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By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist
As we move on to 2012, we'll take a look back at the year that was in 2011 with MMATorch's 11 of 11. For the first 11 days of 2012, several MMATorch writers will be providing top 11 lists in a number of different categories regarding the year of MMA in 2011. We continue today with Rich Hansen's top 11 events of 2011.
UFC 129 was the biggest event in UFC history, and was the biggest and best event in company history. The first ever event in Toronto sold over 55,000 seats, and brought home a $12,000,000 gate. There were two title fights, both of which had serious drama to them. Jose Aldo defeated Mark Hominick, but only after withstanding a fifth round barrage that saw the champ in extreme danger. Heavy favorite Georges St- Pierre dropped two rounds on the scorecards of two different judges against Jake Shields, which was the closest GSP has been to defeat since regaining his title in April, 2008.
Some of the best finishes of the year were also seen on the UFC 129 card. One of the most memorable finishes of all time was Lyoto Machida's spectacular flying front kick KO on Randy Couture. Of course, this finished not only the fight itself, but the career of the legendary Couture.
John Makdessi finished Kyle Watson with a third round spinning back fist. Even Shonie Carter sat up at that one. Ivan Menjivar's elbow hit the face of Charlie Valencia in route to a 90 second TKO victory that I think Valencia is still hearing bells and seeing little birdies.
And for the submission fans out there, Pablo Garza had one of the best all time submissions by hitting a flying triangle choke on Yves Jabouin. And Jason MacDonald made a triumphant return to the UFC after a horrendous injury by locking up Ryan Jensen with his own triangle choke, albeit not of the flying variety.
UFC 129 was a financial success, a sporting success, and a high quality fight card. It was clearly the best event of the year.
2.) UFC 139; November 19
There are only two reasons why UFC 139 is this high on the list. If has nothing to do with Cung Le's UFC debut, going out on his shield to the beloved Wanderlei Silva in a really fun fight. It has nothing to do with UFC 139 being the first PPV to follow the UFC's debut on the Fox network. And it has nothing to do with wonderful submission finishes by Chris Weidman over Tom Lawlor or Seth Baczynski over Matt Brown. It doesn't even have anything to do with the Michael McDonald and Ryan Bader knocking out Alex Soto and Jason Brilz, respectively, on Spike.
UFC 139 is the second best event of 2011 all because of two men. Dan Henderson. Mauricio Rua. I can only presume that anyone reading a story on this site has already seen the fight, so I won't fail to do my favorite fight of all time justice by trying to relive the spectacular brutality both men put each other through on that fateful night. Suffice it to say, the fight was spectacular, spectacular enough to elevate an otherwise decent card to memorable status.
3.) UFC 134, August 27
UFC 134 is number three on this list almost solely because of factors outside of the Octagon itself. Sure there were memorable moments inside the steel: Anderson Silva's memorable slaughter of Yushin Okami, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's TKO victory over Brendan Schaub, and Rousimar Palhares' track record of bizarre happenings chief among them.
But UFC 134 is the third best event of 2011 almost entirely because of Rio. UFC 134 marked the Las Vegas based promotion's return to Brazil for the first time since 1998. And the rabid Brazilian crowd elevated an otherwise good card to an absolutely fantastic experience for fans and fighters alike.
4.) UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle, August 14
The UFC's debut in Milwaukee is not only the fourth best overall event on this list, but was also the best non-PPV event of the year. For the sake of full disclosure, I was in the arena for this event, which was held 30 miles from my front door, so that might very well color my feelings on the first UFC card to be held in Milwaukee. What I do know is that the penultimate Versus card saw the emergence of Benson Henderson as a legitimate top five lightweight talent, the final match of Chris Lytle's career, and a fantastic performance by Donald Cerrone.
Benson Henderson wasn't favored by many to defeat Jim Miller, who many experts had deemed to be next in line to fight for the UFC Lightweight Title. Henderson managed to throw a wrench into those plans by dominating the veteran Miller in all phases of the game.
Many people savaged the UFC for having the stones to put Dan Hardy, on a three fight losing streak, in a main event against career journeyman Chris Lytle, who was coming off of a bad loss himself to Brian Ebersole. The fight was given some much needed juice when word leaked that Chris Lytle was going to retire at the conclusion of the fight. Fortunately for all parties, the fight itself did not disappoint. The result of the fight only added to the moment as Lytle went out on top, submitting Hardy with less than a minute to go in the fight.
