The Natural

Spoiled for choice here! I went for Undertaker vs. HHH for the drama and emotional investment. Pure story but a brilliant one.

I also voted for The Undertaker vs. Triple H for that reason. My second choice was Cena/Lesnar at Extreme Rules.

Really like the picture in Ronnie's opening post.

Ah, wondered what they were referencing with stuff like "After all that's happened" Surprised they split up. That match was a shocker though, most legs were 20 odd darts and Adams missed about 50 darts at a double.

I was watching with my Dad, we were surprised that they split up and how far Adams was missing the doubles by.

Yes, Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 2 at UFC 125: Resolution!

I thought the rematch in Texas was better

I didn't know that. I love the second Edgar/Maynard fight. The 2011 Fight of the Year and one of the best fights in UFC history, I'd have it high up on that list.

Like wandshogun09's entry for Fitch/Silva, Fitch's performance was one of the surprises of the year.

wandshogun09, how did you score Melendez/Thomson? I gave it to Thomson 3-2.

It also isn't odd for you to place Tate/Rousey third, I did and it made jimufctna24's top three. Best womens MMA fight I've ever watched.

You surprised me with your #1 pick, I thought it was going to be Sung-Jung/Poirier.

The order is pretty valid in my opinion, but can I ask why Bendo vs Edgar is so high, I felt it was reasonable but not that dramatic or heated. That could be because I do not care about either one despite their high level of skill.

 

You have the same number one as me, but I would be tempted to put Lauzon vs Miller as number 1 now, most I have enjoyed MMA last year was when Machida knocked out Bader, Rousey vs Tate would make my top 3 though.

I had expectactions for Edgar/Henderson 1 with their past fights and I like both. The fight delivered for me on the potential and as a fan of both fighters. I scored it for Henderson by either three or four rounds. Out of the ten, I could do with watching Edgar/Henderson 1 to get a fresh opinion of it but never got round to it. I'll say again that 2012 had a hard act to follow 2011 and it didn't do it. 2011 was awesome. I'd be tempted to take 2010 over 2012 as well.

There is no standout winner like 2011 though.

Yes, Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 2 at UFC 125: Resolution!

Yeah I'll be honest, as much as I liked the fight, Edgar vs Bendo 1 doesn't make my top 10. Neither does Sanchez vs Ellenberger. Both great fights but narrowly missed my top 10.

That's one fight I'm tempted to drop for either Mike Easton vs. Jared Papazian, UFC on FX 1: Guillard vs. Miller or Alan Belcher vs. Rousimar Palhares, UFC on Fox 3: Diaz vs. Miller.

Going to look at your list now.

I'm gonna do some posts looking back on 2012 in here over the next few days. Thought they'd be best off in here rather than clutter up the MMA News thread.

 

I'll break it down to categories of 'Top 10 _____ Of The Year' and stuff for easiness and I'll include pics, gifs and links where necessary.

 

So the first post will be 'Top 10 Fights Of 2012'. I might actually make this one top 15. From there I'll do Top KOs, Top Submissions, Top Events, Worst Fights, Most Brutal Beatdowns, a Best Comebacks/Upsets type one and if I can be arsed a Top Breakthrough Performances one.

 

Hopefully it will lead to some good discussion/debate.

 

I'll start another career review sometime fairly soon after these hopefully. It's gonna be Hendo or Big Nog I think.

Look forward to reading that. Since 2011 I've had a document collecting my top ten fights that year so my 2012 list was ready to go and here it is:

1. Chan Sung-Jung vs. Dustin Poirier, UFC on Fuel 3: The Korean Zombie vs. Poirier

2. Frankie Edgar vs. Benson Henderson, UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson

3. Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey, Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey

4. Miesha Tate vs. Julie Kedzie, Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman

5. Joe Lauzon vs. Jamie Varner, UFC on Fox 4: Shogun vs. Vera

6. Jim Miller vs. Joe Lauzon, UFC 155: dos Sanots vs. Velasquez II

7. Georges St-Pierre vs. Carlos Condit, UFC 154: St-Pierre vs. Condit

8. Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, UFC 148: Silva vs. Sonnen II

9. Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson, Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier

10. Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego Sanchez, UFC on Fuel 1: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger

I think it's turned out well. Happy to answer questions about my picks.

