Barnett couldn’t do it. Mirko Cro Cop couldn’t do it and either could Tim Sylvia or Heath Herring. But Jiu Jitsu stylist Frank Mir became the first man to stop Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with strikes in the second round of their five round clash for the Interim UFC Heavyweight title. The win sets up a rematch for the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship with Brock Lesnar, a rematch from a great fight earlier in the year which Mir won by kneebar in 90 seconds after taking heavy punishment for at least 60 of those seconds.
Right from the start Mir dominated the fight with his stand-up against the sluggish looking Nogueira. Landing with crisp combinations usually consisting of  right uppercut from his southpaw stance, Mir constantly kept Nogueira off balance and forced him back when he tried for a clinch. After a brief battle on the ground courtesy of a Mir takedown, Mir then dropped Nogueira with a combination and looked to finish on the ground. Nogueira showed his usual composure when hurt which has seen him score famous come from behind victories over the likes of Mirko Cro Cop and Bob Sapp and saw off Mirs attack before Mir took the fight back to the feet. Standing up, Mir continued to get off first with crisp combinations while Nogueira failed to pull the trigger on anything before Mir again dropped Nogueira at the end of the round.
Nothing changed in the second round with Mir again easily outboxing the former PRIDE Heavyweight champion and landing with clean, crisp combinations. Mir then dropped Nogueira for the third time of the night with punches but this time was able to follow up and force referee Herb Dean to step in and rescue Nogueira for the first time in his 38 fight career. An emotional Mir thanked his team and his family for helping him to get back to where he was after his horrific motorcycle accident in 2004 which cost him the UFC Heavyweight title last time he held it.

Rampage scores sweet knockout over bitter rival Wanderlei Silva
Former UFC Light Heavyweight champion made his comeback fight a successful one, avenging two previous knockout losses against Wanderlei Silva with a one punch left hook knockout at 3:21 of the first round. Silva had twice knocked Rampage out in fights for the PRIDE Middleweight (205lbs) title (one was the final of the 2003 Grand Prix) but lost his fourth fight in his last five appearances, his third by knockout. For Rampage, the win likely sets up another shot at the UFC crown he lost to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86 earlier this year.
Both fighters came out striking with Rampage looking the quicker early on. After eating two shots from Silva, Rampage attempted to take the fight to the ground but ate a knee for his trouble. Silva appeared to be getting set, landing a few vicious leg kicks to Rampage’s left thigh. Rampage though kept his cool and after en exchange of punches near the fence, Rampage countered a Silva left hook with one of his own that landed flush on the jaw and put the former PRIDE Middleweight champion down and out cold. Three follow up shots from Rampage left Silva unconscious for around three minutes before he woke up.

Other Results
CB Dollaway TKO1 (strikes from back mount) Mike Massenzio
Cheick Kongo TKO1 (strikes) Mustafa Al Turk
Yushin Okami UD3 Dean Lister
Matt Hammill TKO2 (strikes) Reese Andy
Brad Blackburn UD3 Ryo Chonan
Patt Berry TKO1 (leg kicks) Dan Evenson

UFC 92 Predictions

UFC 92 takes place this weekend with the annual years end card that the UFC seems to stack every year. This year is no exception with two title fights and a fight between a former UFC champion and a former PRIDE champion. In the main event, UFC Light Heavyweight champion makes the first defence of the title he won from Rampage Jackson in July against Rashad Evans. In the first co main event, TUF 8 coaches Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira collide for Nogueira’s interim UFC Heavyweight title. In the other co main event, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson returns to face former nemesis Wanderlei Silva.

The UFC seems to be copying the PRIDE thing of having a special name for their end of year show. This years end of year event is being called ‘The Ultimate 2008′ although we’ll have to wait until next year to find out whether or not they keep this up. This card is seriously stacked with some good fights. I honestly didn’t know who else was on this card apart from one other fight until I checked out the website to write this article up. I would say that if they didn’t show any other fights apart from the main three it would be well worth the money even still but the two title fights have the potential to be a bit boring and there’s some good matchups on the undercard. I’m just hoping their isn’t a repeat of UFC 33 where they ran out of time on the pay per view because the three title fights on the card ended up all going the distance. Anway, onto the fights:

