The Ultimate Writer 01.16.12: UFC 142 Rio Results, TUW 2011 Year-End Awards, UFC on FX 1 Preview, More

Posted by Dustin James on 01.16.2012

Thoughts on Jose Aldo's win over Chad Mendes and the rest of UFC 142, the 2011 "Ultimate Writer" year-end awards, a preview of this weekend's UFC on FX 1 special, the latest on Kenny Florian possibly retiring and more!

Welcome back to "THE ULTIMATE WRITER"! As you should be accustomed to by now, I'm your host Dustin James aka "The Ultimate Writer" and I'm stoked because it's finally time again for "The Ultimate Writer" year-end awards! I've been writing this column off and on since 2008 and one of the things I always look forward to the most is doing my year-end awards. Growing up, I was a big-time pro wrestling fan and I would purchase any magazine at the store that had to do with pro wrestling. Well, one of my favorite magazines was "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" and my favorite issue was easily the year-end issue as it was just jam-packed with awesome stuff. Since then, I've been a sucker for any kind of year-end awards and writing my own is something I actually take a little seriously, believe it or not.

Anyway, that's later. We had our first official UFC event of the year this past weekend and it was a barn burner. There was a finish in every single main card fight and we already have a bunch of contenders for next year's year-end stuff. I'm actually pretty excited to get to everything this week (plus, I have a nice hangover going on thanks to downing tons of vodka), so let's cut the small talk and get on with the goods.....


So................


Without any further adieu.........


Like every week.............

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Top Stories:

UFC/Strikeforce



UFC 142 "Rio" Results


The UFC kicks off 2012 with a BANG.....


UFC 142 "Rio" was one of those quiet UFC shows. It seemed like the card was getting little to no buzz from either the sports media outlets like ESPN or the casual MMA fans. Hell, I actually had to call people up to remind them to watch this show. That's usually never a good thing, but with the way the UFC over-saturates the market right now, it's kind of expected. You can't really expect non-hardcore MMA fans to make time out of their Saturday nights EVERY weekend for some UFC action, can you? Even though a guy like myself will easily make time every weekend, there are people who actually have more important things to do than watch UFC shows every weekend. Even though I expect this show to bomb when it comes to the buy-rates, that doesn't mean the show wasn't AWESOME! It was just the first UFC show of the year, but we already have two contenders for "KO of the Year" as well as a contender for "best card of the year." It's no secret that I love me some finishes in MMA and UFC 142 was JAM-PACKED with them! But I'm getting a little ahead of myself aren't I? Well then, let's take a look back at the results of the first UFC show of 2012....



UFC 142 "Rio" Prelim Card Results:


-Felipe Arantes (14-4) def. Antonio Carvalho (13-5) via unanimous-decision

-Mike Pyle (22-8-1) def. Ricardo Funch (8-3) via TKO in Round 1

-Yuri Alcantara (27-3) def. Michihiro Omigawa (13-11-1) via unanimous-decision

-Gabriel Gonzaga (13-6) def. Ednaldo Oliveira (13-1-1) via submission (rear-naked choke) in Round 1

-Thiago Tavares (17-4-1) def. Sam Stout (17-7-1) via unanimous-decision



UFC 142 "Rio" Main Card Results:



Lightweight Bout:
-Edson Barboza (10-0) def. Terry Etim (15-4) via KO in Round 3

My pick: Edson Barboza, Decision


If you missed this fight, I feel extremely sorry for you. Why? Because you just missed what was likely one of the best all-time KO's in UFC history. Watching Edson Barboza do a spinning heel kick and knocking Terry Etim out was one of the best KO's I've personally ever seen. It's one of the few times I've been watching an MMA show and almost dropped my drink because I was in shock from what I just saw. This fight wasn't even close in my opinion. Barboza was eating Etim alive with leg kicks from the beginning and obviously found his timing by the third-round. The actual KO itself was just a thing of beauty. Barboza became the first person to finish a fight with a spinning heel kick in the UFC and he also became a part of UFC history because that clip will be shown for aloooooooooooong time. Just the visual of Etim's face and the way he fell after getting hit was brutal! Edson Barboza is quickly becoming one of my favorite lightweights in the UFC, especially following that awesome KO. The kid is now 4-0 in the UFC and his next fight has to be a big one (against someone like Clay Guida for example?) so we can see just how high this kid's ceiling is. I'm thinking he's likely one or two wins away from a UFC lightweight title shot and I'm also thinking we could be looking at 2012's breakthrough fighter of the year.....



