Penick's Take
PENICK: Jon Jones and the Five Best Single Years in MMA History
Dec 12, 2011 - 8:45:14 PM PENICK: Jon Jones and the Five Best Single Years in MMA History

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jon Jones' UFC 140 victory over Lyoto Machida was his fourth of 2011, putting him immediately into consideration for the best year a fighter has had in the sport's history. Now, there are many, many fighters who have won four or more fights in a year, especially in the early days of the sport and on a regional level. However, when it comes to winning at a high level against top competition, and doing so in impressive and dominating fashion, the list shrinks considerably. After looking back through top names in the sport's history and their best single year marks, I've come up with my top five single calendar year runs in MMA.

5. Chuck Liddell
Year: 2006
Record That Year:
Wins Over: Randy Couture, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Tito Ortiz

Liddell takes the lowest spot on the list due to only having three wins in his best year, but what a huge three wins they were. The fight with Randy Couture was the third in their trilogy, and he was out to defend the Light Heavyweight Title he had captured from Couture for a second time. After knocking out Couture in the second round and sending him into his first retirement, Liddell then took on "Babalu." That fight was also a rematch, but Sobral had won ten straight fights since losing to Liddell at UFC 40. Almost four years after their first meeting, Liddell needed just half the time he took in their first bout to knock "Babalu" out a second time. Then, in what was at the time the biggest fight in UFC history, Liddell took out Tito Ortiz for a second time. This was an incredible run of fights for Liddell that continued what he started in 2005, and it came against three legitimate challengers to the Light Heavyweight Championship.

4. Royce Gracie
Year: 1994
Record That Year: 8-0
Wins Over: Minoki Ichihara, Jason Delucia, Remco Pardoel, Patrick Smith, Kimo Leopoldo, Ron van Clief, Keith Hackney, Dan Severn

The level of competition here keeps this from being the best year ever, but Royce Gracie's 1994 is one of the reasons the UFC got off the ground. Winning the UFC 2 and 3 tournaments, as well as his epically exhausting fight with Kimo at UFC 3, Gracie moved to 11-0 on eight straight wins. Not only that, but he submitted each of those eight opponents, and the run that year led him to his UFC 5 "super fight" with Ken Shamrock.

3. Fedor Emelianenko
Year: 2004
Record That Year: 4-0-1
Wins Over: Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Naoya Ogawa, Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira

The heavyweight division in 2004 left a lot to be desired, but Emelianenko's run through that year's Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix provided some of his top highlights and established "The Last Emperor" as the best heavyweight in the world. Mark Coleman entered the event with wins in seven of his previous eight fights, and Emelianenko submitted him in two minutes. Kevin Randleman had just defeated Mirko Cro Cop, and then suplexed Emelianenko on his head before Fedor came back to submit him as well in a whole minute and a half. He added another 54 second submission over Ogawa before a rematch with Nogueira. Though that fight would end in a no contest due to an accidental headbutt, the two met for a third time to close out the year, with Emelianenko scoring his second win over "Minotauro."

2. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
Year: 2005
Record That Year: 5-0
Wins Over: Hiromitsu Kanehara, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem, Ricardo Arona

Before Jon Jones came along, Shogun's 2005 run through the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix was easily the best year a fighter had ever put forth in the sport. Shogun entered the event with an 8-1 record, having begun the year with a vicious stomp TKO over Kanehara. He then proceeded to soccer kick the hell out of "Rampage", edge Nogueira by decision, then smash both Overeem and Arona. The five straight wins that year had him at the top of the light heavyweight heap, and as incredible as that year was for Shogun, it doesn't take the top spot.

1. Jon Jones
Year: 2011
Record That Year: 4-0
Wins Over: Ryan Bader, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Lyoto Machida

Prior to UFC 140, I felt it would take a dominant victory over Machida for Jones' 2011 campaign to overtake Shogun on this list. Well, he did just that, not just defeating Machida, but choking him unconscious in the second round. The dominance Jones has shown, and the variety of ways in which he's blasted through some of the top 205 lb. fighters in the world, is unparalleled. Jones made things look easy against Bader, who hadn't lost a fight prior to that. Then, he absolutely dominated Shogun after Shogun had reemerged off of his performances over Machida himself. Then, against the most well-conditioned and prepared "Rampage" we've seen in years, Jones picked him apart and fought a smart fight before handing him the first submission loss he had in a decade. To then add such a vicious submission win over Machida - who himself had also never been submitted - leaves no question that Jones' 2011 was a better year of performances than any fighter before him.