Main Card
Forrest Griffin vs Rashad Evans
(UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Prediction- Griffin on points
The big advantage Griffin will have in this fight is size. He’s a monster at 205lbs whereas Evans looks like a middleweight in there. Griffin’s high work rate will also be a big advantage over the sometimes lacklustre and lazy Evans but I really wouldn’t be surprised if Evans catches Griffin in this fight and knocks him out. That’s about the only way I see him winning this fight though. Griffin’s hands are very suspect and he rarely steps in with his punches. That’s not to say that his stand-up is bad because he has excellent knees in the clinch and his kicks (especially his low kicks) are very good but he boxes with his head straight up and doesn’t commit to his punches like Rashad does. If Rashad gets Griffin to the ground I doubt he’ll do much damage as Griffin was able to successfully tie Rampage up and keep him from doing damage. Griffin to outwork Rashad in a bit of a snoozer I’m afraid. I just have to say that it’s strange thinking that these two will fight for the right to call themselves the best Light Heavyweight in the world, especially when Rampage takes on Wanderlei Silva on the same card.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Frank Mir
(Interim UFC Heavyweight title)
Prediction- Nogueira by third round stoppage
This is fight also has the potential to be a snoozer I think. If Nogueira decides he wants to box Mir and not risk going to the ground we could very well have a repeat of Nogueira-Werdum, although I think thats unlikely because Mir is willing to duke it out if he can’t get to the ground. That’s where I think Nogueira will knock Mir out in this fight. Nogueira has excellent technique with his hands and as Mir gasses in the late rounds he should score more and more frequently, busting Mir’s face up and likely finishing him with strikes from on top. Mir will be very dangerous early especially if he gets on top in the first round. Nogueira has been submitted in submission wrestling in the past by lesser grapplers then Mir. I was almost tempted to pick Mir in the first round by leg lock but it’s hard to go past Nogueira with his big advantage in fitness. Mir rarely looks good after the first round.

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva
Prediction- Silva by first round knockout
I’m expecting knockout of the night to come in this fight regardless of whatever else takes place. If anyone here has seen the other two fights between the two they were both slugfests with Wanderlei surviving an onslaught on the ground early from Rampage before taking his head off with knees from the muay thai clinch late in the fight. There are two things that will give Rampage an advantage in this fight that didn’t happen in PRIDE. First is that these will be five minute rounds with Rampage having to stay busy for less time in order for the fight not to be stood back up like what happened in the two previous fights. Second, this time they are in a cage and not in a ring which will suit Rampage again if they hit the ground as he’ll be able to pin Wanderlei up against the cage. Still, I’m not convinced that Rampage can deal with the Chute Boxe style yet that Wanderlei is a master of and also I’m not sure that Rampage will be on top form with his recent switch of teams and personal problems. I think Wanderlei will walk through him in about two-three minutes with a brutal knockout that should set him up with a title shot early next year.

CB Dollaway vs Mike Massenzio
Prediction- Dollaway by first round submission
Massenzio is a wrestler by background although he is more that that now. Dollaway is a much better wrestler who will likely put Massenzio on his back and finish him quickly. Hopefully the fight goes to the ground one way or the other because watching CB Dollaway stand-up and outbox someone is pretty painful to think about.

Cheick Kongo vs Mustafa Al-Turk
Prediction- Kongo by first round knockout
Al-Turk holds a submission win (by strikes) over the man who ate Mark Kerr in Cage Rage a few years ago and thats about his only claim to fame. He could get Kongo on his back because Kongo’s takedown defence still sucks, but I think Kongo will decapitate him with a knee early on and give Wanderlei a good run for his money when it comes to knock out of the night.

Preliminary Card
Dean Lister vs Yushin Okami
Prediction- Okami on points
This fight not appearing on the main card is the best decision UFC matchmakers have ever made. This fight will go like this. Lister will throw some really bad strikes and hope for a takedown but he’ll miss and Okami will counter him with just enough to win every round comfortably on points. If they show this card on the main card it’ll be because Lister got the takedown he wanted and scored a submission or because Lister got caught coming in and knocked out.

Antoni Hardonk vs Mike Wessel
Prediction- Hardonk by first round knockout
I don’t know anything about Wessel other then he’s short for a heavyweight and heavy for his height. If he is a wrestler he’ll probably win on points because Hardonk has no ground game. But I think Hardonk will have way too much firepower and end this one early.

Matt Hammill vs Reese Andy
Prediction- Hammill by second round stoppage
Both guys come from wrestling backgrounds but Hammill’s wrestling is by far the better. He’ll put Andy where he doesn’t want to be and punch with his right hand until the referee has seen enough. If anyone has taught him how to punch with his left hand it’ll likely end in the first round.

Brad Blackburn vs Ryo Chonan
Prediction- Blackburn on points
This could be a very entertaining fight. Both men have fought some good fighters over the years with mixed results, however I think Blackburns recent form suggests that he’ll come out victorious by split decision in a fight that should be good to watch wherever it ends up.

Patrick Barry vs Dan Evenson
Prediction- Barry by first round knockout
Seriously, why is Evenson getting another fight? Barry is an Ernesto Hoost trained K-1 veteran who is going to chop the apparent ‘Norwegian Kickboxing Champion’ down in probably a minute or two.

Merry Christmas to all those who read this site.