MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[wandshogun09]

I've been throwing on some old UFC and Pride shows lately whenever I'm on night duty with my daughter. And I got thinking, what would be your MMA FOTY each year as far back as you can go? I'd say 1993-2013 but there wasn't really enough notable MMA shows in the very early years. So say 1997-2013. If you can be arsed what were your worst fights these years as well? Might require getting the old UFC, Pride, Strikeforce, WEC etc cards up on Wiki to refresh your memory.

 

Here's mine;

 

1997

Fight of the Year - Randy Couture vs Vitor Belfort 1 - UFC 15

This wasn't an epic by today's standards but I imagine it was mind blowing at the time. Belfort had been wrecking everyone up to this point and it was expected that old Randy would be no more than cannon fodder for the young phenom. This was the beginning of Randy's string of upsets in the UFC which he pretty much built his career on. One of the first examples of how conditioning and strategy could win out over speed, power and aggression as well.

 

Runner up - Mark Coleman vs Maurice Smith - UFC 14

This was in a similar vein to the above in a way. Where Belfort had terrorised the UFC with his punching power and speed, Coleman had dominated with his wrestling and terrifying ground and pound. He was just brutal at the time. He looked unstoppable in his beatdown of Don Frye and mowing through Dan Severn. Maurice Smith was a massive underdog. But Coleman hadn't faced a striker like Smith before. And again, Smith's strategy, superior stamina and patience paid off in the end. Coleman mauled him early in the fight only for Smith to come back and batter him with leg kicks and nasty striking. Classic striker vs grappler fight.

 

Shite of the Year - Dan Severn vs Kimo - Pride 1

If you haven't seen this consider yourself lucky and keep it that way. An absolute steaming dump of a 'fight'. It goes thirty of the slowest minutes you'll ever wish you didn't live and fuck all happens for 99% of it. Cack. Even the stupidly polite Japanese audience started shitting on it. Bas and Quadros taking the piss on commentary throughout is the best bit of this load of bollocks. Up there with Severn vs Shamrock 2 and Gracie vs Shamrock 2 in the all-time worst fights stakes.

 

Runner up - Randy Couture vs Maurice Smith - UFC Ultimate Japan

Terrible, dull as fuck stuff. After exciting underdog victories in both their previous fights, as mentioned above, these two went out and bored everyone into a state of rigamortis with this 21 minute dollop of shit. The poor Japanese MMA fans didn't get much to cheer about in 97 between this and Severn vs Kimo. It's a miracle the sport ever took off over there after this double decker of despair. To add to its crapness the arena was all dark and dingy like those poorly attended WWF shows in early 97, and Randy chose to wear some abysmal black leggings for the fight which he really didn't have the arse for. Just turd on all fronts. No-one deserved to win this.

 

Randy's leggings

 

1998

Fight of the Year - Kazushi Sakuraba vs Carlos Newton - Pride 3

I've recommended this pretty much every time someone asks about Pride fights to watch on here. To this day this is one of the best grappling fights in MMA history. Sakuraba was on fire at this point in his career. He was ahead of the game, had a unique style no-one had solved yet and at this point he had yet to be fucked up the arse by the injury grim reaper. He was awesome to watch. And Newton was at his peak here as well and able to hang with him. It's an incredible fight and pretty much entirely grappling. Easily the highlight of the first 9 or 10 Pride events.

 

Runners up - Dan Henderson vs Carlos Newton and Mark Coleman vs Pete Williams - UFC 17

Newton again. Him and a young looking Hendo met in the UFC 17 tournament and had a hell of a fight. It doesn't get brought up much but to that point it was one of the best UFC fights the company had seen. Coleman vs Williams from the same show deserves mention here - it's a good fight but the finish is unbelievable.

 

 

Shite of the Year - Renzo Gracie vs Sanae Kikuta - Pride 2

I don't even remember much of this. It's like a traumatic incident I've tried to block out. It's not what they do technically that's the problem, it just goes on FOREVER. Until Renzo mercifully puts everyone out of their misery with a guillotine choke about four weeks into the fight.

 

1999

Fight of the Year - Frank Shamrock vs Tito Ortiz - UFC 22

This is one of the ones I rewatched recently and it still holds up now. This had a bit of everything. It's a shame it came along during the UFC's dark days where they were going out of business. It had the trash talk going in, the whole Tito vs Lions Den thing and the fight itself was tremendous. A proper battle and the persistence of Shamrock's strategy which ultimately leads to the dramatic and vicious finish is great to watch. Never got the coverage or exposure of Tito vs Ken because of the time the fight happened and Ken having the WWF crossover thing working for him, but as a fight it's vastly superior.

 

Runner up - Bas Rutten vs Tsuyoshi Kosaka - UFC 18

I love this fight. It's pretty slow going early on but there's always that thing in the back of your mind of 'Bas is going to find a way to get up in a minute, and when he does he's going to fuck everyone up.' And he does, well he fucks Kosaka up anyway. You can see Bas just biding his time waiting for his chance and when it comes he knocks the shit right out of Kosaka. Kosaka's tough as fuck as well, watch his fight with Mark Hunt if you doubt it. He's hard as nails and Bas lights him up like a hooker's window in Amsterdam.