Welterweight Bout:
-Carlo Prater (30-10-1) def. Erick Silva (13-2) via DQ in Round 1

My pick: Erick Silva, Submission, Round 1


Man, Mario Yamasaki made one of the worst decisions I have ever seen in this fight. I understand that he has to make decisions right on the spot, but can you at least make good ones? The fact that he ruled this fight a disqualification is just plain retarded. Erick Silva came out in pure beast mode tonight and absolutely walloped Prater with murderous intentions to pick up the "victory" via TKO in just under thirty-seconds. However, Yamasaki shocked everyone when he reversed the decision and gave Prater the win due to disqualification after Silva apparently hit Prater multiple times in the back of the head. The only problem is, upon further review of the ass beating Silva was handing out, there was maybe one shot that actually hit Prater in the back of the head. I'm thinking when Yamasaki himself goes back and re-watches the tape, he's going to slap himself upside the head knowing he made a huge mistake. Even though the ref was a little incompetent here (and that pains me to say that about Mario), the UFC still paid Silva his win bonus but the ruling is likely to stay the same. Now, who say's MMA doesn't need instant replay again?



Middleweight Bout:
-Rousimar Palhares (14-3) def. Mike Massenzio (13-6) via submission (heel hook) in Round 1

My pick: Rousimar Palhares, Submission, Round 2


In the least shocking news of the night, Rousimar Palhares came out and dominated Mike Massenzio to the surprise of no one. This is what I wrote last week about this fight and it all came true:

"However, [Palhares] is one of the most talented fighters in the UFC's middleweight division and this fight with Massenzio is a "gimme" fight for Palhares in my opinion and I would be shocked to see Massenzio pick up the victory. These two share a common advantage in the submission game and this fight will likely come down to who's got the better ground game. There are not a whole lot of fighters in the middleweight division who have a better ground game than Rousimar Paul Harris and Massenzio is going to find that out this Saturday night."

BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! Can we give this man some solid competition already? How about giving him the loser of the upcoming Mark Munoz/Chael Sonnen fight because it's high time Palhares stopped beating up on cans.



Catchweight Bout:
-Vitor Belfort (21-9) def. Anthony Johnson (10-4) via submission (rear-naked choke) in Round 1

My pick: Vitor Belfort, TKO, Round 1


This fight definitely wasn't short on drama now, was it? Things got really interesting on Friday night at the weigh-ins when Anthony "Rumble" Johnson weighed in at a whopping 197 pounds for his middleweight debut! I don't understand how a guy that was fighting at welterweight fails to make weight for his middleweight debut, but he does. "Rumble" came out and defended himself by saying he feel ill during his weight cut and the doctor's had to re-hydrate him which is why he was 12 pounds over at the weigh-ins. If there's one thing Dana White and MMA fans are sick and tired of, it's fighters and all their stupid excuses. No one is interested in hearing why you can't cut weight and no one feels sorry for you. If you have a hard time getting to middleweight, fight as a light heavyweight! It's not rocket science people. Anyway, Belfort manned up and still took the fight with "Rumble" because let's face it, with all the drama surrounding his weight cut, Johnson was heading into this fight at less than 100% and it showed. Even though he managed to take Belfort down a few times, the ref quickly stood them back up (and when I say "quickly," I mean "QUICKLY"!) where Belfort obviously had an advantage on "Rumble." Belfort actually ended up getting Johnson's back and choking "Rumble" out with a rear-naked choke to earn his first submission victory in over eleven years! The good news for Vitor is, he can now focus all of his attention on re-arranging Wanderlei Silva's pretty new face after the two coach opposite each other on "TUF: Brazil". The bad news for "Rumble" is, he was fired after this fight and will have to have a couple of great performances in smaller MMA promotions if he plans on ever making a comeback to the UFC. Sometimes karma just works out for everyone....



UFC Featherweight Title:
-Jose Aldo (21-1) def. Chad Mendes (10-1) via KO in Round 1

My pick: Jose Aldo, Decision


JOSE ALDO IS BACK! After some less-than-impressive performances in the Octagon, the UFC featherweight champion looked like his old WEC ass-kicking self and it was great! Even just walking down to the Octagon, I could tell that Aldo was pumped to be fighting in front of his home town fans and was ready to show everyone that he's still one of the most dangerous fighters in the world. Seriously though, Mendes had nothing to throw in Aldo's direction. He kept going for his bread and butter by taking Aldo down, only problem was....Aldo wasn't going down. Mendes then got a little overzealous trying for too many takedowns and it ended up biting him in the ass big-time. After Mendes ended up taking Aldo's back, Aldo spun out in a Flash-like movement and nailed Mendes with a knee directly to the face that put Mendes down! It was a move that was taken straight out of the page of the WEC version of Jose Aldo, only this time we got to see it in the UFC. Perhaps the best part of the fight was right after Aldo nailed Mendes with the knee, he took off into the crowd and proceeded to crowd surf in what was one of the coolest visuals in UFC history. This was an awesome main event to top off what was in excellent overall UFC card. It's great to see the old Jose Aldo back in action and hopefully every single one of his fights is held in Brazil from here on out.....



