A look at the best moments, best fights and best feats in MMA in 2010.
As we say goodbye to another year, I present my second annual MMA year-end awards.
While Showdown Joe and MMA Connected delivered a tremendous year-in-review show and gave their top 10 fights of the year, top 10 stories and top 10 fighters, my list is 10 winners in 10 separate -- and in some cases, unique -- categories (along with some honourable mentions). Some are traditional (such as top knockout), while others are a little different.
Enjoy, and have a happy new year.
1. UPSET OF THE YEAR: Fabricio Werdum submits Fedor Emelianenko, Strikeforce, June 26
Many people will look to Frankie Edgar defeating B.J. Penn, not once, but twice, as the year's biggest upset(s). But in my mind, the mighty Fedor being beaten for the first time (I say "beaten" because his only other loss was due to a cut) has to be considered the biggest shocker of 2010.
Not that Werdum isn't a great fighter capable of big wins, but I never expected the WAMMA champion to lose so quickly and especially in the fashion that he did, coming at Werdum overly aggressively and leaving himself vulnerable for the capitalizing armbar.
Runner-up: Frank Edgar defeats B.J. Penn by unanimous decision, UFC, April 10 & Aug. 28
Take your pick as to which was more stunning: the first one, since nobody expected Edgar to pull it off and the fight was so close; or the rematch, since many expected Penn to rebound yet this time it was even more one-sided for Edgar.
Honourable mention:
Pat Curran over Roger Huerta, Bellator 17 lightweight tournament semi-final, May 6
Marloes Coenen defeats Sarah Kaufman by armbar, Strikeforce women's title bout, Oct. 9
Zoila Frausto defeats Megumi Fujii by split decision, Bellator 34 women's title bout, Oct. 28
2. RABBIT OUT OF A HAT AWARD: Anderson Silva defeats Chael Sonnen by triangle at 3:10 of Round 5, UFC 117, Aug. 7
This is a new category this year, replacing "rally of the year" with one a little more specific. In this case, we're talking about a fighter who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, a fighter who was moments away from a certain loss but managed to "pull out" a miraculous victory.
This "inaugural" award could also be dubbed the "Spider out of a hat" because this easily goes to Anderson (The Spider) Silva for his Houdini-like victory over Chael Sonnen, when he managed to pull off a stunning triangle after being utterly dominated for four-plus rounds. I wouldn't call the submission itself the best (Sonnen made a terrible mistake) but it was amazing to see the never-give-up attitude of the champion.
Runner-up: Jorge Santiago defeats Kazuo Misaki by TKO at 4:30 of Round 5, Sengoku 14 title bout, Aug. 22
Misaki's corner throws in the towel while Santiago is pummeling him with half a minute left in fifth after most likely being significantly down on all judges' scorecards after four rounds.
Honourable mention:
Mike Russow defeats Todd Duffee by KO at 2:33 of Round 3, UFC 114, May 29
Knockout punch out of nowhere in third round while being manhandled for the first two.
Carlos Condit defeats Rory MacDonald by TKO at 4:53 of Round 3, UFC 115, June 12
TKO with seven seconds left in third after losing first two rounds to young Canadian.
3. SLICK SUB AWARD: Phil Davis's modified kimura of Tim Boetsch, UFC 123, Nov. 20
This award is simply about pure form, and not significance (thus, Werdum and Silva don't get extra credit for their efforts). And when your submission immediately gets its own name, as Phil Davis's behind-the-back pin and torque of Tim Boetsch's arm was dubbed the "Mr. Wonderful" (after his nickname) by commentator Joe Rogan, you know it was a thing of beauty.