On the subject of leg kicks, I was thinkg about Jose Aldo's the other day. Man they are brutal.

Couture vs Rizzo 2 was a dull one-sided affair as well.

A fine example of a fight when the rematch is so different to the original fight. Randy Couture's first autobiography is terrific and I enjoyed reading his accounts of his fights like the two Rizzo ones.

Can anyone give me pointers as to which of these title matches are worth watching, and maybe which ones are stinkers. My perception of the heavyweight title matches from this time are not good, but are there are belters amounst this lot?

 

01

When was the last time Taylor felt the need to say sorry? I ask as I can't remember.

I can't recall him ever saying sorry.

Thanks for answering my question.

Wade came across worse than Taylor in my opinion. Unless the camera missed it briefly, it didn't even look he even acknowledged MVG for the 9-darter and then the loose handshake at the end was just as poor and pretty classless. Depression or not he is a sore loser and nowhere near as good as he thinks he is.

Yeah I forgot to bring that up. In the other 9-darters I've seen, the opponent congratulated the player who scored it in some way but Wade didn't.

I've watched darts for a while but those two legs by Michael van Gerwin, a nine-darter and coming so close to a second was something else, amazing.

Phil Taylor's said sorry to Raymond van Barneveld over his actions:

Phil Taylor has admitted he is ashamed of his actions following his semi-final victory over Raymond van Barneveld in the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.

 

The pair were involved in an angry confrontation on stage after 15-time world champion Taylor had beaten his old rival 6-4.

 

Taylor rounded on a bemused Van Barneveld when the pair shook hands and they then exchanged words and gestures with Taylor appearing to push his head into Van Barneveld's chest at one point.

 

But Taylor told Sky Sports News he has now said sorry to Van Barneveld and the Dutchman has accepted his apology.

 

He said: "It's upset me of course it has. To put the record straight, Raymond is a very strong lad and when he shook my hand and pulled me he hurt me a little bit.

 

"That was all it was and I reacted, to be honest with you, disgracefully. I am ashamed of myself and I feel terrible.

 

"I have texted Raymond and I have spoken to him and there is nothing else I can do really, only apologise for it. It will never happen again.

 

"Whatever the PDC decide, chuck the book at me, they can do whatever they want to do - but that's what happened.

 

"I'm ashamed because I really like Raymond. He loves me to bits and that's why I am really hurt about it because we both think a lot about each other. But we get over it and we move on."

 

Credit: skysports.com

When was the last time Taylor felt the need to say sorry? I ask as I can't remember.

- Best event

WWE Extreme Rules

WWE Night of Champions

NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling

- Worst event

WWE Royal Rumble

WWE Elimination Chamber

WWE Hell in a Cell

- Best wrestling TV show

Impact Wrestling

WWE Smackdown

NXT

- Best promo

Have to think about this

- Best DVD/documentary

The Undertaker 20-0

CM Punk: Best in the World

You Think You Know Me? The Story of Edge

Didn't there used to be a 'wrestling event of the year' award?

Yes. The Money in the Bank PPV rightly won it last year. There might be another wave of awards still to come.

Biggest anticlimax

- The Royal Rumble match: A couple of nice moments, but chronically lacking in star power. Let's hope they bust out Lesnar and Triple H next month, at the very least.

Thanks for mentioning this because I've replaced a Funniest Moment pick with one from that match: Ricardo Rodriguez doing his own impression of Alberto Del Rio in the Royal Rumble match. Like your user name as well.

On Ben Henderson, he's a great fighter but I couldn't in good conscience put him in my top 3 over Anderson Silva. No way. Anderson has been breathtaking. And at 37.