And there we are. The first UFC PPV of the year is in the books and if this show was any kind of indication as to what we are in store for, I'd say it's going to be a great year. We had zero fights on the main card end in a decision and only one of them even got past the first-round. The fight that did go past the first-round ended up resulting in one of the best KO's I've personally ever seen. The only downside of the card was some questionable decisions by our wonderful MMA referees, but we've all grown used to seeing some sort of bad ruling on almost every single card we watch, so we can't really complain that much can we? UFC 142 was a big thumbs up for me and I'm sure it was from you guys as well, if any of you actually watched it that is.

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UFC on FX 1 Preview


The UFC comes to FX.....



UFC on FX 1 is going to be a historical show. It'll be the first time a UFC show is featured on FX, but it definitely won't be the last. This show is interesting for many reasons. On one hand, you have the people who are interested in what kind of ratings the show will bring in. The ratings no doubt play a massive part in the UFC and FX's relationship being a successful one. The main event is set to feature two lightweight fighters who were on the cusp of earning a title shot but suffered some unfortunate setbacks. Both guys are looking to get back on the winning side of things and something tells me there is going to be fireworks when Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller finally touch gloves. Not only that, but we also get to see Duane "Bang" Ludwig exchange fists with Josh Neer, and Pat Barry vs. Christian Morecraft in what should be an interesting heavyweight bout. UFC on FX 1 may not be an attractive looking card on paper, but hell....it's on FX so I'm sure us hardcore MMA fans will all be in front of our televisions this Saturday night instead of socializing with chicks. Anyway, let's take a closer look at the card shall we?



UFC on FX 1 Main Card Preview:


Heavyweight Bout:
-Pat Barry (6-4) vs. Christian Morecraft (7-2)


And we get things started off with a heavyweight bout that I really don't care much about. This could be an interesting bout though considering both men are likely fighting for their UFC careers. Pat Barry has lost his last two fights in the Octagon and is 3-4 all-time in the UFC. He just so happens to be an excellent striker with a piss poor submission game (3 of his 4 losses have come via submission...) and that could turn into a huge factor in this fight. Morecraft currently holds 4 submission victories under his belt with one of them coming against Sean McCorkle at UFC Fight Night 24. He's coming off an ugly KO loss to Matt Mitrione at UFC on Versus 4 (the same event where coincidentally, Barry was knocked out by Cheick Kongo in one of the best comeback KO's of all-time). Morecraft currently has two losses in the Octagon, both via KO and both to fighters who are arguably less talented than Barry is standing up. If Morecraft can avoid Barry's power and can get the fight to the ground, he should be able to submit Barry no problem. However, part of me thinks he won't even get that chance. Barry definitely has the power to put Morecraft down and something tells me that's exactly what we'll see this upcoming weekend....


My pick: Pat Barry, TKO, Round 2



Bantamweight Bout:
-Mike Easton (11-1) vs. Jared Papazian (14-6)


Ummm, this one's all Mike Easton. What else do you want me to say? The kid has continued to impress me every time I watch him fight and I just can't see Papazian winning this fight, especially considering he took it on extremely short notice. I've said over the years that Mike Easton has the talent to be a top fighter in MMA, I just don't know if he has the heart. Hopefully he's serious about this UFC run because if he is, the rest of the bantamweight division could be in a lot of trouble.


My pick: Mike Easton, Submission, Round 2



Lightweight Bout:
-Duane Ludwig (21-11) vs. Josh Neer (32-10-1)


With over 75 MMA fights between the two of them, Duane "Bang" Ludwig and Josh Neer bring plenty of experience into the Octagon this weekend. As a matter of fact, Neer is actually 7-1 dating back to the beginning of 2010 and much like a fine wine, appears to get better with age. He made his return to the UFC following a two-year absence at UFC on Versus 6 where he defeated Keith Wisniewski via TKO in the second-round. Neer is a pretty well-rounded fighter and can hold his own both on the feet and on the ground. His opponent is riding a two-fight win streak into the Octagon this weekend and "Bang" Ludwig knows that a victory over Neer here, moves him that much closer to a potential title shot. This is one of those fights that you don't want to turn your head during and even a simple task like blinking your eyes could cause you to miss a potential finish. As for a winner? Grab a coin, flip it and pick a side. That's probably the only way any one is going to predict the end to this fight correctly.


