The 411 MMA Top 5 01.07.10: The Worst Fights Of 2009

Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.07.2010

From Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander and Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites to James McSweeney vs. Wes Shivers and Hong Man Choi vs. Jose Canseco, the 411 MMA writers decide the worst fights of 2009! Check out the full column to see which fights made the list and why!



Welcome:
Welcome back to the MMA Top 5! What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 MMA will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. At the end, based on where all of these topics rank on people's list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It's highly non-official and final, like WAMMA. What we are going to do over the next few weeks is run the column twice a week to crown our best of 2009. From best and worst fight to best fighter and KO of the year, the staff will come together to share out best. Thanks for joining us, and lets get down to work.


And now…

THE WORST FIGHTS OF 2009!


Dustin James

5. Mike Russow vs. Justin McCully - UFC 102 - Attending UFC 102 live in my hometown of Portland, Oregon was one of the greatest moments of my life. However, the one memory that sours the entire event was watching this craptastic battle. This fight was so mind numbingly boring that I was actually longing for a Thales Leites fight. The Portland crowd was really hot the entire night, but there was something about these two that turned the crowd off. I highly don't recommend checking out their "classic" battle on YouTube!

4. Dean Lister vs. Thales Leites - MFC 23 - It's not often that an MMA fight is announced and I'm totally not interested due to both the participants involved. No matter how "talented" either Leites or Lister is, the fact is....both of them bore the ever-loving crap out of me. Well, let's just say that when the two finally met up in "Rip Van Winkle's Dream Fight" at MFC 23 in December, I didn't have to take any Ambien that night. Thank you Dana White for getting rid of these guys and not forcing me to watch them on your lovely PPV shows anymore.

3. Scott Junk vs. Matt Mitrione - Ultimate Fighter 10 - Man, was this fight horrible or what? There's nothing I love more than seeing two out of shaped guys throwing their fists like they can barely move. Seriously....there must have been 2,430 punches thrown in this fight....yet only 10 of them had any sort of power put behind it. I have said in the past that "TUF 10" was one of the worst "Ultimate Fighter" seasons mainly due to the horrible fights that took place and this fight is a BIG reason why.

2. James McSweeney vs. Wes Shivers - Ultimate Fighter 10 - Somehow, someway, James McSweeney managed to top my list of "fighters I really dislike" in 2009. Not only did the guy come across as a prick on the show (really dude, what was up with the constant "trying to get in "Rampage's face" move?) but his fighting skills were hardly anything to talk about. As a matter of fact, his fight with Wes Shivers on "TUF 10" was so bad, I actually apologized to my non-hardcore MMA fans the next day. The only good thing that came out of this fight is that we never had to see Shivers fight again in the UFC. If only they could cut McSweeney now....

1. Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites - UFC 97 - I remember right before UFC 97 I was still trying to convince some of my buddies that Anderson Silva was one of the most dangerous fighters in the world. I remember telling them "Check out UFC 97 this weekend. Silva's going to DOMINATE Leites in the first round!" Well, needless to say....that didn't happen. Instead we got an Anderson Silva that looked....well....a little off. He didn't really looked "scared" of Leites exactly, he just seemed really nervous to make any sort of explosive move to finish him off. UFC President Dana White definitely was not a fan of this fight either as he put both fighters ON NOTICE once it was over. As a matter of fact, Leites went on to have another boring fight with Alessio Sakara which ended up getting him booted from the UFC. Anderson Silva on the other hand? He reminded everyone how dangerous he really was when he knocked Forrest Griffin's mug off later in the year...

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Larry Csonka

5. Brandon Vera vs. Krzysztof Soszynski – UFC 102 - Some will say that this fight wasn't that bad, and that I only put it here because of my dislike for Brandon Vera. You're right.

4. Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander - TUF 10 Finale - Yeah, I am a Kimbo supporter, and the man is a ratings draw, but this fight was supposed to be explosive with someone getting knocked the hell out in spectacular fashion. That just didn't happen, and we got a pretty damn bad fight as a result. The only redeeming thing from this fight was the KIMBO-DRIVA-PLEX~!

3. Thales Leites vs. Dean Lister - MFC 23 - Thales Leites makes his first appearance on my list in a fight that had a ton of possibilities if you enjoy the ground game. Unfortunately we got a giant humpfest that was a sure cure for insomnia. I know that these guys can't make every fight exciting or must see, but man, I can only imagine the mat burn they had from this. Better luck next year guys.

2. Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites – UFC 97 - Anderson Silva is a great fighter, there is no doubt there, but even great fighters will be involved in bad fights, and this one, this one was pretty damn bad. Silva looked like he did not care to be in there, Leites looked scared, and what we got was a bad sparring session that made both guys look bad. Also, to Thales Leites, I don't want it to look like I hate you, but really, but I didn't enjoy these fights. Good luck buddy.

1. James McSweeney vs. Wes Shivers - Exhibition on TUF 10 - I'll keep this short, this was one of, if not the most pathetic display of MMA ever displayed on television. Between the lack of skill and absence of cardio, this fight was a complete embarrassment to the sport. Both of these men should hang their head in shame for the "effort" they put out, exhibition or not. BE GONE.