 

Bas actually became the first ever UFC heavyweight champion with this win. It's often said Coleman was the first but that was the Superfight title I think. This was the tournament to crown the first proper UFC heavyweight champion. It's a shame Bas was coming to the end of his career by this point. It's clear the UFC had big plans for him, they even had him printed on the Octagon canvas;

 

 

Seriously, there were plans for Bas to fight Randy Couture at one stage in the UFC. He even comes into the ring during Pride 1 and announces that he's scheduled to fight Randy, then he wanted to come to Pride to fight Rickson Gracie. There were even comeback talks in 2002 for Bas to come out of retirement to fight Wanderlei Silva! Gutted none of those materialized.

 

Shite of the Year - Nobuhiko Takada vs Mark Coleman - Pride 5

Looking at the cards from 1999 not many fights stood out as total stinkers off the top of my head. But I'll go with Takada vs Coleman. Technically it wasn't even a fight. It was dodgy as fuck and clearly a work. Even Bas and Quadros pretty much say as much on the announcing from what I recall. If you're going to work a fight at least try to make it look good.

 

2000

Fight of the Year - Wanderlei Silva vs Dan Henderson 1 - Pride 12

I've always had a soft spot for this fight because it's the one that hooked me and really sparked my interest in MMA. And it's the fight that made me a Wanderlei fan. Just a brutal fight. There's more action packed fights, more exciting fights. It's neither guys best fight. But it's great fun to watch. Neither will give an inch and there's points in the fight where I thought we were going to see a murder.

 

When the winner comes out looking like this ...

 

 

... You know it was a good fight.

 

Runners up - Something from Pride 10

Yeah, Pride 10 was quality. I haven't seen it for a while so I didn't want to choose between Kazushi Sakuraba vs Renzo Gracie, Igor Vovchanchyn vs Enson Inoue and Wanderlei Silva vs Guy Mezger. All fantastic fights. So any of them will do.

 

Heath Herring vs Tom Erikson from Pride 11 probably deserves a shout here as well actually.

 

Shite of the Year - Tito Ortiz vs Wanderlei Silva - UFC 25

Japan gets another dud. Probably Wanderlei's worst fight. Can't really fault Tito fighting the way he did but it's a shit sandwich however you slice it.

 

There's probably something worse from 2000 though. I'm very vague on a lot of the 2000 cards. I haven't seen a few of the UFCs from that year and looking at the cards, I'm not sure I even want to. Wasn't a good year for the UFC. No wonder they sold up the following year.

 

And depending on where you sit on it, the Kazushi Sakuraba vs Royce Gracie 90 minute match from the Pride GP 2000 could fall into either the Fight or Shite of the Year category.

 

 

I'm not a huge fan of it but I appreciate the significance of the fight and I bum the Saku vs Gracies rivalry as a whole, so I don't hate it either. It's way better than Severn vs Shamrock/Kimo or Royce vs Shamrock 2. The moment where the Gracies finally have to swallow their pride and throw in the towel is such a classic moment that keeps it out of the Shite side for me.

 

Here's the Gracies admitting defeat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&a...p;v=Q7MyoNBgqBI

 

I'll do more years when I can be arsed.

[jimufctna24]

Yes, Saku vs Gracie is MMA's version of the WM 12 Ironman match between HBK and Bret. You either admired the technical ability of the participants or found it dull as fuck. I have never sat through it all the way through if I am honest, so I cannot give an honest opinion. Tito vs Wanderlai I agree with. Could be Tito's best win, but god was it dull.

 

I might contribute with a list of my own at some stage. But god it will be hard to single out one fight for some years. I can only think of 2011 where I see myself choosing a clear winner with Shogun vs Hendo. I will probably pick Lesnar vs Carwin in 2010, but Chael vs Anderson is a good choice. 2012 my memory has drawn a blank, but 2013 I pick Hunt vs Big Foot.

 

2005 I expect Forrest vs Bonnar to get a lot of mentions although I think its overrated, (I also prefer Lil Nog vs Shogun). 2006, I greatly enjoyed Groves vs Herman which is a forgotten gem, but there will be something better (maybe GSP vs Penn 1). 2007, Wand vs Liddel springs to mind. I would also expect Couture vs Sylvia to get props (although on re-watch it is meant to be boring as fuck, in the moment it was superb)

 

My mind has drawn a blank with 2008 and 2009. I would say Lesnar vs Mir 2 was a triumph as a experience and probably the most fun I have had as a MMA Fan, but best fight? Maybe not. I expect a lot of people will post fights that I will have forgotten and I will just end up agreeing.

[Magnum Milano]

2006, I greatly enjoyed Groves vs Herman which is a forgotten gem, but there will be something better (maybe GSP vs Penn 1).

Sanchez vs Parisyan was my fight of the year from then.

 

I'll have a think about this and try and draw up a list, although likelihood is I haven't watched as much Pride as most.

[wandshogun09]

Sanchez vs Parisyan was amazing. Grove vs Herman is overlooked as well, I agree. 2006 had the two Nogueira vs Barnett fights as well though so one of them will probably take my FOTY for that year.

