http://www.mmamania.com/2011/12/19/2647068/best-of-2011-fight-of-the-year-ufc-mma Was Shogun Rua vs. Dan Henderson at UFC 139 the best fight of 2011? Photo via
UFC.com What were the best fights of 2011 in
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and mixed martial arts (MMA) overall?
Yep, it’s the most wonderful time of the year: that time when you sit
back on the couch, spike the eggnog and argue with your friends (or
frienemies) about the most awesome fights that took place over the past
12 months.
Continuing this grand tradition,
MMAmania.com will spend this week looking back at a phenomenal year of combat sports
action and, in traditional fan fashion, determine which among the
wildly diverse candidates was, definitively, the best.
Join us after the jump for a look at our candidates for 2011's "Fight of the Year" and cast your vote to determine the winner:
Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 2, UFC 125Photo via ESPN.comDespite his commanding win over
B.J. Penn back at UFC 118, Frankie Edgar’s prospects looked grim as he stepped
into the Octagon to defend his title against the only man to ever defeat
him: Gray Maynard. The first five minutes of the rematch proved even
more disastrous than anticipated, with "The Answer" catching a hard left
hook to the jaw and spending the remainder of the round flitting in and
out of consciousness, while "The Bully" threw everything short of the
kitchen sink at his head. Miraculously, Edgar roared back in the second
round, slamming Maynard hard and kicking off four excellent rounds of
back-and-forth action. In the end, the bout was declared a draw, setting
the stage for a third go-round later in the year and one of the
greatest trilogies in MMA history.
Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann, UFC Live: Sanchez vs. KampmannPhoto via Yahoo! SportsAfter his horrendously one-sided massacre against B.J. Penn and subsequent drubbing at the hands of
John Hathaway, many had written off Sanchez as yesterday’s news. In his UFC 121 throwdown opposite
Paulo Thiago,
however, he proved he was far from done, and after shaving his head and
rechristening himself "The Dream," looked to re-establish himself as a
contender in the talent-laden 170 divsion. Kampmann, fresh off a
frustrating split decision loss to
Jake Shields,
had no intention of being a stepping stone, however, battering Sanchez
in the first round of their bout. The fight quickly devolved into a
hellacious brawl, both men scrapping their hearts out until a bloodied,
unrecognizable Sanchez took the unanimous decision and both men took
home a well-deserved bonus.
Daniel Straus vs. Nazareno Malegarie, Bellator 37Photo via Sherdog.comEver since
Toby Imada defied the odds, logic and basic human anatomy to choke out
Jorge Masvidal,
Bellator Fighting Championships has gotten a reputation for producing some of the most spectacular
moments in MMA, often from the last places you’d expect. This
lightweight throwdown in March was no different, as undefeated
Argentinian
Nazareno Malegarie took on American wrestler
Daniel Straus, who survived an onslaught of submission attempts to take a unanimous decision after three rounds of highly-competitive action.
Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley, Strikeforce: "Diaz vs. Daley"Photo via MMAconvert.comNeither Diaz nor Daley is known for putting on
boring fights, but nobody could have anticipated the insanity that this
match up would produce. Both men came out like a house on fire, with
Diaz coming the closest to being knocked out he had since his first
fight with Jeremy Jackson and Daley resorting to a takedown attempt
after being cracked by his smack-talking foe. In the end, the body
attack of Diaz was too much for Daley, and he laid into the turtling
British striker and knocked him out for the first time in his career in
the waning seconds of the first round. Quality and quantity all packed
into less than five minutes.
Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 3, UFC 136Photo via Yahoo! Sports
The third and final scrap between Edgar and Maynard
had quite a lot to live up to and did so with gusto. A huge Maynard
uppercut had Edgar on the ropes in the early going, leaving the champion
scrambling for a takedown, but unlike the last time, Frankie kept his
wits about him and, as soon as the bell rang for the second round,
immediately went to work. "The Bully" found himself unable to replicate
his early success, nor could he get Edgar to the ground, and
unfortunately for the beleaguered challenger. "The Answer" decided to
flip the script even further in the fourth round. The champion rocked
Maynard as the latter was getting to his feet, pursued him as he tried
to back away into the cage, and finally put his lights out with a hard
right hand, capping off an amazing trilogy and putting to rest
accusations that he was nothing but a point-fighter. Lightning truly did
strike twice.
Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler, Bellator 58Photo via Sherdog.comMany questioned the veracity of Bellator’s
marketing of Alvarez as the number one lightweight in the world, but one
would be hard-pressed to deny that he had a knack for producing some of
the most spectacular fights in the sport. His brawls with
Joachim Hansen and
Tatsuya Kawajiri are the stuff of legend, and his fight with Chandler proved no
different. The notoriously knockdown-prone Alvarez was rocked in the
early going by the latest tournament winner and, for a brief time, it
looked as if even his notorious resilience would finally fail him. In
the third round, however, he fired back, forcing Chandler against the
cage and brutalizing him with hard punching combinations. Unfortunately
for the long-reigning champion, Chandler would not be denied, and
crumpled Alvarez with punches before taking his back and securing the
rear-naked choke, pulling off a huge upset and providing a Hollywood
ending to a fantastic bout.
Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua, UFC 139Photo via UFC.comLater that same night (Nov. 19, 2011) as the Alvarez-Chandler barn burner, Pride FC veterans Dan Henderson and
Mauricio Rua,
not to be outdone, put on one hell of a show in their five-round
throwdown. For the first three rounds, it seemed like Rua was simply
unable to handle the colossal power of the reigning
Strikeforce champion, as he found himself crumpled on multiple occasions by
Henderson’s legendary right hand and was very nearly stopped in the
third round. Once they went into the championship rounds, however,
"Shogun" proved to have the heart of a champion, taking advantage of
Henderson’s emptying gas tank to put him on his back and lay down the
hurt from mount, although he found himself just too exhausted to put
Hendo away. In the end, Henderson walked away with a unanimous decision,
and both men proved themselves the toughest sons of guns this side of
the Mississippi.
Diego Brandao vs. Dennis Bermudez, The Ultimate Fighter 14 FinalePhoto via MMA Weekly
From his Henderson-esque pasting of
Jesse Newell in the elimination rounds to his nigh-instantaneous knockout of
Steven Siler on the show proper, Greg Jackson product
Diego Brandao proved himself one of the most exciting TUF products in recent memory,
combining huge power with a near-psychopathic drive to obliterate
everything in his path.
Dennis Bermudez, who had upset the highly-touted
Jimmie Rivera to get into the house, had no intention of becoming another piece of
Brandao’s highlight reel, and after surviving a knockdown and suplex,
flattened the overzealous Brazilian with a right hand counter and
pounced. In an astounding show of heart, Brandao weathered the onslaught
and rolled directly into a bone-crushing armbar, ending one of the best
rounds of MMA this year with a bang.
That's a wrap from 2011.