My pick: Josh Neer, Decision



Lightweight Bout:
-Melvin Guillard (29-9-2) vs. Jim Miller (20-3)


Can you believe how close we were to seeing this fight potentially be a #1 contender fight for the UFC lightweight title? Both men are longtime veterans of the UFC and both came THIS close to earning a shot at the UFC lightweight title before suffering some unfortunate setbacks. Since signing with the UFC in 2008, Jim Miller is an impressive 9-2 with wins over the likes of Matt Wiman, Mark Bocek, Gleison Tibau, Mac Danzig, and others. He's coming off a loss to Ben Henderson in a fight that actually was a #1 contender fight. Miller ended up losing the contest via unanimous-decision, thus breaking his seven-fight win streak in the process. As for Guillard, ever since he returned to the UFC in 2008, he's gone 7-2 with wins over guys like Evan Dunham, Dennis Siver, Jeremy Stephens, and more. Guillard has definitely looked like an improved fighter these last few years, I just question where his head is at sometimes. He's coming off an ugly loss to Joe Lauzon at UFC 136 that saw Lauzon get the submission with a rear-naked choke in just forty-seven seconds. If Guillard has one glaring weakness in his game, it's definitely his submission defense. The dude has nine professional losses, and eight of them have come via submission. And to top it all off, all but one of those submission losses came via some sort of choke. In other words, we know what Jim Miller's game plan should be heading into this fight. Miller has got an excellent ground game and if he doesn't come out and try to get Guillard to the mat immediately, he should get points docked. Personally, I think Miller gets this fight to the ground and ends it quickly. Be forewarned though, I always pick Melvin Guillard fights wrong. I don't know why, but I just do. Hopefully, this time....I hit the nail on the head.


My pick: Jim Miller, Submission, Round 1


And that's that. Like I said earlier, this card is not very attractive on paper, but those are usually the cards that come out of left field and impress everyone the most. With a main event that should be a good fight and a decent little undercard, the UFC's debut on FX should be a success. It's a big weekend coming up for the UFC and one that will really give us a feel for how this FOX/UFC relationship is going to work out. Something tells me it's all going to be end up swimmingly though.....





All The Other Stuff:

• The UFC finally announced the main event of the upcoming UFC on FUEL TV 2 special. It looks like top contenders Alexander Gustafsson (13-1) and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (20-5) will square off in a much-anticipated light heavyweight bout on the April card. Gustafsson is currently 5-1 in the UFC and is considered the top prospect in his division. He's currently on a four-fight win streak and you would have to believe that a win over someone like Nogueira would put him right "in the mix" for a title shot. That's no easy task of course considering Nogueira is coming off an impressive win over Tito Ortiz (16-10-1) at UFC 140. I would be much more hyped to see this fight if I could actually SEE this fight. I hate to beat a dead horse once again, but since Comcast still hasn't heard our demands and started to carry FUEL TV, my interest in these "UFC on FUEL TV" shows isn't very high.





• Even though he lost to Dennis Hallman (51-14-2) at UFC 140, I still remain a huge fan of UFC lightweight John Makdessi (9-1). That's why I'm excited to see Makdessi face off against Anthony Njokuani (14-6) at UFC 145. Of course, most of my love for Makdessi comes from his highlight reel KO of Kyle Watson (13-7-1) at UFC 129 (a KO that apparently sent Watson right out of the UFC...). For those of you with short memories, Makdessi knocked Watson out with an awesome spinning back fist that was kind of like Edson Barboza's spinning heel kick at UFC 142, just not quite as awesome. Hopefully Njokuani doesn't bring this fight down too much with the suckiness in which he's been fighting like lately.





• News broke this past week that the upcoming season of "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil" will feature middleweight and featherweight fighters. Not only that, but the finals of the show are set to air on a PPV that the UFC plans to hold in Brazil later this year. The PPV is also expected to feature the coaches fight between Vitor Belfort (21-9) and Wanderlei Silva (34-11-1) and if that wasn't enough, there are rumors circulating that Anderson Silva (31-4) could defend his UFC middleweight title in the main event of the show. Silva is expected to defend his title against the winner of the upcoming fight between Chael Sonnen (26-11-1) and Mark Munoz (12-2). I can't wait for Sonnen to walk through Munoz and hopefully fight Silva in Brazil later this year. The crowd noise for that fight would be INSANE! Could you imagine a UFC PPV featuring two TUF finals, Wandy vs. Vitor, and Anderson vs. Chael II? That's a damn sexy card right there and now I'm going to be highly disappointed if it doesn't happen....





