411mania.com: MMA - The 411 MMA Year-End Awards 1.12.12: Part Four

Welcome:
Welcome back to the MMA Top 5, year-end awards edition! 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, and the end, based on where all of these topics rank on people's list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It looks a little like this…

1st - 5
2nd - 4
3rd - 3
4th - 2
5th - 1

At the end we tally the scores and get our overall top 5! 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 2011. 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 2011!

Mark Radulich
5. Bobby Lashley vs. John Ott (TFC 17) - John Ott has had a terrible year and it started in March against Bobby Lashley. The story of this match was that this was supposed to be the beginning of Lashley's comeback after quitting on stool against Chad Griggs. He was matched up against John Ott (who is a middleweight) so that he could get a dominant win. Lashley mugged him for the first round but the kid had no quit in him so off to the second round they went. I bet you can't guess what happened next. As per usual, Lashley gassed out and Ott, God bless him, took the fight to Lashley. Lashley dove on top of Ott and proceeded to ground and pound his way to a third round despite looking like he was having an asthma attack the entire time. The best part of this was that the crowd who was solidly behind Lashley turned on him and were cheering wildly for spunky John Ott. The last round featured John Ott taunting and punching Lashley while he proceeded to do his best impression of Houston Alexander taking on Kimbo Slice. Seriously, Lashley was too tired to attack so he just walked backwards in a circle taking punches until he was able to ~~fall on top of him~~ take him down and ride out the rest of the round in top position. In one fight he managed to further discredit himself as a serious MMA competitor and made a hero out of a guy half his size. The sad part about all of this is that 2 months later Ott would have his face caved in by Jake Rosholt and Bobby Lashley would become the Shark Fights Heavyweight Champion. It's all very sad really.

4. Brett Rogers vs. Eddie Sanchez (TFC 20) - I didn't actually cover this fight for 411 because I went to go see Alestorm and Kamelot that night but I did watch it when I got home…which was a mistake because I was already tired. Holy cow was this bad. Sanchez kicked Rogers and Rogers did next to nothing about it. Instead, he clinched Sanchez and pressed him against the fence…a lot. That was the story of the whole fight except that by round three Rogers was doing nothing to defend himself and he was dog-tired. Amazingly, Sanchez only got a split decision win despite Rogers seemingly employing the Jeff Monson self-defense strategy of standing still while your repeatedly kicks you in the leg. I'm guess the one judge that awarded Rogers for clinching the entire fight was Tim Sylvia in disguise (more on that in a minute).

3. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum (Strikeforce Overeem vs. Werdum) - And now we go to the only fight that I've deemed the worst all year that didn't appear on HDNet. To this day whenever I think about this fight (and I try not to) I hear Kuch explaining that Werdum's strategy in this fight was to beg Overeem to dive into his guard when simply pulling guard failed. The rest of the fights on this list were just varying degrees of bad but this one actually upset me. That irony of this whole fight was that had Werdum actually chosen to stand with Overeem and then grapple with him if got a knock down, he probably would have beaten him. Werdum was actually doing just fine and according to Fight Metric, actually out struck him for most of the fight. However, pulling guard and flopping around like the fish from Faith No More's "Epic" video does not win fights. As much as I like Overeem, he didn't win that fight, Werdum for some strange reason just threw the win away.

2. Tim Sylvia vs. Andreas Kraniotakes (Pro Elite 2) - This fight was so bad it should be studied. Sylvia clinched with Kraniotakes for 15 minutes and basically smothered him against the cage, occasionally throwing knees. That's it. That is all that happened. That was 15 minutes of my life I will never get back and it was nearly the worst fight I've seen all year (and boy am I the authority on terrible fights).

1. Ryan Jimmo vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (MFC 31) - How did Jimmo get a job with the UFC after this abomination? This was a 25-minute staring match and by all accounts, including my own, he lost. However, much like Joe Warren vs. Marcus Galvao he somehow got a gift decision and has remained unbeaten since his very first fight. It's one thing to have a terrible match (see above) but when you basically won't fight and the judges award you the win anyway, then I can't imagine another circumstance where a fight could possibly be worse than this unless one of the competitors died. This fight was a black eye on MMA and thankfully only some Canadians and myself saw it.