[wandshogun09]

2001

Fight of the Year - Randy Couture vs Pedro Rizzo 1 - UFC 31

An epic five round battle. One of the best heavyweight fights in UFC history. It had all the twists and turns. One guy would take the lead, then the other would rally back just when you thought he was out of it. A great fight and razor close, hence the immediate rematch later in the year. Unfortunately the rematch was a wet fart in comparison but it had a tough act to follow. Proper edge of the seat stuff even on rewatches.

 

 

Runners up - Matt Hughes vs Carlos Newton 1 - UFC 34

Really fun fight with one of the most replayed finishes ever with the old powerbomb/triangle KO. This was the beginning of Hughes' reign of welterweight dominance as well. Good stuff. Watching Hughes throw Newton about was pretty scary. He was a real powerhouse back then.

 

2001 was the first year in MMA with a bunch of really quality fights. As well as the above you had the incredible Shonie Carter vs Matt Serra fight from the Couture vs Rizzo 1 undercard. An excellent fight which showcased Serra's more aggressive BJJ style as he tied Shonie up in knots for about 14:51 of the fight, before Shonie hit the spinning backfist of doom. You had the first Lindland vs Baroni war at UFC 34. Big Nog and Heath Herring's first fight at Pride 17 to crown the first Pride heavyweight champ was about the most action packed, fastest paced heavyweight fight anyone had seen to that point. And an often overlooked hidden gem at Pride 14 between Daijiro Matsui and Jose 'Pele' Landi-Jons. A real treat of a fight if you haven't seen it.

 

Shite of the Year - Tito Ortiz vs Vladimir Matyushenko - UFC 33

Actually UFC 33 as a whole could've collectively got the Shite honours here. A truly miserable card that Dana often cites as one of Zuffa's real low moments. They'd just bought the UFC at the start of 2001 and they'd had a decent start. UFC 31 in particular was awesome pretty much top to bottom. But in September, right after 9/11, they made their debut in Las Vegas. And the card went to shit. First the Ortiz vs Belfort main event went tits up when Belfort got injured. Then on the night six of the eight fights went to decisions. All the PPV main card fights went to decisions. And we're not talking Shogun-Hendo/Hunt-Bigfoot type decisions, these were rotten fights. Pulver vs Hallman was horrible. Liddell vs Bustamante wasn't that bad but not very exciting. Tito vs Vladdy in the main event though - topped off what was a disastrous show. The card was already a pile of shit, then Tito vs Vlad was like a big gushing stream of vomit on top. To top it all off, because of all the decisions, the show overran and the PPV feed cut off meaning the people who were unfortunate enough to buy this didn't even get to see who won the main event. Just a colossal balls up on every front.

 

Runner up - Mirko Cro Cop vs Nobuhiko Takada - Pride 17

One of those K-1 vs Pride fights where the rules are all weird. Takada wanted none of this and just avoids the fight at all costs. Mirko was still making his transition to MMA so he didn't know what to do when Takada kept flopping to the floor so Mirko couldn't twat him. Don't bother with this shit. There's an awkward video on YouTube of Mirko talking to the Japanese media immediately following the fight and he looked like he was seriously contemplating topping himself.

 

"How I'm feeling, I don't want to say the word. He shouldn't get the chance to fight in my village in Croatia in front of twenty people...much less here with fifty thousand people. I don't believe this is happening. I don't believe this is happening. He's the biggest coward I ever saw and I will never fight him again. Ever. He's going to ruin my reputation. I'm a fighter. What was he trying to do? He make me embarrassed in front of so many people. He's a coward and Fujita and Sakuraba shouldn't wear Takada Gym on their shorts. If he hasn't got the fight he shouldn't enter the ring, that's all. I want to fight Fujita and fighters like Fujita. And Sakuraba. They are real fighters. Not like this...what is it? What was he? I don't know what was his idea when he challenged me to fight. If he didn't want to fight he shouldn't enter in the ring."

 

A fight so crap it was cut from the DVD release.

 

2002

Fight of the Year - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Bob Sapp - Pride/K-1 Shockwave 2002

A ridiculous fight. This was when the Bob Sapp experiment was in full force. He hadn't become the joke he is now. He was green as fuck but he was a massive fucker with huge raw power and was training with Josh Barnett. He was clearly a freakshow attraction but at this stage he was thought a scary prospect. Nogueira was the man in the Pride heavyweight division at this time, the champion and was known for his toughness after being run over by a truck as a kid and coming back from being in a coma to the top of the BJJ and MMA ranks. There must've been times during this fight when he thought he was in a rematch with that truck. If you haven't seen the fight, picture a man trying to fight a hungry grizzly bear.

 

 

And somehow the man won. It was like something off a video game come to life. Unbelievable.