5.) UFC 125, January 1
I'm having a harder time remembering January 1, 2012 than I am January 1, 2011, because New Year's Day 2011 was highlighted by one of the most unforgettable fights of all time. UFC 125 was headlined by a UFC Lightweight Title fight between Champion Frankie Edgar (fresh off of consecutive triumphs over B.J. Penn) and undefeated number one contender Gray Maynard (the only man to have ever beaten Frankie Edgar).
Their first fight back in April of 2008 was hardly a memorable affair, with Maynard coasting his way to a dull unanimous decision victory. UFC brass seemed reluctant to give the undefeated Maynard any chance to fight for the championship, having been bypassed less than a year earlier in favor of Edgar when the UFC was looking for a challenger for then Champion B.J. Penn for the UFC's debut in Abu Dhabi. We all know how that story unfolded; Edgar edged Penn to become the Champion, and then thrashed Penn in the rematch four months later to remove all doubt who the better fighter was.
Maynard finally got his shot to fight for the gold on New Year's Day of 2011, and he did not disappoint. He didn't win the title, but he was involved in what was the most exciting fight of his own professional career, and one of the most memorable fights of all time. Maynard rocked Edgar multiple times in the first round, and was awarded a 10-8 score on all three judges scorecards.
The new Champion once again proved to the world why he was a Champion by withstanding the barrage and winning 2, 3, or 4 of the remaining four rounds (depending on which cageside judge you ask) and turning a near first round TKO loss into a split draw.
While the main event fight was definitely good enough to ensure that UFC 125 would be remembered as one of the top 11 events of '11, Brian Stann surprised the world by thrashing Chris Leben, Thiago Silva thrashed Brandon Vera in the best performance of his career (which was later ruled a no contest when Silva failed a drug test), and Clay Guida took out Takanori Gomi by submission.
6.) UFC 140, December 10
Many people were disappointed that Jon Jones was not going to be defending his Light Heavyweight Championship against his fierce rival and former training partner Rashad Evans. However, many people were, in fact, jazzed to see how the once in a generation talent would fare against the cagy former Champion - and last light heavyweight to successfully defend the Light Heavyweight Championship - Lyoto Machida.
And for about seven minutes, Lyoto Machida did more than hold just his own. His awkward style of striking managed to frustrate the young Champion early on, as Machida took the first round from Jones. Halfway through the second round Jones managed to take Machida down and then slice the challenger's forehead with a short elbow. Having gained confidence from cutting the Brazilian, Jones smelled figurative blood in the water and managed to choke out Machida less than two minutes later. It was the first time Jones had really been threatened at any level since debuting with the organization, and his finish was absolutely spectacular.
Jones' sublime talents weren't the only memory fans will take from the UFC 140 card. Frank Mir broke Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's arm and forced the great Nogueira to submit. I still have a hard time fathoming the fact that Nogueira submitted to anyone, which only makes the level of respect the MMA community must hold for Frank Mir grow. Frank Mir was the first person to knock Nogueira out, and he became the first person to submit the great Nogueira as well. And as if the finish itself weren't memorable enough, the fight was a fantastic one round affair, which saw Nogueira almost knock out Mir less than a minute before having his arm snapped.
And if you have an attention span of only seven seconds or less, this card was for you! Chan Sung Jung knocked out hometown favorite Mark Hominick seven seconds into their PPV fight. Upon further scrutiny bu UFC head honcho Dana White, the unofficial time of the fight should be 6.26 seconds, and should be recognized as the second fastest KO in UFC history. Hominick, riding the emotion of fighting in front of his hometown fans, threw an uncharacteristic wild hook and got caught, simple as that. Regardless of the mistake Hominick made, the fact that The Korean Zombie was able to put out his lights with one strike had better make people take notice; the Zombie is for real.
7.) UFC Fight for the Troops, January 22
I had almost forgotten about this card when preparing this list. But I vividly remembered each of the six most memorable fights on this card, which is more than enough to make this event worthy of such a lofty ranking.
While there was nothing resembling a fight of the year, submission of the year, or KO of the year on the card from Fort Hood, there were fantastic performances, submissions, and KOs on the card.