Jonathan Solomon
5. UFC 130: Rampage Jackson vs. Matt Hamill - Jackson said he went into the fight with a broken hand, but damn was it an uninspiring fight. Fact is that once Hamill could not take him down, it turned into a one-sided ass whooping. The problem then was that Rampage just couldn't finish the fight and went on to win the main event after a 15-minute decision. One-sided fights that last that long are never entertaining and this was no exception. It should be noted that Hamill would go on to retire three months later after losing to Alexander Gustafsson so he had to have been thinking about it going into this May fight.

4. UFC 126: Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos - Miguel Torres made his UFC debut at UFC 126 against a fellow WEC veteran in Antonio Banuelos. If there was any question about how Torres would change his game in the wake of losses to Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez years earlier, it was clear. Torres stuck to his strict game plan of keeping the shorter Banuelos at a distance. He must have landed a million jabs, which rendered Banuelos unable to mount much of an offense. When you step onto a new platform with the reputation of being one of the most exciting fighters in the bantamweight division, this was not the type of performance you would expect. Sure, he won, but I can promise you there are not as many people super excited to see Torres fight like they were.

3. Bellator 48 - Cole Konrad vs. Paul Buentello - This was a non-title fight between champion Konrad and one of the most experienced heavyweights not under contract to the UFC/Strikfeorce, Buentello. For whatever reason, Buentello barely engaged throughout the three round fight. There was maybe one sequence during the 15-minute fight that was actually worthwhile to watch. The rest was Konrad, a dominant wrestler, throwing strikes attacking the hesitant Buentello. Seriously, you could hear his corner shouting at him to do something more than you paid attention to any actual fighting. It was the type of fight that makes you want to change the channel and that's the worst possible outcome for a Bellator card.

2. TUF 14 Finale: Jason Miller vs. Michael Bisping - This was a fight I anticipated greatly in large part because of the back and forth bickering between the two during season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter. There was Bisping in his own arrogant way, pissed off that the UFC outsider was coming in and talking. On the other hand, Mayhem was absolutely tired of Bisping's overwhelming trash talking. Miller even brought up on occasion the famous UFC 100 knockout when Dan Henderson smashed Bisping to the thrill of many fans. Unfortunately, when they stepped inside the cage in December, only one man came to fight. Miller gassed early and by the third round could literally not raise his arms to deliver punches. Bisping eventually finished him with body sots in the third round and neither man looked impressive at all. Of all the fights involving TUF coaches fresh off the show, this was the worst.

1. Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix: Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum - Yeah, there's no doubt about it, this fight was awful. There was a lot of hype going in because of the fact is was an opening round bout in the (now) infamous Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. Plus, it was the first legit top 10 opponent for Overeem in forever and Werdum submitted him five years earlier. Too bad the fight itself did not live up to the hype. Werdum spent the majority of the three round fight trying to coax Overeem to go to the ground. He pulled a Shinya Aoki by dropping to his back on occasion and even employing the laughable butt scooting strategy. Ironically, Werdum had success later in the fight striking against Overeem but he was already beaten on the scorecards and he did not do enough late to sway the judges. If you couldn't tell, whatever Overeem did in this fight was not even worth mentioning and that's just sad.

Dustin James
5. Any fight involving a non-UFC heavyweight fighter. - There are so many crappy heavyweight fighters in MMA, it's hard to single out five fights that sucked worse than the others this year. Therefore, I have reserved the #5 spot in my rankings for ANY non-Zuffa heavyweight fighter who competed at a fair near you this year. This goes for guys like Bobby Lashley, Tim Sylvia, Brett Rogers, and Paul Buentello. I don't care who you are, but chances are you bored the shit out of an MMA audience at some point this year, so congratulations. This award is for you.....

4. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Matt Hamill: UFC 130 - I didn't have high hopes for this fight once it actually was announced, and unfortunately my nightmare came true. Matt Hamill's only advantage over "Rampage" was his wrestling and once he failed to take Jackson down, he was forced to stand in front of "Rampage" and do absolutely jack and shit for fifteen straight minutes. Jackson looked very uninspired during this fight and it kind of felt like he never wanted to be in it to begin with. So what do you do when you have a guy that doesn't even want to be there fighting a guy who has no answer for what the other guy is throwing at him? You get one of those most boring main events in UFC history, that's what. Thankfully Matt Hamill retired not to long after this fight because if this performance was any indication of what his future performances would be like....us UFC fans were in for some real snoozers.

3. Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell: UFC 135 - I dare you to go back and watch this fight. No, wait. I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU! I honestly think someone could walk up to me right now and offer me $100 to go back and re-watch this fight and I'd take the $100 bill, roll it up, and slap them across the face with it. That's how bad this fight was. I've already mentioned my dislike for heavyweight fighters and this fight is the PERFECT EXAMPLE of what I'm talking about. By the end of this fight, these guys were both so tired and could hardly move that I'm thinking that a weakling like 411's Stewart Lange could have ran out and finished them both off with a Hulk Hogan leg drop. If you want to see the very worst of the UFC's heavyweight division in action, go back and watch this fight. Just don't say I didn't warn you when you feel like going on a murdering spree once it's over.

2. Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Michael Bisping: The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale - Usually when Michael Bisping wins an MMA fight, it's one of the most disappointing fights of the year. However, this one was especially special considering how god-awful Jason "Mayhem" Miller looked. For a guy who had been waiting six years to return to the Octagon, "Mayhem" sure could have fooled a lot of people who thought he was a top contender in MMA. Miller came out and looked good at first, but quickly tired out and proceeded to get beat on by Bisping for basically two straight rounds before Bisping decided to stop playing with his food and put Miller out of his misery. Miller's performance was atrocious though. It was so bad, that UFC president Dana White went on Twitter and proclaimed Bisping's win as the most one-sided victory in UFC history. You know it's a bad day when your boss says you suck. Jason "Mayhem" Miller went from being a top contender to the UFC's middleweight title to not even being good enough to fight on the main card of a UFC on FX show. Why? All because of this shit-tastic fight right here.....

1. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum: Strikeforce "Overeem vs. Werdum" - SHOCKER! I've already mentioned numerous times that I'm not the biggest fan of heavyweights in MMA. I'm not one of those guys with a weird obsession of watching big dudes who can't move that well try to fly around the Octagon like they are flyweights. This fight right here is the perfect example of why I hate the heavyweight division in MMA. Overeem and Werdum were two of the top-ranked fighters in the division and they came out and laid a complete stinker on us at Strikeforce "Overeem vs. Werdum" back in June. This fight had little action and what action we did see, it wasn't good. Overeem was constantly tripping Fabricio and when he'd get him to the ground, he'd just walk away. Not only that, but Werdum was fine with chilling on the ground considering he would be sitting on his ass in the middle of the cage and kept trying to convince Alistair to join him down there. For a fight featuring two of the top heavyweights in MMA, this was just one big sad disappointment and the less we talk about it, the better.

Robert Winfree
5. Junior Assuncao vs. Eddie Yagin UFC 135 - Boy did this fight suck. This was supposed to be Junior Assuncao's return to the UFC and a showcase for the featherweights in Denver. The only thing that was even remotely memorable about this fight was that Junior can do a fair imitation of both Wanerlei Silva and Anderson Silva. Unfortunately he doesn't have anywhere near their talent level. Four of the five first minutes had nothing, the entire second round had nothing, and it was just boring.

4. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Matt Hamill UFC 130 - Boy was this boring. Hamill admitted he didn't really come into this fight with a game plan and just wanted to be aggressive. It was clear immediately that Hamill couldn't strike with Rampage, and his attempts at takedowns came from laughably far away and never came close to succeeding. This might be the most boring main event fight of 2011.

3. Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos UFC 126 - This was it, the UFC debut of the much hyped long time WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres. He was supposed to be an aggressive striker on the feet and a buzz saw on the ground. This was supposed to introduce him to UFC audiences and get him on track for a title shot. Instead, the whole fight fell completely flat. Banuelos couldn't close the distance and was content to stay on the outside eating jabs. Torres never tried to finish the fight, or even put a legitimate striking combination together. Instead these two just danced around for fifteen minutes with Torres landing jabs at random intervals, awful fight.

2. Michael Bisping vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller TUF 14 finale - This was Millers first fight back in the UFC, and he ad Bisping had made it clear they didn't like each other for the entire preceding season of TUF. We were expecting a fight, and that wasn't really what we got. Miller landed a looping overhand right fairly consistently, but never did real damage with it. His takedown and subsequent groundwork were completely uninspired, and then he gassed in the second round. Bisping didn't do a whole lot until he was sure Miller couldn't counter, playing a ridiculously safe fight. Not inspiring at all really.

1. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum Strikeforce "Overeem vs. Werdum" - OK, realistically there were worse fights than this during the year. The Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton mess springs instantly to mind for instance. But this gets the top spot not just because it was boring, but because it was the main event pitting a striker against a grappler. It was clear from the beginning that Overeem didn't want to go to the ground with Werdum, which makes perfect sense. What became clearer was Werdum had no plan besides flopping onto his butt in a loose attempt to pull guard, and Overeem wasn't going to risk getting submitted by following Werdum to the ground, even when he was rocked. This made for a heavyweight three round version of Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites/Demian Maia. While normally I'd be thankful it was three rounds instead of five, these are heavyweights so both were horribly gassed in the third despite doing virtually nothing.

Jon Butterfield
5. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos - There are times when a fight is made and the occasion is just so huge and momentous that you just know it's going to deliver. Many of us were under that impression when Velasquez was pitted against Junior dos Santos on the UFC's network debut on FOX. Two of the fittest, most athletic, most talented fighters in the entire world, this was considered a toss-up for many. Some thought Velasquez's outstanding wrestling would give him a big advantage as he tried to wear JDS down, while others figured dos Santos' scary KO power would put him in the ascendancy after a long and entertaining war. Well, sometimes things don't go according to plan, and you could just feel Dana White's pain when the anticlimactic (if impressive) KO came early, deflating the audience watching both in-house and at home, giving FOX 64 seconds of action in an entire HOUR of TV time. Ouch…

4. Paul Daley vs. Tyron Woodley - Tyron Woodley is an extremely good wrestler. Paul Daley is an extremely dangerous KO artist. The former was undefeated, and the latter was involved in great controversy when he was cut from the UFC for sucker punching an opponent. The ingredients WERE THERE for a good fight with explosive potential. It didn't materialize. As many wrestlers do before they begin to develop their striking game, Woodley took Daley down (again and again and again and again) and clung on to him like a barnacle on a boat in rough seas. He wasn't letting go because he knew he'd get KO'd if Daley got up, and yet Daley had just enough off his back to avoid getting TKO'd or submitted. It was tedious, boring, frustrating, and yet, who can blame Woodley for adopting these tactics? He knew where he stood, and that was several rungs down the ladder in terms of striking.

3. Rafael Cavalcante vs. Yoel Romero Palacio - Luckily for most, this was a prelim fight on the Strikeforce Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov card, so there's a good chance a lot of people missed it. If you didn't, well, you already know why this one is here. Palacio, an unbeaten (4-0) German-based Cuban Olympic silver medal-winning wrestler, was put in a ridiculous fight against the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, Rafael ‘Feijao' Cavalcante. This bout came far, far, FAR too early in Palacio's MMA career, and the resulting product, therefore, was one of the single most tentative performances ever witnessed. Bouncing in and out of range without throwing a single punch or kick for entire minutes at a time, the powerfully-built Yoel Romero was all too aware of Feijao's skills and wanted nothing whatsoever to do with them. Needless to say, with boos cascading down after arguably the worst round of the entire year, the pair of them had no choice but to take a risk and engage in the second stanza. The inevitable outcome was a TKO loss for the rookie that did absolutely nothing for the Brazilian. Stupid booking.

2. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum - One of the very best strikers in MMA against one of the very best grapplers in the world. Sometimes it works, but then again, other times… well, if you thought Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites was a one off, think again (and that's pretending the subsequent Silva-Maia fight never took place). Overeem and Werdum gave us 800 reasons to try and avoid fights like this, 800 being the total duration of the bout in seconds. They say the beauty of MMA is that styles make matches, but when two men are polar opposites on the spectrum, garbage like this is always liable to occur. Why? Well, let's be honest about it; it's because these guys are actually scared to engage in an entire dimension of the sport with certain opponents. Werdum was scared to strike with Overeem, and Overeem was scared to grapple with Werdum. The same applied to the world's greatest MMA fighter, Anderson Silva, in both 2009 and 2010, and that is a really sad fact. It seems we get one of these bouts every year… let's see if we can't try and predict which it will be through 2012… and avoid it like the plague.

1. Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell - Let's be honest, this fight should have aired on Spike. Or Facebook. Or, even better, not at all. You see, I think we all knew how bad it was going to be coming in. Not only did Mark Hunt hold a negative record (6-7), not only was he 1-6 in his previous seven outings, and not only was he the only UFC fighter to lose to the most out-of-his-depth competitor in the entire company in Sean McCorkle, but he would also be taking on Ben freaking Rothwell at high altitude. This, ladies and gents, is what we call an epic booking fail and one most now wish they'd avoided. Hell, if it wasn't for ‘Bones' Jones testing his mettle against ‘Rampage' Jackson and a few moderately intriguing bouts, pretty much everybody would have avoided it because the idea of paying for fights of this caliber is insulting to everybody. I boldly predicted this would end in the first round, with Rothwell submitting Hunt, but alas that didn't transpire and we got 15 entire minutes of crap. Complete, utter crap. In the end, Rothwell could barely stand up, his fists were manacled to his hips (or so it seemed), and the ‘heavy hitting' kickboxer Mark Hunt was able to take open shots (albeit between gargantuan gasps for air). Many fighters stuck up for these guys at the time, and I can see why: this was embarrassing, plain and simple, and the pair of them should never have been put in this position given their (poor) physical shape. If you don't want to blame the fighters on the back of this, you know what, that's fine – this award can go straight to the desk of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, who must have figured Denver, Colorado was the perfect setting for this… mess. Was this the worst MMA fight of all time? Maybe. It was damn sure the worst fight of 2011 though.

Jeffrey Harris
5. Sean McCorkle vs. Christian Morecraft - It was a little odd in the first place to be seeing UG forum legend, Sean "Big Sexy" McCorkle, in the UFC. It was almost like hell itself had frozen over. Granted McCorkle debuted strong with a submission win over Mark Hunt in the UFC, but from there it was downhill. McCorkle's cardio in this fight looked extremely limited. So much so that after a foul, McCorkle took a load off and just sat down for a while against the cage to draw boos. McCorkle ended up getting choked not long after and was cut from the UFC shortly after the loss where he went 1-2. McCorkle is definitely a big talker, but you need just more than the gift of gab to make it in the UFC and MMA.

4. Michael Bisping vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller - Surprisingly enough, this was one of the highest rated TUF Finale fights in years. Well not so surprising since there was a lot of interest in this fight and the season still pulled decent ratings despite Spike TV sort of weening itself off the UFC. But it was surprising in that the fight turned out so bad. Mayhem just didn't perform and his cardio and striking looked amateurish. Some wonder if maybe he had an adrenaline dump before the fight or if maybe he just had Octagon jitters after finally returning to the UFC. Mayhem talked a big game coming into this fight. He is an experienced veteran but he also hadn't fought in a while. Bisping himself while he beat Miller didn't look his best either and certainly didn't look like a guy ready to challenge Anderson Silva and take the middleweight belt.

3. Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos - Torres sort of set the stage for what has overall been a lukewarm run for him in the UFC as of late. He won the fight but it was one of the most boring and unimpressive fights of his career. Banuelos was himself a bantamweight standout in the WEC, however he did absolutely nothing to engage in the fight and got ridiculously pushed away by Torres' jutting and weak jab. This fight ultimately cost Banuelos his job, and Torres just hasn't looked a fraction as dangerous as he did when he was the 135-pound champion and king.

2. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum - Just in terms of historic significance, this fight was terrible. Both guys really under performed. This was really Overeem's toughest fight in years as he'd been mostly fighting and beating cans at heavyweight in Japan for a while. Werdum came in looking in not great shape much like the time he lost to Junior dos Santos. Both guys talked themselves up a lot and did not deliver strong performances. Werdum was coming off being the first guy to ever legitimately beat and finish Fedor Emelianenko in an MMA fight. Overeem was getting a ton of hype in this rematch with Overeem since it was a part of the heavyweight tournament. Overeem showed some of his old problems, and Werdum looked ridiculous butt flopping and begging for Overeem to jump in his guard. Werdum almost took the fight himself when he actually started to fight. A bad show all around.

1. Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell - Wow what an ugly fight. Somehow Rothwell still manages to stay in the UFC despite some really ugly and bad performances this one being one of the worst. Granted they were heavyweights fighting in Denver, Colorado but being professionals they both should've been prepared for that. Rothwell was dominated and out-grappled by Mark Hunt of all people who has some of the worst submission defense in MMA.

Stewart Lange
5. Anthony Johnson Vs Dan Hardy - If one fighter has a weakness in their game, it's only smart for his opponent to exploit that. Right? Right. So why was watching Rumble out-wrestle the Brit so bad? Because he did little else and didn't look to finish him. Shocking.

4. Alistair Overeem Vs Fabricio Werdum - This doesn't make it as high on my list as the others as I actually found this to be so bad it verged on the ridiculous. I watched it with friends and by the second round it became quite the joke, so at least my experience of watching this was fun.

3. Brian Ebersole Vs Claude Patrick - I had actually forgotten about this fight until Scott mentioned it. I can't stand Brian Ebersole anyway, so to watch a fight with him in it where NOTHING happened was as close to torture for me watching MMA as it can get. With any luck, Brian will get a shaving rash so bad he'll retire.

2. Miguel Torres Vs Antonio Banuelos - Now, those of you that read the MMA 5 & 1 will know this fight has left a particularly bitter taste in my mouth, due to the fact I was a huge Torres fan and was excited to see him in the UFC. I hyped both Torres and Banuelos to my friends who weren't familiar with the WEC so they were pumped to see the fight as much as I was. When we saw the most boring fight the UFC Bantamweights gave us in 2011, not only did I look like a moron, I was bored as hell by the end into the bargain.

1. Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell -There's nothing I can add about this fight the other guys haven't already written. This fight was so boring even thinking about it makes me fall asle......

Scott Kuczkowski
5. Brian Ebersole vs. Claude Patrick - This was a clinching and stalling snooze fest which slowed down all the action at UFC 140 and had the crowd booing only a couple of minutes into the first round. For whatever reason, despite the grappling stalemate, neither man chose to open up on the feet (or they just couldn't) and what the fans got was seeing two guys trying to not get hit for 15 minutes yet somehow try to out grapple someone who was their grappling equal. Just a boring fight.

4. Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos - Torres fought Banuelos at UFC 126 and despite having a massive 13 inch reach advantage, didn't do anything throughout the fight except use his jab to keep Banuelos out of striking range. What the fans were treated to was 15 minutes of Banuelos moving in, eating a jab, backing up, and repeating it again. Torres never went for the kill; heck he never even tried to get any type of advantage and just sat behind his jab for 15 minutes. Boring.

3. Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields - I never expected GSP to go to the ground with Shields when they met at UFC 129, but I was hoping for a good fight. Well, at some point in the first few rounds GSP was hit in the eye and this totally blew his mind. Unfortunately, Shields still couldn't capitalize on this situation, so we were treated to 25 minutes of Shields' anemic striking versus GSP efforts to avoid going to the ground. Normally GSP has some good striking, but he just didn't have anything on the feet in this bout and he almost looked at bad as Shields. Sure, there were some knockdowns here and there that kept the crowd from falling asleep, but overall this fight was a bust.

2. Anthony Johnson vs. Dan Hardy - Pitting a power striker like Hardy against a power striker like Johnson is a can't-miss matchup, right? Well, not if "wrestler" Johnson shows up instead and decides to take Hardy down repeatedly instead of striking with him. What could have been and action-packed Fight of the Night (or Knockout of the Night) bout turned into 15 minutes of a wrestler taking down a guy who had no ground game and holding him down for the duration of the round. Utter disappointment.

1. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum - Werdum's key to victory in this fight was to get things to the ground and Overeem's goal was to keep this fight standing. What this left the audience was 15 minutes of Werdum repeatedly pulling guard or attempting sloppy takedowns while Overeem stuffed the takedowns and motioned for Werdum to get back to his feet. Surprisingly, Werdum actually threw more and landed more punches than Overeem, but none of them had Overeem in trouble and nearly ever punch or knee Overeem landed crumpled Werdum or sent him to the canvas. Considering Werdum had submitted Fedor and Overeem was a K-1 champion, this fight just wreaked of disappointment and left everyone wondering if each guy was really as good as suspected.

AND 411's WORST FIGHTS OF 2011 ARE…
In the case of a tie, I will break them since I am not involved in the overall voting.

5. Brian Ebersole vs. Claude Patrick From UFC 140– 7pts.

4. Jason Miller vs. Michael Bisping From The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale – 14pts.

3. Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos From UFC 126 – 18pts.

2. Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell From UFC 135– 23pts.

1. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum From Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum – 35pts.

THE 2011 AWARDS
* The Biggest Story Of 2011: The UFC Signs Broadcast Deal With Fox - 32 pts
* The Most Disappointing Fighter Of 2011: Fedor Emelianenko - 17pts
* The Breakout Fighter Of 2011: Michael Chandler – 36 pts
* The Worst Fight Of 2011: Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum From Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum – 35 pts
* The Best KO Of 2011: TO BE ANNOUNCED
* The Best Submission Of 2011: TO BE ANNOUNCED
* The Best Fight Of 2011: TO BE ANNOUNCED

Come back Monday when we decide the Best Submissions of 2011~!

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Comments (23)

I don't understand the hate for Hunt-Rothwell. Sure it wasn't great but it was far from the worst fight of the year as many of the writers thought. Seeing Hunt come back after arguably losing the first round and then almost submit Rothwell with an armbar in round 2 was great.

Browne vs Broughton from the same card was a much much worse fight.

Posted By: steve (Guest) on January 11, 2012 at 11:43 PM

wow mayhem miller looks like sickly pussy in that picture with bisping. i thought he was a bruiser dude but he looks emaciated.

Posted By: Guest#1182 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 12:10 AM

I am utterly flabbergasted that Hunt vs. Rothwell got so many votes. Did all of you not watch the whole show. The previous fight on the card Browne vs. Broughton was Hunt vs. Rothwell without the action, violence and suspense.

Posted By: zwarrior2 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 12:29 AM

Just out of curiosity, how did Browne Vs. Broughton not make anyone's list?

Posted By: Sid (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 12:35 AM

Both of the Rob Broughton fights from this year were fucking TERRIBLE and far worse than Hunt vs. Rothwell. Hunt was something like a 3 to 1 underdog in that fight and he just destroyed Rothwell, sure he was gassed but jesus, Mark Hunt almost ARMBARRED him.