 

Runner up - Don Frye vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Pride 21

Only goes about five minutes or so but it's absolute insanity while it lasts. I love everything about this. Takayama clearly didn't have any MMA skills but unlike like Takada, he just thought fuck it and threw caution to the wind. I suppose he thought 'if I'm going to get battered I'm going to get some digs in as well.' Crazy fight. The staredowns are always awesome in Frye's fights and this was no different. Then that mad opening slugfest. Not pretty but it's wildly exciting. Poor Takayama wasn't the best looking bloke going in but he came out even worse;

 

 

Also deserving of a mention - Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock 1. Yeah wasn't FOTY, wasn't competitive, but that fight was huge at the time and it lead to a great rivalry. Frye vs Shamrock from Pride 19 was fun. As was Ninja vs Sperry from Pride 20 which kind of started the whole Chute Boxe vs Brazilian Top Team rivalry. Carlos Newton (yeah him again) vs Pele also from Pride 19 was fantastic as well.

 

Shite of the Year - Benji Radach vs Nick Serra - UFC 37.5

Looking at the cards from 2002 nothing jumped out as being particularly awful, although I'm probably either forgetting something or I haven't seen some of the worse stuff. This was pretty shit though. On the first UFC card to air on national television, this was the only turd on the show. Liddell vs Belfort was a good main event, you had Robbie Lawler doing his thing, and then there was this shite. Not really Radach's fault, but Serra was terrible. I don't know if this was just a bad day at the office or what. I don't recall seeing any other fights of his off the top of my head, but he doesn't really appear to have got the fighting genes of his brother. Not based off this anyway. Like Matt, Nick Serra is a skilled BJJ practitioner. Unfortunately he seemed to have nothing else. So we're treated to 15 minutes of him pissing about in the butt-scoot position, unsuccessfully trying to goad Radach to join him. I don't think Nick Serra was ever invited back.

 

2003

Fight of the Year - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Mirko Cro Cop - Pride Final Conflict 2003

Excellent fight. Two of the very best heavyweights facing off at their peak. These were the consensus #2 and #3 behind Fedor at this time. And Nog proves again how stupidly tough he was to come through a total twatting from Cro Cop, the most feared striker in the sport at the time, and pull off the submission.

 

 

Runner up - Fedor Emelianenko vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 1 - Pride 25

This would probably be FOTY for 2003 for many but while it's a great fight, it's all Fedor. Too one sided to take the top spot over Nog vs Cro Cop for me, but still a tremendous fight. I've said before, it's the way Fedor beat Nog that's most impressive. No-one thought Nog could be beat on the ground before this and Fedor destroyed him from the guard, which was usually where Nog was most dangerous. Some of the nastiest ground and pound you'll ever see and I'm still amazed Nog was able to make it to the final bell.

 

Other fights of note for 2003 - Lindland vs Baroni 2 was brilliant. Probably even better than the first one and the build up was top notch with Lindland unexpectedly getting into the mind games as well. Hughes vs Trigg 1 was an exciting short fight with a highlight reel finish as was Wanderlei vs Rampage 1 in the Pride GP finals. Not FOTY but I remember loving Renzo Gracie vs Carlos Newton from the first Pride Bushido show as well.

 

Shite of the Year - Heath Herring vs Giant Silva - Pride Shockwave 2003

Now I don't mind a freakshow fight. They're a bit of a guilty pleasure and I'd be lying if I said a part of me doesn't kind of miss them. But this was just plain bad. It somehow goes to round three which means enduring over 15 minutes of this - a fight consisting of Silva stumbling around as Herring kicks him in the shins and runs. It's schoolyard stuff but in front of 40,000 people. Freakshows are alright when they're short and silly, like Fedor vs Zulu or Cro Cop vs Del Rio. This just got embarrassing after a few minutes and descended into a bit of a poor comedy show.

 

Runners up - Ricco Rodriguez had a bad year

First he got knocked out by Tim Sylvia and lost his title. That can't have been pleasant. But I'm taking his two fights with Pedro Rizzo (UFC 45) and Nogueira (Pride GP) specifically here. I might be being harsh on one or both of them but I remember thinking they were both boring as shit when I first watched them. I suspect I'm right on Rodriguez vs Rizzo at least, as neither guy ever fought in the UFC again after that fight. The Nog fight I just remember being a dull stalemate but I haven't seen it in years to be fair. I did think Ricco won that fight as I recall.

 

2004

Fight of the Year - Olaf Alfonso vs John Polakowksi 1 - WEC 9

We've talked about this quite a bit in this thread, it's a bit of a UKFF favourite. Just about as wild and frantic a fight as you could ever see. I don't know if it's on YouTube, you can probably find a video or torrent of it somewhere. If you haven't seen it try to track it down. Mental fight, there's nothing else to really say. The opening 10 seconds is nuts and it sets the tone for what's to come. I love it. One of my all-time favourite fights to watch. I still chuck it on every now and then.

 

 

Runner up - Wanderlei Silva vs Rampage Jackson 2 - Pride 28

The best fight of one of the best trilogies in MMA history. A back and forth war built on pure hatred. And the finish is the stuff of legends. Total brutality. Wandy at his scariest.

 

 

Nick Diaz vs Robbie Lawler was fucking awesome as well. And Nogueira vs Sergei Kharitonov from Pride Critical Countdown is one of my favourite heavyweight fights to revisit. Wanderlei vs Mark Hunt from Shockwave was pure excitement also. A very strong year for MMA, 2004.