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Jonathan Solomon

5. Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander - TUF 10 Finale - Who could have guessed two bangers matched up with each other turned the fight into a snoozefest? Kimbo Slice finally listened to his former trainer, Bas Rutten, and did not come out firing on all cylinders as he did when he lost to Seth Petruzelli. And Houston Alexander? He was scared to trade with Kimbo and instead spent three whole rounds throwing leg kicks and not doing much else. If not for the awesome Kimbo-plex in round two, this fight would be higher on my list.

4. Thales Leites vs. Dean Lister - MFC 23 - Even if you love grappling matches, this MMA bout was awful. To his credit, Leites tried to inflict some damage in this fight, but Dean Lister did next to nothing for three rounds. Lister hung on to Leites and even used the infamous butt scoot. Why? Who the hell knows. Dean Lister may be one of the top grapplers in the world, but nobody should ever pay to see him compete in an MMA match again.

3. James McSweeney vs. Wes Shivers - Exhibition on TUF 10 - While this fight may not be counted as a sanctioned fight because it took place during the 10th season of TUF, it was awful. Both men gassed early on which meant for most of the fight, they threw half-assed strikes with no power behind them. This was the second fight of the season and foreshadowed what was to come for most of the season.

2. Hong Man Choi vs. Jose Canseco - DREAM 9 - Seriously, what the hell? Sometimes Japan does the freak show thing way too over the top. I liked Bob Sapp vs. the cartoon character, but Jose Canseco against the giant?

1. Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites - UFC 97 - Holy crap. This was an awful main event fight over the UFC middleweight championship. Both men appeared concerned about their opponents skill set. What made this fight so frustrating was the belief that Thales Leites was not in Silva's league and despite that, Anderson Silva seemed way too cautious. Also, Thales Leites had his one shot to be champion and besides the first two rounds, did little to nothing to try and win. Leites was on his way out following this dastardly performance and Anderson Silva was booked against Forrest Griffin, who he destroyed.

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Samer Kadi

5. Mike Whitehead Vs Kevin Randleman, Strikeforce: Shields Vs Lawler - Not that either one of them is famous for having exciting fights, but you would still expect a little better from these two given the platform that Strikeforce was offering them. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Randleman started to gas midway through the first round. What was surprising was how easy Whitehead was able to take him down, although he did little to no damage from the top. In fact, he didn't even try.

4. Thales Leites Vs Alessio Sakara, UFC 101 - In a fight that was bad in both its action and its decision, Alessio Sakara edged out Thales Leites in a very controversial split decision. To make matters worse, Leites was coming off a horrible performance against Anderson Silva. Although to be fair, it was Sakara who was mainly responsible for the absolute boredom in this bout. Sakara never had much of a ground game, and facing a BJJ black belt like Leites, he decided to avoid the takedown at all cost, even if it meant not engaging and backpedaling for the entire fight. The funny thing is this wasn't even the last of atrocious Thales Leites bouts this year, as he would go on to have another snoosefest with Dean Lister, which for originality's sake, I chose to leave off the list.

3. Matt Mitrione Vs Scott Junk, The Ultimate Fighter season 10 - What's worse about this fight? The fact that it contained 3 minutes of sloppy mindless brawling before both fighters gassed out or that it managed to get Dana White to his feet and applauding in admiration? There's nothing to say really aside the fact that this season of "The Ultimate Fighter" featured some of the worst bouts in the show's history and this was no exception. The funny thing is that by all accounts, this was a bad decision, as the fight should have gone to a sudden victory round. Luckily for us, it didn't.

2. Anderson Silva Vs Thales Leites, UFC 97 - Oh yes, Anderson Silva's "redemption" fight. Anderson Silva was coming off a lackluster performance against Patrick Coté in a bout that saw the Canadian injure his knee after two rounds. This was supposed to be The Spider's grand return to form as he took on dangerous BJJ practitioner Thales Leites. The result was one of the worst UFC main events in history, as Silva clearly had no respect for Leites and chose to play around instead, landing punches to the thigh and weird leg kicks for five rounds. Leites, in the biggest fight of his career saw that the best way to become middleweight champion was to flop to his back at any given opportunity and hope that the best fighter in the world was stupid enough to follow him. The fight in my opinion, wasn't as bad as some of the aforementioned fights on the list, but given the level of talent involved and the magnitude of the occasion, it has to be this high.

1. James McSweeney Vs Wes Shivers, The Ultimate Fighter season 10 - And finally we come to this, the fight that almost made me ashamed to be an MMA fan. This fight had everything you could hope for in a bad fight. Two heavyweights with little to no skills? Check. Sloppy striking? Check. Little to no action? Check. Fighters gassing two minutes into the fight? Check. A bad decision? Check. Me thanking the MMA gods for the bad decision? Check. Yeah, this was bad.

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Daniel Bonnizzio

5. Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander - TUF 10 Finale - Two guys who made names off of their willingness to throw MONSTER bombs right off the bat turned from a fight we all though would end in the first into one of the most plodding boring decisions all year. Kimbo showed skill in the second but the overall thing is 15 minutes, not 3. 12 minutes of Houston running around in circles a good fight does not make.

