UFC
ROUNDTABLE: What was your favorite moment from the first half of 2011 in MMA? Hansen, Hyden, Perez, Hobaugh, Williams, Pelkey and Ennis
Jul 26, 2011 - 11:45:31 PM ROUNDTABLE: What was your favorite moment from the first half of 2011 in MMA? Hansen, Hyden, Perez, Hobaugh, Williams, Pelkey and Ennis

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What was your favorite moment (either a particular finish, sequence, or round from a given fight) from the first half of MMA action in 2011? 

RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

The best moment of the year is clearly the revitalization of Tito Ortiz and his career.  It's like this - you don't become a passionate fan of anything just so that you can find things to loathe.  You become a fan of something like MMA so that you can find things that you enjoy.  For me at least, the people in this sport that I criticize and dislike are people who (in my opinion) do the wrong things and act the wrong way.  So any criticism heaped their way isn't personal as much as it is a reaction to bad behavior.  But years of bad behavior to the sport we all follow can be wiped away with one truly genuine and sincere moment.  Tito Ortiz's victory over Ryan Bader provided that moment.  It was the best thing I have seen all year.

FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I'd have to go with Jon Jones crushing Maurico "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128. That was a incredible moment of Jones realizing his potential. For people who had followed Jones from his first fights in the UFC, this was seeing him become what we thought he might be. His growth curve has been great to watch.

ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

My favorite moment so far has to be the KO finish of Vitor Belfort at the hands of Anderson Silva.  Everyone was expecting a finish from him, no doubt, but the way he delivered that finish, a front straight kick that was something out of a movie, was just unreal.  If not only the most entertaining, it was also the most explosive finish in a long time.

ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

The Cheick Congo vs. Pat Barry fight on Versus 4 is my favorite fight from the first half of 2011. I rank it as the greatest comeback in MMA history. I was sure Congo was finished when he knocked Barry out. It was so exciting and unexpected that it is a great candidate for fight of the year. It's a fight that will be remembered for decades.

ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Cheick Kongo's miraculous knock out of Pat Barry squeaks past Tito Ortiz's shocking victory over Ryan Bader.  Kongo's dramatic comeback against Barry is something you rarely see period, let alone between two strikers of that high caliber.

MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Its tempting to say Tito Ortiz's shocking upset of Ryan Bader, and that'll probably be the popular choice, but for me its my Knockout of the (first half of the) Year, Lyoto Machida going Daniel LaRusso on Randy Couture and Crane Kicking him into retirement. It was the best moment on the best and biggest event so far in 2011, UFC 129.

SHAWN ENNIS, MMATORCH SENIOR COLUMNIST

Without looking back at cards to remind me about what's happened, I'd say the most memorable thing for me so far is the strange evolution of Jon Jones. He came in as an unstoppable force against Bader and ran through Shogun Rua, and then had one of the weirdest sequences I can remember seeing from a fighter. He has a falling out with Rashad Evans, has a fight scheduled with him, then opts for elective surgery, and actually allows his management to tell everyone it was elective surgery. This pulls him out if the Evans fight initially, but then he tells us that he's not actually having the surgery and will defend his title in September rather than August, and he'll do it against Quinton Jackson. So you've got a grudge match that is almost sure to draw money, then you pull out for essentially no reason, only to take a fight with a more dangerous opponent in a fight with pretty minimal heat thus far. Huh?

To actually answer the real question though, it's got to be Tito Ortiz beating Ryan Bader and doing the gravedigger after the fight. Never thought I'd see that again, and I'm glad I was wrong.