 

Shite of the Year - Giant Silva vs Henry 'Sentoryu' Miller - Pride Total Elimination 2004

The appeal of the MMA freakshow to me is when you take a big freak and throw them at a killer. Putting two big scrubs against each other was never going to be anything other than dire. And this was. They were obviously only matched up because Pride wanted Naoya Ogawa to go far in the GP tournament and because he'd fight the winner, he'd get an easy route to the semis. Where Fedor awaited him. Pride logic at its best. But yeah, crappy fight.

 

 

Lovely head of hair though. The Mel B off Bo Selecta look.

[Carbomb]

I'm glad you did those, wand, because for a few brief paragraphs, I don't feel like the noob - I remember catching Nogueira/CroCop and Silva/Herring while in Japan. I remember being absolutely blown away by the Nogueira submission - the guy's face looked like a savaged vagina, and suddenly won the match out of nowhere. It couldn't have been more like a movie win if it had actually been in a movie.

[jimufctna24]

Sanchez vs Parisyan was my fight of the year from then.

 

I'll have a think about this and try and draw up a list, although likelihood is I haven't watched as much Pride as most.

Yeah, you nailed it.

 

It is either that or one of the Barnett vs Nog fights that wand09 mentioned

 

On a personal noted, UFC 33 was the first shit MMA card I watched when I got a copy when I became a fan in 2005. Amazingly it did not turn me off being a fan, bloody horrible card that cost the company a fortune when it ran over the PPV time limit.

Edited February 22, 2014 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

the morbid curiosity in me means that one day im going to actually sit through UFC 33.

[wandshogun09]

On your sanity be it. I did it once, just because I got it in a double DVD with UFC 34. Never again. There was probably something OK on there. Like I said Liddell vs Bustamante wasn't that bad from what I recall of it, but still, when 'not that bad' is the best I can muster it's not good. I don't remember another show with more boring fights than UFC 33. Tito vs Vlad and Pulver vs Hallman was just a brutal way to end the show. 10 rounds of nothing.

[Magnum Milano]

I've just gone for a Listamania as opposed to trying to do a detailed write up. I've not watched everything so I've omitted doing Fights of the Year for both 2000 and 2001 and again, this is pretty Pride-lite due to not having watched as much as most. Here goes:

 

1996 Don Frye vs Amaury Bitetti (UFC 9)

1997 Maurice Smith vs Mark Coleman (UFC 14)

1998 Dan Henderson vs Carlos Newton (UFC 17)

1999 Frank Shamrock vs Tito Ortiz (UFC 22)

2002 Don Frye vs Yoshihiro Takayama (Pride 21)

2003 Wanderlei Silva vs Hidehiko Yoshida (Pride Final Conflict 2003)

2004 Olaf Alfonso vs John Polakowski (WEC 9)

2005 Tetsuya Kawajiri vs Takanori Gomi (Pride Bushido 9)

2006 Diego Sanchez vs Karo Parisyan (UFC Ultimate Fight Night 'Sanchez vs Parisyan')

2007 Chris Horodecki vs Shad Lierley (IFL)

2008 Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le (Strikeforce/Elite XC 'Shamrock vs Le')

2009 Josh Thomson vs Gilbert Melendez II (Strikeforce 'Evolution')

2010 Chris Leben vs Yoshihiro Akiyama (UFC 116)

2011 Dan Henderson vs Mauricio Shogun Rua (UFC 139)

2012 Chan Sung Jung vs Dustin Poirier (UFC on Fuel 'Zombie vs Poirier')

2013 Mark Hunt vs Antonio Silva (UFC Ultimate Fight Night 'Hunt vs Bigfoot')

 

I struggled heavily on Fights of the Year for between 2007 and 2010 as thought there were numerous viable alternatives for each year.

 

2007: Chuck/Wanderlei, Diaz/Gomi, Stout/Fisher II, Huerta/Garcia, Edgar/Griffin

2008: Douglas/Malaipet, Condit/Miura, McCullough/Cerrone, Faber/Pulver, Torres/Maeda, Alvarez/Hansen, Gurgel/Riley

2009: Brown/Faber II, Torres/Mizugaki, Gurgel/Heun, Smith/Radach, Le/Smith, Henderson/Cerrone, Couture/Nogueira

2010: Henderson/Pettis, Jorgensen/Pickett, Hominick/Jabouin, Zombie/Garcia, Silva/Sonnen, Lesnar/Carwin

[wandshogun09]

Mine probably won't stray too far from that, Magnum.

 

2005

Fight of the Year - Shogun Rua vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira - Pride Critical Countdown 2005

This is my favourite Pride fight ever and my 2005 FOTY. Dana White would argue (until he went that Erik Koch shade of pink he goes when he's angry) that the Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar TUF 1 finale was the FOTY in 2005, "it is what it fucking is", he'd say. He'd be wrong. In my opinion anyway. Griffin and Bonnar don't have shit on this. You could argue that that fight was more significant in the growth of the sport in America, sure, but that doesn't mean the actual fight was better.