Runner-up: Cole Miller's inverted triangle, kimura combo on Dan Lauzon, UFC 108, Jan. 2
Honourable mention:
C.B. Dollaway's rolling guillotine of Joe Doerksen, UFC 119, Sept. 25
Shinya Aoki's Achilles lock of Tatsuya Kawajiri, Dream.15, July 10
Douglas Lima's triangle-armbar of Jesse Juarez, MFC 27, Nov. 12
4. QUICK KO AWARD: Mauricio Rua KO's Lyoto Machida, 3:35 of Round 1 for light-heavyweight title, UFC 113, May 8
My favourite part of Mauricio (Shogun) Rua's devastating knockout of the previously unbeaten Machida was the calmness and calculation with which he completed it. First he managed to mount the champion and then took his time to pause and reposition the head of a defenseless Machida in order to deliver the final blow.
It wasn't the most booming of knockouts, but it was the most well-executed in my opinion. And it wasn't the fastest of the year by any stretch, but it definitely came a lot quicker than most expected as many were preparing for another five-round war like their first meeting.
Runner-up: Alistair Overeem KO's Todd Duffee for Dream interim heavyweight title, 19 seconds, at Dynamite!! 2010, Dec. 31
A wicked left hook from arguably the best heavyweight outside the UFC left Duffee motionless while hanging on the ropes, in the final event of the year in Japan.
Honourable mention:
Hector Lombard KO's Jay Silva, 6 seconds (record), at Bellator 18, May 13
B.J. Penn KO's Matt Hughes, 21 seconds, at UFC 123, Nov. 21
Robbie Lawler KO's Matt Lindland, 50 seconds, at Strikeforce, Dec. 4
5. MOST CONTROVERSIAL RESULT (WORST DECISION): Sean Sherk defeats Evan Dunham by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29), at UFC 119, Sept. 25
There certainly were a lot of bad decisions in 2010, and they seemed to get worse as the year went on. Many will immediately point to the Leonard Garcia-Nam Phan fight earlier this month, and while I agree that was one of the worst I've seen, at least there was an argument to be made that Garcia was busier and could have earned points for that.
In my mind there was one decision which I couldn't see any way it could have been judged as such and that was Dunham's first official career loss. The former champion, Sherk may have earned the first round, but I could not see any conceivable way he won either of the next two and it's still hard for me to believe Dunham no longer has an unblemished record.
As you can see by FightMetric's stats, Dunham outstruck Sherk by more than double and outgrappled by a significant margin as well.
Runner-up: Josh Thomson defeats Gesias Cavalcante by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27), at Strikeforce, Oct. 9
“Dishonourable” mention (since there’s not a lot of honour in bad decisions):
Leonard Garcia was the beneficiary of two questionable decisions in his favour...
Leonard Garcia defeats Nam Phan by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30), at TUF 12 finale, Dec. 4
Leonard Garcia defeats Chan Sung Jung by split decision (29–28, 29–28, 28–29), at WEC 48, April 24
On the flip side, Canadian Tim Hague was on the losing end of two terrible decisions (and was cut by the UFC after each one). The first I didn't see live but it was called one of the worst ever, while the second I was present for in person in Montreal and I scored it a close 29-28 win for him, whereas one judge scored it 30-26 for Beltran!
Chris Tuchscherer defeats Tim Hague by majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28), at UFC 109, Feb. 6
Joey Beltran defeats Tim Hague by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 29-28), at UFC 113, May 8
Also note I did not include Edgar-Penn I here, as I personally scored the fight for Edgar, thus had no problem with the decision.
6. MOST IMPRESSIVELY DOMINANT PERFORMANCE: Georges St-Pierre defeats Josh Koscheck by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) for welterweight title, at UFC 124, Dec. 11
For the second year in a row, the most dominant performance in my mind goes to Canadian UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, this time for his five-round beatdown of Jose Koscheck. No he didn't get the finish. But have you ever seen someone thoroughly destroy another fighter from minute 1 to 25?
Koscheck had maybe a couple moments of success (a single takedown and a mid-fight exchange). But according to FightMetric, GSP had a staggering 136-30 advantage in the striking department (110-16 in significant strikes and 330-66 in striking effectiveness score) in five rounds.
Like UFC president Dana White said, GSP dominated a great fighter without wrestling, and that's an extremely impressive accomplishment.