To wit: DaMarques Johnson submitted Mike Guymon with a body triangle. To finish via body scissors is very rare, despite Messrs Rogan and Goldberg constantly pointing out that you can finish a fight with a body triangle each and every time someone locks on a body triangle.
Yves Edwards almost experienced his career nadir in round one of his fight against lightly regarded Cody McKenzie. But rather than falling victim to a McKenzie-tine, the wily veteran managed to choke out McKenzie in the second round, to the joy of goatee-haters everywhere.
Pat Barry was tested by the granite chinned Joey Beltran, but ultimately won a hard fought unanimous decision. Barry and Beltran put on a memorable brawl which left me shaking my head at just how much punishment Beltran could absorb.
Mark Hominick knew that all he needed to do was defeat George Roop and he would earn a Featherweight Title shot. Hominick removed all doubt as to his worthiness for the shot by decimating the lanky Roop en route to a dominant first round TKO.
Matt Mitrione took out Tim Hague by TKO in less than three minutes. While Mitrione has since lost, he was undefeated at the time and is a real credit to the sport, not only for his personality, but for his athleticism and willingness to work on his overall skills.
Then the main event saw Melvin Guillard destroy the highly thought of Evan Dunham to put himself 'in the mix' for a potential lightweight title shot. While Guillard has since fallen out of the mix by losing to Joe Lauzon, at the time his destruction of Dunham was truly awe-inspiring.
So while there may not have been a moment of the year at Fort Hood, there was a depth of moments the most events aren't fortunate enough to possess. The combined value of those fights made Fight for the Troops 2 worthy of being remembered as one of the 11 best of 2011.
8.) UFC 132, July 2
Dominick Cruz is one of the most polarizing fighters in the world that nobody talks about. I know, I know. How can one be polarizing yet ignored, right? Well, Cruz both can be, and is. People either hate his style of point-fighting, or love the fact that he is unique and successful. One thing that everyone can agree on is that if he were to walk down through the stands at any UFC event, he'd be less recognized than any other UFC Champion, which is why he became the first UFC Champion to defend his title live on cable television (in October).
That said, by all measures his title fight against Urijah Faber at UFC 132 was a very technical and very enjoyable title fight. Even the most strident Cruz haters scored the fight in the favor of the Champion, despite the near universal opinion that Faber had more than his fair share of chances and missed opportunities. The reason there were so many missed opportunities for the challenger, of course, is due as much to Cruz's unorthodox style as any other factor. The grudge between these rivals is not yet settled, as Cruz and Faber are set to coach the next season of The Ultimate Fighter against one another, and then finish their trilogy in June or July of 2012.
While UFC 132 lost a scheduled B.J. Penn versus Jon Fitch rematch fight, it still had a heavily anticipated Chris Leben vs. Wanderlei Silva slugfest; a fight which seemed likely to be Tito Ortiz's retirement fight, and a promised war between Carlos Condit and Dong Hyun Kim.
The only one of these three fights that turned out to be what people expected was the perceived slugfest between Leben and Silva. While no one knew for sure who would win, the universal sentiment was that the fight wouldn't last long. And in that they were correct, as after getting rocked himself, Leben destroyed Silva in a mere 27 seconds.
Most people thought Tito Ortiz was going to be manhandled by Ryan Bader and subsequently put out to pasture by Dana White. And that absolutely was not the case as Ortiz took out Bader with a guillotine choke less than two minutes into their fight. The genuine outpouring of relief and unadulterated joy by Ortiz was enough to earn him scores of new fans (myself included), and was one of the real feel-good moments of 2011.
And finally, Carlos Condit announced his presence on the welterweight scene by crushing The Stun Gun early in the first round of their fight. Condit made it clear that he is a very dangerous out for anyone in the UFC's welterweight division. Condit's next fight after the Kim victory will in fact be for the Interim Welterweight Championship.
9.) UFC 131, June 11
The thought leading up to UFC 131 was more of disappointment than anticipation, since the scheduled main event of Brock Lesnar versus Junior dos Santos had to be scrapped due to the return of Lesnar's diverticulitis. Shane Carwin was a capable late replacement, but let's face it, he doesn't have the cache' of one Brock Lesnar.