Mayhem vs. Bisping was only bad if you were ignorant/blind enough to think that Miller was even remotely on Bisping's level and that fight would be competitive. Look at their records and who they have fought. The 3 guys to beat Bisping? Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson, and Wanderlei Silva. Three guys who are former champions and perennial contenders.

Posted By: Jared B. (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 01:11 AM

Kongo vs. Mitrione deserves some hate too. Barring his zombie KO of Pat Barry, Cheick Kongo has to be one of the most boring fighters in the UFC.

Posted By: Jared B. (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 01:17 AM

Just out of curiosity, how did Browne Vs. Broughton not make anyone's list?

Posted By: Sid (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 12:35 AM

Because all of these 400-pound white boys are racist, that's why.

Posted By: Guest#3817 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 01:56 AM

Steve, zwarrior, Sid.... I agree with all of you. I found Hunt-Rothwell kinda entertaining after the Browne-Broughton fight.

Posted By: Guest#1684 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 02:05 AM

The Velasquez vs. Dos Santos fight went short and I'm glad it did. Serves Dana White right putting one fight to fill an HOUR. Especially a heavyweight fight where one guy possesses KO power.

Posted By: Guest#4047 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 02:39 AM

No Mir vs Cro Cop?

Posted By: Blanquito (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 06:55 AM

werdum wouldnt have beaten overeem unless he got a sub, dont kid yourself.

Posted By: Guest#0266 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 07:54 AM

regarding the miller bisping fight, that many body shots will gas anybody. I mean he must of got hit 40 times to the body in the first round.

Posted By: Guest#2230 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 07:59 AM

you expected a jake shields fight to be good? Jake Shields fought the entire fight trying not to lose, but even when he is winning he hasnt been in an entertaining fight until he got koed.

Posted By: Guest#5013 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 08:11 AM

im sorry but is every1 on brock lesnars payroll??? He easily ranks number 1 in every worst catagory of mma but he either gets no mention or seriously played down, someone shed some light on this for me??

Posted By: stylo112 (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 08:29 AM

I also have to defend Hunt/Rothwell. There was at least a bit of violence in that fight. "Gassed" doesnt begin to describe Rothwell, but it was a gusty performance in the sense that he took numerous unprotected shots from someone who was trying to finish him. I bought that PPV. Browne and Broughton was a much worse fight.

Cro Cop vs. Mir, Mir vs. Nelson, Fitch vs. Penn make most of the fights listed look like Bonnar/Griffin.

Posted By: Ben (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 08:44 AM

I don't know about the worst fight of the year but the biggest disappoint was Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos. Fights like this is why I refuse to spend $50 on a UFC PPV.

Posted By: Mr.Fuji (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 09:46 AM

man i remember miller vs bisping.. i almost fell asleep

Posted By: wylun (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 09:58 AM

Most fans of Cro Cop in Croatia actually wanted him retired a couple of years ago.

Posted By: L. (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 11:25 AM

I'm glad Torres vs banuelos got a few mentions but the Ellenberger vs Rocha fight from the same event was even worse and especially frustrating to watch as the first round was quite good. Rocha hasn't even been seen since that fight.

Posted By: tab (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 12:10 PM

I am with zwarrior2 and Steve, Hunt vs Rothwell was not a classic but man Brown vs Broughton was way worse. Somehow even though Hunt and Rothwell were gassed out it was still fairly entertaining and suspenseful

Posted By: kiwi (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 01:22 AM

I completely agree. It makes no sense to have Hunt-Rothwell on the list if Browne-Broughton isn't on it either.

Posted By: Alan (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 01:30 PM

No Mir vs Cro Cop?

Posted By: Blanquito (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 06:55 AM

That fight was in 2010. I'm pretty sure it was listed last year.

Posted By: Kuch7 (Registered) on January 12, 2012 at 02:03 PM

I'm amazed no one voted for Browne/Broughton either. Absolute trash. It was way worse than Hunt/Rothwell imo.

Posted By: blitzkid (Guest) on January 12, 2012 at 09:42 PM