Runner-up: Cain Velasquez defeats Brock Lesnar by TKO for heavyweight title, at UFC 121, Oct. 23
Velasquez needed only 4:12 to assert his dominance over the former champion. The stats tell the story on how one-sided it was.
Honourable mention:
Dominick Cruz defeats Scott Jorgensen by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) for bantamweight title, WEC 53, Dec. 16
7. BEST SURVIVAL AWARD: Brock Lesnar submits Shane Carwin, UFC 116, July 3
This is similar to the previous "rally of the year" category but is more about surviving an early heavy onslaught. This one awards one of the most impressive feats of the year, when Lesnar managed to keep his wits about him while being pummeled by an eager challenger in the first round. He managed to weather the early storm and then came back strong in the second to ultimately submit an exhausted Carwin.
(Unfortunately for Lesnar, he couldn't accomplish the same feat when in the same situation against Velasquez.)
Runner-up: Robbie Lawler defeats Melvin Manhoef by KO, Strikeforce, Jan. 30
Honourable mention:
Jake Shields defeats Dan Henderson by decision, Strikeforce, April 17
Antonio Silva defeats Mike Kyle by TKO, Strikeforce, Dec. 4
Jonathan Brookins defeats Michael Johnson by decision, TUF 12 finale, Dec. 4
8. JAW-DROPPING MOMENT OF THE YEAR: Anthony Pettis secures win over Ben Henderson, WEC 53, Dec. 16
This a new category, and pretty much created to award one thing: the off-the-cage "ninja" kick by Anthony Pettis in the fifth round of his WEC lightweight championship fight against Ben Henderson. I literally jumped out of my seat, as I'm sure many others did too. That was not something I ever expected to see in an MMA cage.
Runner-up: Jim Miller submits Charles Oliveira, UFC 124, Dec. 11
This was also something I didn't expect to see, an unbeaten Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt tapping out, to a kneebar of all things. Miller is a black belt himself, but the submission came out of nowhere. It was considered for submission of the year, but it was partly due to a mistake by Oliveira.
Dishonourable mention:
The only moment that came close to matching the reaction I had to Pettis was when Paul Daley nailed Josh Koscheck with a pure uppercut. Of course, it came well after the final bell, which was what made my jaw hit the table from my cageside seat when it happened.
The Strikeforce brawl involving Jake Shields and Jason (Mayhem) Miller gets a similar dis-honour.
9. THREE-ROUND DECISION OF THE YEAR: Leonard Garcia defeats Chan Sung Jung by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29), WEC 48, April 24
Instead of top fights of the year, I created two categories to award the best fights that went the distance. And they're split into two categories: best non-title bout (three rounds) and best title fight (five rounds).
The three-rounder was a no-brainer. I tried hard to choose another bout, because the Garcia vs. Korean Zombie slugfest was not the most technical of fights. But it was entertaining. These two fighters definitely made a name for themselves after that one.
Runner-up: Sean Pierson defeats Matt Riddle by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), UFC 124, Dec. 11
Honourable mention:
Jeremy Stephens defeats Sam Stout by split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29), UFC 113, May 8
Cub Swanson defeats Mackens Semerzier by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29), WEC 52, Nov. 11
10. CHAMPIONSHIP DECISION OF THE YEAR: Nick Diaz defeats K.J. Noons by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-47, 48-47) for welterweight title, Strikeforce, Oct. 9
Nick Diaz and K.J. Noons talked trash and they promised to deliver when they met for their rematch in October. And they sure did. The ebb and flow of their five-round decision was tremendous, with each employing so many different tactics and each landing well over 100 strikes at roughly the same one-third rate. Diaz ultimately emerged victorious in a fairly close decision.
Runner-up: Anthony Pettis defeats Ben Henderson by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) for lightweight title, WEC 53, Dec. 16.
Final note: the winners of the awards represent my personal favourites but I'm sure there are others you might think of. What were your top MMA moments of 2010?