 

Shogun and Little Nog went to war for twenty minutes in a classic. Whereas Griffin vs Bonnar was admittedly a fun and entertaining brawl, this had a bit of everything. Brawling, technical striking, knockdowns, takedowns, the grappling chess game, the built-in Chute Boxe vs BTT rivalry, the importance of advancing in the GP. It was a proper battle. And one that each time I watch it, I'm still not sure who should've won, nine years after the fact.

 

 

There were some of these nifty diving punches as well. I love this fight. I must've watched it at least ten times. And although I doubt it'd live up to this one, I still hope they rematch in the UFC at some point.

 

Runners up

I suppose you've got to mention Griffin vs Bonnar 1. I know some say it's overrated (it definitely is by the UFC and Dana, although I understand why they hold it so dear), but it's still an exciting, wild fight to sit down and watch. Considering my love for the Rua vs Nog fight, everything else from 2005 is battling for silver and, to borrow one of Dana's favourites, this fight is "in the mix" for second place.

 

Still, 2005 had some awesome fights. You had that nutty one rounder in Hughes vs Trigg 2. That might pip Griffin vs Bonnar for me as well actually. Plus the epic clash of the titans - Fedor vs Cro Cop in Pride. Diego Sanchez vs Nick Diaz from the TUF 2 finale is a personal favourite of mine, and one a lot of people mightn't have seen - Joachim Hansen vs Caol Uno from the first HERO'S show is a real treat.

 

Once again, Pride Bushido 9 needs mention here also. Gomi vs Kawajiri, Edwards vs Hansen, Sakurai vs Hansen and Gomi vs Azeredo 2. All fantastic.

 

Shite of the Year - Gabriel Gonzaga vs Kevin Jordan - UFC 56

Jesus Christ. Just avoid this. There's not much I can say that will do justice to how ugly and dull this fight is. Even the late knockout can't salvage it. It reminds me of Mir vs Cro Cop in that sense, a fight so terrible that even a highlight reel finish doesn't make you think 'fuck, what a knockout!', it just makes you think 'thank fuck that's over'.

 

There were some shitty fights in the early going of the Pride GP from what I remember. Nothing anywhere near as shit as the above but pretty boring. Ricardo Arona vs Dean Lister for one. I may be remembering harshly but I also thought Igor Vovchanchyn vs Yuki Kondo was surprisingly cack as well.

 

2006

Fight of the Year - Diego Sanchez vs Karo Parisyan - UFC Fight Night 6

Gone for this in the end but it's very close between this and my runner up. Two reasons I chose this - 1) I rewatched it again last night, so it's fresh in my memory. And was every bit as great as I remembered. And 2) I couldn't separate the two Nog vs Barnett fights so thought fuck it.

 

It's a brilliant fight either way. Parisyan seems a right cock as a person but at his pomp, which really only spanned 2004-06ish, he was by far one of my favourite fighters to watch. I've always been a big bummer of Judo in MMA. What looks cooler in MMA, other than certain finishes, than a well timed Judo throw? And Karo busts out a couple of beauties in this one. There's Diego kneeing Karo's tooth flying as well. And the action is non-stop. I can't remember where it placed in the UFC's Top 100 Fights thingy, nor can I be arsed to check, but it's a fight they don't mention enough really.

 

Runners up - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Josh Barnett 1 & 2 - Pride Final Conflict & Shockwave 2006

So yeah, I couldn't separate these two fights. I can't remember them in enough detail to choose one over the other, I just know I rate them both easily among my favourite MMA fights ever, and definitely right up there with my favourite heavyweight fights. If I sat down and watched them both back to back, I'd likely be able to choose a favourite, but whatever. I keep meaning to watch them again actually.

 

Aside from those, you had Tito vs Forrest 1 at UFC 59 which was fun. I really like Hughes vs Penn 2 from UFC 63. Gilbert Melendez and Clay Guida had a five round corker on the second ever Strikeforce. Mark Hunt had two mental fights with Yosuke Nishijima and Tsuyoshi Kosaka in Pride that year. Seriously, they're rarely brought up but they're both tons of fun. And Melvin Manhoef and Mr Cyborg had one of the craziest brawls in MMA history at Cage Rage 15. Oh, I'll throw in Scott Smith vs Pete Sell from the TUF 4 finale as well. Why not? The finish was ridiculous and it was a good scrap even before that.

 

Shite of the Year - Tim Sylvia - Just Tim Bastard Sylvia

Pick one.

 

His slow motion, plodding five round rubber match with Andrei Arlovski where nothing happened? A turd made even worse by the fact that they followed the hugely anti-climatic Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock 2. And the fight was in front of one of the biggest PPV audiences in company history. What awful timing for such a dire two punch combo of headlining fights. Plus there were no indications this would be such dump, considering their first and second fights were both short and exciting. Crap.

 

His five round snoozer with Jeff Monson where nothing happened? A fight so awful it forced Randy Couture out of retirement to stop the nonesense that was the 2006 UFC heavyweight division. The UFC knew this was going to suck balls as well, hence why it played second fiddle to Hughes vs GSP 2 on the PPV. You'd never see a Cain Velasquez title defence in co-main under Hendricks vs Lawler nowadays.