4. Minowaman vs. Sokodjou - FiELDS Dynamite!! 2009 - I don't remember the last time two guys both got yellow cards for inaction...on the feet...twice in one fight. The final round was three minutes of bouncing on the heels and pawing for reach, then Minowa's punches and the fight was over. Before that it was slow, less than methodical, and poorly executed on both men's parts. Terrible from what I would have considered to be an exciting from bell-to-bell fight.

3. Scott Junk vs. Matt Mitrione - TUF 10 - The first three minutes of this fight was the definition of a brawl. Matt went out and looked like he wanted to murder Junk. Cool. Once he cooled down though, they both STOPPED. Looping punches with no accuracy and less power, open mouths, swimming in Jello. Had the fight ended in the first after Mitrione's initial assault, it would have been great. Huge assault, vicious strikes, powerful. Instead, we got two gorillas with no tanks gasping for air at four minutes in looking like they were coming off a party and not MMA practices.

2. Wes Shivers vs. James McSweeney - TUF 10 - James McSweeney had come into the fight a high prospect, what with being from Greg Jackon's camp and all. Shivers was touted as having good stamina out on the field. When the fight happened though both men were gassed in the opening minutes, with Shivers eventually actually holding the cage for support. I know that being out in the hot can sap SOME energy from you, but come on. That was ludicrous.

1. Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites - UFC 97 - Yeah, the best way to win is to hit your back. Thales, avoid asking Jenna Jameson for advice. Silva was already going to be bored going into the fight but Thales made it 100x worse. It was so bad and action-less that multiple rounds were scored draws. When you have someone who was undefeated in all of his fights in the UFC thus far come out and draw with him in multiple rounds, it was bad.

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Jeremy Lambert

5. UFC 101 - Thales Leites vs. Alessio Sakara - No one saw this fight unless they were in the building or are one of those fans who just has to watch every fight even if they hear it was terrible. Unfortunately I was one of those fans in the building. This fight was a lot like Leites vs. Silva except neither guys were considered stars and the crowd had already hated Leites due to his fight with Silva. Leites wanted nothing to do with Sakara on the feet and every time he got him down, Sakara would get back up. Unfortunately Sakara was afraid to engage in fear of being taken down. I find fights to be worse if the wrong guys wins so when Sakara was announced as the winner (despite almost everyone feeling Leites won) my level of hatred for this fight grew.

4. TUF 10 Finale - Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander - Going into this fight we all expected the first person to land a punch would win. Unfortunately neither fighter landed a punch in the first round and after all the circling by Houston and the chasing by Kimbo, they were both gassed after round one. The fight had its moments (mainly Kimbo's suplex in the second round) but for what we expected to what we got, this was a terrible fight. Neither man wanted to engage and at the end of the fight they both collapsed to the mat like they were dead. Just an all around terrible fight.

3. DREAM 10 - Shinya Aoki vs. Vitor Ribeiro - I was really excited for this fight as it pitted two of the best grapplers in the world against each other. What I got was two of the worst strikers in the world against each other. Shinya Aoki spent the entire fight circling away and throwing weak kicks as Ribeiro did almost nothing. Every time Ribeiro tried to get the fight to the ground, he wasn't close on his takedown attempts and it looked as if Aoki wanted nothing to do with the ground game of Ribeiro. It was very hard to watch especially at 5 in the morning.

2. TUF 10 - James McSweeney vs. Wes Shivers - There were a lot of bad fights on TUF10 but this was the worst of the bunch. Both fighters gassed about two minutes into the fight, neither fighter had the killer instinct to finish the other off, and it seemed like they were fighting in slow motion the entire time. McSweeney did nothing in this fight to prove that he deserved to be picked #1 overall by Rashad Evans and Shivers didn't light the world on fire either. What made it worse is that a lot of people, including myself, thought Shivers won the fight and were upset when McSweeney picked up the decision.

1. UFC 97 - Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites - I can't think of another fight this year that included one of the best fighters in the world literally toying with his opponent while the fans chanted the name of another fighter. Thales Leites didn't deserve to be in the same cage as Silva and everyone knew it, including Silva. But instead of finishing off Leites in a round or two, Silva decided to prove that he can punch a man in the kneecap and get away with it. Leites wanted nothing to do with Silva on the feet and couldn't get him to the ground so he just took whatever Silva decided to throw at him. It was boring, the crowd shit all over it, and Anderson Silva became the biggest heel in the company until UFC 101.

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AND 411's WORST FIGHTS OF 2009 ARE…



5. Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander - TUF 10 Finale – 6pts.




4. Dean Lister vs. Thales Leites - MFC 23 – 7pts.




3. Scott Junk vs. Matt Mitrione - Ultimate Fighter 10 {Episode 7} – 9pts.




2. James McSweeney vs. Wes Shivers - Ultimate Fighter 10 {Episode 2} – 24pts.




1. Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites - UFC 97 – 28pts.

Come back Monday when we decide the BEST KNOCKOUTS of 2009~!

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