Junior dos Santos earned his title shot by completely overwhelming the outmatched Carwin. While he was unable to finish the hard hitting Carwin, dos Santos proved to the world that he was the better fighter, and one of the best boxers in the heavyweight division. While the fight itself was nothing to right home about, dos Santos' talent shone through very brightly.
Mark Munoz won the biggest fight of his MMA career at UFC 131 by edging out Demian Maia in a fight that was one of the best of the year. Munoz took the decision in a fight which I scored a draw (and I never hand out 10-10 rounds, but there you go) in a fight that is being criminally overlooked in many observer's year end lists of best fights of the year.
If sloppy heavyweight brawling is your thing, then UFC 131 was your thing as well, as there were not one but two sloppy heavyweight brawls. And they were both entertaining as hell. Yay! Dave Herman made his UFC debut in a really fun sloppy heavyweight brawl, taking out Golden Glory fighter John Olav Einemo in the second round. And the aforementioned Joey Beltran took part in yet another sloppy heavyweight brawl which was, wait for it, entertaining as hell, by earning a hard fought yet sloppy as hell third round TKO over the sloppy as hell but entertaining Aaron Rosa.
The two Spike TV prelim fights were fantastically entertaining, and not at all sloppy as hell. Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout finally lived up to his nickname by landing a powerful one punch KO over respected veteran fighter Yves Edwards. And in the other Spike fight, prospect Chris Weidman choked out Canadian Jesse Bongfeldt in impressive fashion.
10.) UFC 141, December 30
It's hard to put such a recent event into proper context, so this ranking may or may not prove to be accurate in reflection. But let's be clear about one thing; we will ALL remember where we were when Alistair Overeem debuted in the UFC and retired the company's biggest draw, Brock Lesnar. The moment Lesnar crumpled to Overeem's powerful liver kick, the fortune of the UFC changed forever. Not necessarily for the worst, as the cash cow Lesnar could not fight forever, but this was the night that marked the end of the Lesnar era, which was the most profitable era in the history of the sport.
While the loss of Lesnar from the sport is still the hot topic less than a week later, eventually focus will shift to Overeem, who proved that he's more than just a physique with belts from promotions that casual fans couldn't give a damn about. As people look forward rather than reflect on the past, they will see that Overeem's emergence is nothing but a positive for the sport.
While there was no heat between Overeem and Lesnar, there was a tangible amount of bad blood coursing through the veins of Donald Cerrone and Nathan Diaz leading up to their lightweight scrap at UFC 141. Nathan Diaz proved to everyone in the world, and yes that includes Donald Cerrone, that he was the better fighter by destroying Cowboy in route to a crushing unanimous decision. While this wasn't a fight of the year candidate like many people hoped it would be, it certainly lived up to the hype of a non-stop slugfest between two of the best in the world at 155.
Again to the lack of context. It's impossible to know what the future holds for Alexander Gustafsson and Jimy Hettes. But at this moment it seems apparent that the futures of both fighters are very bright. Hettes crushed journeyman Nam Phan, and Gustafsson had a spectacular TKO victory over veteran Vladimir Matyushenko. Is it possible that one year from now both Hettes and Gustafsson will be looking at title fights in 2013? Yes, it's possible. But it's also possible both fighters will lose their next two fights and be facing a career crossroads. Context is a fickle mistress, for sure. But at this moment, it seems likely that UFC 141 will be seen as a breakthrough night for both Hettes and Gustafsson.
11.) UFC 136, October 8
UFC 136 was a disappointment, but still eeked onto the list of my 11 best events of the year. On paper, this was one of the best cards the UFC had ever put together. But similar to UFC 73: STACKED, UFC 136 - which could have been called STACKED 2 - failed to deliver.
That said, there was still a fight of the year candidate (Edgar versus Maynard 3), Chael Sonnen's destruction of Brian Stann and memorable post-fight call-out of Anderson Silva, Anthony Pettis' first UFC win, Joe Lauzon's shocking upset of Melvin Guillard, and a much heralded fight between Nam Phan and Leonard Garcia. While UFC 136 failed to deliver as one of the best events of all time like many people had anticipated, it's unfair to judge this card against unrealistic expectations. Taken on its own merits, UFC 136 was a fun event that featured a great fight, a great performance, and the first of many UFC victories for a potential future Lightweight Champion.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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