 

I couldn't put Benson over Jones either. And I think Ronda deserves to be on there more as well, not only for her two impressive....wins, but for becoming one of the biggest stars in the sport and making history becoming the first UFC women's champion. That trumps 3 decisions (1 of which he should have lost) for me.

Anderson's amazing and at his age but he missed out. Bendo fought in the deepest UFC weight class even though he should have lost the decision in the second Edgar fight and Jones retained the UFC Light Heavyweight Title against Evans and Belfort with Belfort almost submitting him. Before Jones, the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship was hardly defended. Rousey is the face/representative of her division.

I can totally understand why they'd want him to stop. He doesn't need to continue. And it was a really scary KO. On the level of the aforementioned Martinez vs Williams and Pacquiao's own KO over Hatton. Actually seeing Jinkee's reaction to the KO reminded me a lot of Hatton's girlfriend's reaction when Manny KO'd him. Weird how things play out.

 

I seriously did think something was badly wrong with Manny for a minute. The way he went down and didn't move for ages, then all his cornermen looking really worried and trying to revive him. It was scary stuff.

As soon as it happened, those were the three KO's that came to mind. All three were brutal, the sound of Martinez's on Williams was one of the sickest sounding KO's I've ever heard.

With the KO being bang on the bell the Ref Eddie Cotton didn't have a clue what was going on. He kind of pushed Marquez away half expecting Manny to be up by time he turns back around.

I think everybody was shocked/stunned. I was. I shouted "He's out!" loud waking everyone up in the house!

Pacquaio/Marquez IV is the Fight of the Year in any sport.

Pacman's classy in defeat;

 

"First and foremost I would like to thank God for keeping Juan Manuel Marquez and me safe during our fight on Saturday night. I want to congratulate Juan Manuel. I have no excuses. It was a good fight and he deserved the victory. I think boxing fans who watched us were winners, too.

 

"To all my fans, I would like to thank you for your prayers and assure you that I am fine. I am looking forward to a nice rest and then I will be back to fight. On behalf of Jinkee and our family we would like to wish everyone a joyous Christmas and a happy and healthy new year."

Pacquiao always has been, it's a great quality of his.

hmmm, i dont think so Dave. They covered Hernandez in the 24/7 series, i don't think Marquez or his camp would be stupid enough to go anywhere near a performance enhancer with Hernandez around, surely athletes involved with the man get singled out when it comes to testing? if Marquez has done something he's gotta be expecting to get caught.

 

It aint like Hernandez is just a drug pusher either is it? he's still a strength and conditioning coach at the end of the day.

Did you watch the US broadcast? Larry Merchant was suggesting foul play before Marquez even got to the ring! I'm assuming that the drug testing results will come back in a few weeks? I'm hoping they're all clean when they do. I'd hate for this win to be tarnished somehow.

Don't forget the post fight interview with Merchant/Marquez as well.

Exactly. It may be sad, but I don't think Marquez will get the credit he deserves until those tests come back clean. In some quarters he won't get the credit even if they do come back clean.

I hope Juan Manuel Marquez if clean passes the drugs tests because it would such a shame for a classic to be tarnished. I've thought about the fight a lot since watching it as it happened. I was so caught up in it, more than any fight live for years.

Pacman's Mother and Wife want him to retire but Pacman won't:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/20666106

hmmm, i dont think so Dave. They covered Hernandez in the 24/7 series, i don't think Marquez or his camp would be stupid enough to go anywhere near a performance enhancer with Hernandez around, surely athletes involved with the man get singled out when it comes to testing? if Marquez has done something he's gotta be expecting to get caught.

 

It aint like Hernandez is just a drug pusher either is it? he's still a strength and conditioning coach at the end of the day.