 

His three round fence hugfest with Assuerio Silva? More commonly known as the fight where Sylvia's shorts kept falling down.

 

 

Maybe they got bored and fell down in despair. The old rumour was that Terrible Tim actually shat himself in this fight. Can you fucking imagine? Grim stuff. He then spent the whole fight trying to keep his shorts up while they both did nothing much in the way of fighting.

 

I may be off here but I'm fairly sure Sylvia actually called out Fedor after one of these fights as well. Ha!

 

Sylvia has this sewn up. 2006 was his year. Maybe his peak shitness was 2006. You can't really top cacking yo'self on live TV (if he did indeed, crap his shorts) when deciding a fake award called 'Shite of the Year'. If it was a real award, I'd picture it like a WWE Slammy, but shite brown in colour, and in the shape of Sylvia trying desperately to hold his kegs up.

 

Got to throw a mention for Frank Mir vs Dan Christison here. Mir showed up looking six months pregnant and struggled with the big lug to a close decision in a horrible fight. This was on the undercard of Sylvia vs Arlovski 3 as well. The horror. Cheick Kongo getting smothered by Carmelo Marrero at UFC 64 actually sent me to sleep as I recall. And the Serra vs Lytle TUF finale was a bitterly disappointing case of two guys playing it ultra safe.

 

2007

Fight of the Year - Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva - UFC 79

How often does a hugely anticipated fight actually live up to the hype? This was probably better than anyone even expected. Everyone wanted to see these two tangle since about 2003 when both guys really started to take off. The UFC/Pride situation always prevented it, although it would've happened in the 2003 GP finals had Chuck got by Rampage. I remember being mega excited when this one was finally put together. Them coming off losses didn't even put a hint of a dent in my giddiness for it. But I don't think anyone would've saw it going how it did. It had the feel of a first round KO either way for me, and everything I read or heard seemed to be the same. The only debate at all seemed to be who'd KO who. Anything other than a brutal KO was unfathomable.

 

 

But we got three rounds of this. Both just swinging for the fences and neither could put the other away. It was way better than any letdown of a one minute KO would've been.

 

Runner up - Nick Diaz vs Takanori Gomi - Pride 33

This is my second favourite Pride fight behind Shogun vs Nog. Pride's last great fight as well. It's nuts. Gomi nearly beheads Diaz with a loppy haymaker, Diaz overwhelms him with his volume punching, taunting etc. Diaz's face is cut to ribbons. There's not a dull moment to be found. And to top it off it ends with a fucking gogoplata.

 

 

As far as I know, the first in MMA history. Or did Aoki do someone before that with it?

 

2007 was one of my favourite years in MMA. Maybe not most peoples choice but I love it to this day. You had the Pride guys like Cro Cop, Big Nog, Wanderlei, Shogun, Rampage and Hendo all coming in. You had absolutely batshit upsets like Serra vs GSP and Gonzaga vs Cro Cop. Plus the fights were top class on the whole.

 

The lightweight division in particular really became a highlight. Roger Huerta vs Clay Guida, Frankie Edgar vs Tyson Griffin, Spencer Fisher vs Sam Stout 2, Tyson Griffin vs Clay Guida, Roger Huerta vs Leonard Garcia, Jason Black's hidden gems with Thiago Tavares and Matt Grice, Joe Stevenson vs Kurt Pellegrino. Fuck. Lightweight was the shit in '07.

 

Elsewhere Parisyan vs Josh Burkman (UFC 71) was excellent. As was War Machine vs Jared Rollins (TUF 6 finale), Gina Carano vs Julie Kedzie (EliteXC), Chris Horodecki vs Shad Lierly (IFL - good shout, Magnum), Frank Shamrock vs Phil Baroni (Strikeforce). All the promotions had their moments in 2007.

 

Shite of the Year - Heath Herring vs Jake O'Brien - UFC Fight Night 8

This is one a lot won't have seen and if you haven't then I'd urge you to keep it that way. When people talk about how the Pride fighters struggled upon entering the UFC, this one doesn't come up. Partly because Herring wasn't as big a name coming in as your Wanderleis, Cro Cops and Shoguns. But also it wasn't as high profile a fight, being shoved on a Fight Night under a Rashad Evans-Sean Salmon headliner.

 

Anyway, this was complete arse from start to finish. It basically consists pretty much entirely of O'Brien taking Herring down but doing nothing else - and Herring repeatedly being unable to stop the takedown or get back to his feet, yet just lying there under O'Brien feeling sorry for himself and gesturing and moaning for the ref to stand them up. Which he doesn't. That's the fight in a nutshell as I recall.

 

Tim Sylvia rears his gormless head again here for his utter stinker against Brandon Vera at UFC 77. Total shit. Eddie Sanchez vs Soa Palelei from UFC 79 is up there as well. Made all the more excruciating at the time because everyone knew Chuck vs Wanderlei was next, and these two fuckers dragged out their shit until the third round making everyone wait that bit longer. Diego Sanchez had maybe the only crap fight of his life against Josh Koscheck at UFC 69 as well. The grudge going in plus their history as TUF 1 housemates had everyone expecting a great fight. Diego nearly shoved Kos off the stage at the weigh in, then came in with a big mariachi band playing him into the Octagon on the night. Then...fuck all. Koscheck just jabbed his way to an easy decision against a Diego who looked like he wasn't fully awake. To be fair, Sanchez had been dealing with staph in camp but it was a crappy fight regardless of the circumstances.

[jimufctna24]

A few points.

 

2005 - I agree Hughes vs Trigg 2 was better than Forrest vs Bonnar. It had a lot more drama in a shorter amount of time. The running slam is the first MMA moment that made me stand up and say "wow". I love UFC 52, my 2nd ever UFC show as a viewer, and one that I will always cherish.

 

2006 - Tim Sylvia is a sack of shite, but I always looked forward to his fights. Watching the bumbling blob was always a guilty pleasure of mine. I am not sure if he was that crap he was funny, or I just wanted someone to smack him. Fuck 3rd Arlovski fight though, that one is fucking horrible, and I did not even find it amusing. Arlovski should have been so much more.

 

2007 - It is a great year. It leaves a sour taste due to Pride's demise to some, but there are a lot of great fights and moments. I agree Liddel vs Silva is the FOTY though. The UFC finally achieved a credible roster in 2007, they had world class fighters spread in all 5 of their weightclasses, and worthy/credible Champions. This seems a given now, but in 2003-2006, it seemed these days were long way away.

Edited February 28, 2014 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

holy shit, i forgot all about that Heath Herring/Jake O'Brien fight. Ahhh Heath Herring's UFC run was such a disappointment, if that guy had come in a year or two sooner and fully motivated he could have been the champ, i miss Heath. He doesn't get much credit these days.

 

As for Gonzaga/Jordan, yep that was fucking lousy...i think everyone eventually gave Gonzaga a pass though because it was like week after his child passed away or something, terrible situation. Would i be right in saying though that that was probably the only Gonzaga performance not worth watching? win or lose something always happens in a Gabriel Gonzaga fight.

 

and i know it's recent, but he needs this back too...

 

[wandshogun09]

I've started watching the 2000 Pride GP again. Hadn't seen it in years so it was all pretty hazy.

 

Anyway, Sakuraba vs Mezger - I forgot all about this, what the fuck was Ken Shamrock playing at there? Saku and Mezger fought a fairly close 10 minute first round, it was declared a draw so they were meant to fight an overtime round. But Shamrock goes mental saying Mezger should've got the decision outright (which you can make a bit of a case for but it wasn't a shutout or anything), and orders Mezger to leave the ring. Effectively forfeiting the fight and handing Sakuraba the win and a place in the next round.

 

What. A. Twat. Mezger should've told him to fuck off. What was he doing? It was a competitive round. And Mezger was doing well for the most part defending Saku's shots. And on the feet he was getting the better of it. Even with the potential Japanese bias judging, there was a good chance Mezger would've gone on to win the fight. But Shamrock took that possibility off the table by pulling him out. Ridiculous. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your Bo Selecta mask face.

 

Made a right boob of himself as well. Got in the ref's face screaming 'this is bullshit' and whatever else he was banging on about. Demanded Mezger get out of the ring like he was telling an unruly child off, pointing his finger and all sorts. Then got in Sakuraba's face, who'd done literally nothing wrong, and started whinging at him. The bemused, couldn't give a fuck look on Saku's face was priceless. Shamrock was in his full-on WWF gimmick mode here. I was half expecting Quadros to go 'Uh-oh, he's gonna snap, Bas' and for Mad Ken to start belly-to-bellying Pride officials.

 

So he made a prat of himself in front of 40-odd thousand people plus who knows how many watching at home. Plus he cost his mate a fight he had a very real chance of winning, and a place in the GP final round in one fell swoop. Good work. Mezger really should've just told him to piss off and fought on. He's a grown man.

Edited March 7, 2014 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

Ken was never the sharpest knife in the draw. He himself had a long history of pulling out of UFC tournaments in the 90's , which led to many questioning his heart (and legacy). Read No Holds Barred by Clyde Gentry if you want a full insight folks. It paints a tale of a man who could have been so much more, but ended up in many respects a nearly man.

 

That incident sums up Ken and the Lions Den. A stubborn dictator leader set in his ways, and wanting his team built in his image. The Lion's den never evolved, and failed to be relevant after Mezger retired, and Vernon White faded away. Never has a MMA team piggybanked of one man's name so much, I can only name 4 members in the entire sodding team's history (the ones I mentioned above, and Jerry Bolander, who I only know through Tito walloping him). Oh shite make that 5, there was that Heavyweight they had who headkicked Mark Coleman

 

White was a journeyman, Shamrock was shite from around 2000 onwards and I am clueless of what happened to Bolander (I am not going to google it to save my credibility either. The Heavyweight I mentioned I think was called Pete Williams?, other than the Coleman knockout, I am not sure he did much else (did he get beat by Randleman?, I am determined not to cheat!). The only other thing I remember is a young Frank Mir braking his arm.

 

Thank fuck Frank got away from them, if not I am convinced Ken would have held him back.

Edited March 7, 2014 by jimufctna24