Did you watch the US broadcast? Larry Merchant was suggesting foul play before Marquez even got to the ring! I'm assuming that the drug testing results will come back in a few weeks? I'm hoping they're all clean when they do. I'd hate for this win to be tarnished somehow.

Don't forget the post fight interview with Merchant/Marquez as well.

- Best moment

The Undertaker kicking out of the Sweet Chin Music/Pedigree DX finish at WrestleMania XXVIII

Brock Lesnar

- Wrestler of the year

Daniel Bryan

Kazuchika Okada

Hiroshi Tanahashi

- Worst wrestler

Tensai

Davey Richards

Mr. Anderson

- Best face

John Cena

Jeff Hardy

The Rock

- Best heel

Daniel Bryan

Paul Heyman

CM Punk

- Best tag-team

Daniel Bryan/Kane

Daniels/Kazarian

Prime Time Players

- Best performance

Daniel Bryan and Kane in the Dr Shelby videos

Kazuchika Okada in his match against Tetsuya Naito. NJPW, 4th March

Daniel Bryan getting the "Yes/No" chants over

- Best feud

Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

The Undertaker vs. Triple H

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane

- Match of the year

The Undertaker vs. Triple H. WWE WrestleMania XXVIII, 1st April

Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito. NJPW, 4th March

Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi. NJPW, 16th June

No votes for Benson Henderson as Fighter of the Year? I'm surprised by that as Henderson went 3-0 in the deepest weight class in the UFC, the Lightweight division. Henderson should be 2-1 as he should have dropped the decision to Frankie Edgar at UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar 2 but the record will say he won.

Best MMA fighter...

Benson Henderson

Jon Jones

Ronda Rousey

Best MMA fight...

Chan Sung-Jung vs. Dustin Poirier, UFC on Fuel 3: The Korean Zombie vs. Poirier

Frankie Edgar vs. Benson Henderson, UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson

Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey, Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey

Best MMA event...

UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes

UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson

UFC 146: dos Santos vs. Mir

Best MMA poster on the UKFF...

jimufctna24

Ebb

wandshogun09

I've never seen the first three Pacquiao/Marquez fights, I'd like to. Which order would you rank the four fights in?

 

I loved the first fight myself. From the crazy first round with the 3 knockdowns and then Marquez's incredible comeback, it was a really great fight. I had Manny winning by a point I think but a draw was fair.

 

I might rank last night's fight as #1 now. I'll have to rewatch it but the drama of them trading knockdowns, plus the shocking finish, especially after the backstory and knowing what a redemption that was for Marquez. It's hard to top.

 

I'd rate them

 

1) 4th fight

2) 1st fight

3) 2nd fight

4) 3rd fight

 

They're all great though, one of the greatest rivalries in boxing history.

Thank you for that. Hopefully I'll get round to seeing them. Wasn't the scoring controversal in the second fight? I know it was in the third, I remember last year that most people scored it for Marquez.

Really glad I watched Pacquiao/Marquez IV live as it went down, I won't forget it.

Bet you wish you watched Pacquiao/Marquez IV first .

I had!

Right choice!

Bet you wish you watched Pacquiao/Marquez IV first .

I'm nowhere near into boxing like I am MMA but I do try and watch Pacquiao's fights. Out of Pacquiao's eight last fights, I've watched seven of them.

I've never seen the first three Pacquiao/Marquez fights, I'd like to. Which order would you rank the four fights in?

Great picture. Sickest boxing KO I've seen since Sergio Martinez on Paul Williams.

How did you score the fight before the ending? I had Pacquaio up 47-46.

 

I had it the same. I had...

 

Rd 1 - Pacquiao 10-9

Rd 2 - Pacquiao 10-9

Rd 3 - Marquez 10-8

Rd 4 - Marquez 10-9

Rd 5 - Pacquiao 10-8

Scored it same as you. Great minds think alike .

Damn.

Great fight with an amazing KTFO finish, Pacquaio face down on the mat out cold.

How did you score the fight before the ending? I had Pacquaio up 47-46.