• Bad news for fans of UFC fighter Kenny Florian (14-6). It looks like the longtime UFC veteran is contemplating retirement due to a herniated disc in his lower back that doesn't appear to be improving. Florian is a seven-year veteran of the UFC who first came into the UFC courtesy of the historic first season of "The Ultimate Fighter." Florian lost in the finals to Diego Sanchez (23-4), but Florian's UFC career was far from over. Florian has an impressive all-time UFC record of 12-5. He's one of those guys who's always been right there on the cusp of being the king of his division, but could never quite get the job done. Florian always brings his "A-game" into the Octagon and it would be a shame to see him walk away now. The good news for Florian is, as he points out in the quote below, he's got options in front of him in case he does decide to call it quits for good:
  
  "I've kind of been going back-and-forth with some of the doctors, so [retirement is an option]. I'm going to see. As of right now, obviously I can't compete and train like I was at all. I'm just kind of doing what I can and hoping that things heal up and get better. I'm just kind of in a holding pattern. That's why I decided to do this commentary for the time being and take this next six months to really heal up and try to make some money on the side. It sucks. The last couple of months I've just been figuring out what's going on and what I'm going to do."
  
  
  No one wants to see you go Ken-Flo, so here's to hoping for a speedy recovery. Damn it, why couldn't it have been Stephan Bonnar (14-7) as the "TUF 1" veteran who was considering retirement?





• Other fights announced this week:
  
  -Chris Clements (10-4) vs. Keith Wisniewski (28-13-1): UFC 145
  
  -Damacio Page (12-6) vs. Brad Pickett (20-6): UFC on FUEL TV 2
  
  -Akira Corassani (9-3) vs. Jason Young (8-5): UFC on FUEL TV 2
  
  
  

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The Ultimate Writer 2011 Year-End Awards



Yes, it's FINALLY time for the 2011 "TUW" year-end awards! The nominees have been selected for weeks now and it's finally time to see which MMA fighters were the best and worst of 2011 in my opinion! So sit back, strap on your seat belt and enjoy the ride. It's the "2011 TUW Year-End Awards!".....



2011 Female Fighter of the Year


2010 Winner: Miesha Tate




2011 "TUW" Female Fighter of the Year
Ronda Rousey



No other female in MMA had a year quite like the year Ronda Rousey had in 2011. Rousey is a judo specialist who actually made her professional MMA debut in March of 2011. Rousey ended up defeating Ediane Gomes in her debut for the King of the Cage promotion and she did so with an armbar in just twenty-five seconds. Rousey wasted no time getting back into the cage as she then faced off with Charmaine Tweet at a small MMA show in June which saw Rousey once again pick up the victory with an armbar, this time in forty-nine seconds. That's when Strikeforce finally noticed her and quickly signed her to a deal. Well, they showed how smart of a move that was when Rousey made her Strikeforce debut by defeating Sarah D'Alelio in just twenty-five seconds (Rousey loves finishing in under thirty-seconds, apparently her and I have A LOT in common) via armbar at the Strikeforce Challengers 18 show in August. She followed up that victory with perhaps her most impressive victory to date with a win over Julia Budd at the Strikeforce Challengers 20 show in November, via armbar (WEIRD!) and in just thirty-nine seconds to boot. So to recap, Rousey made her MMA debut in March, she's now 4-0 and has about three minutes of total active fighting time. Rousey's next move is a fight against last year's winner of this award, Miesha Tate. The two are set to meet in March for Tate's title and I can't wait for that fight. If 2011 is any indication as to what Rousey is capable of in MMA, all other female fighters have officially been put on notice.





1st Runner-Up:
Miesha Tate - 1-0 in 2011 with a win over Marloes Coenen for the Strikeforce female bantamweight title.




2nd Runner-Up:
Sarah Kaufman - 2-0 in 2011 with wins over Megumi Yabushita and Liz Carmouche.




3rd Runner-Up:
Megumi Fujii - 2-0 in 2011 with wins over Mika Nagano and Karla Benitez.

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2011 Breakthrough Fighter of the Year


2008 Winner: Frank Mir
2010 Winner: Phil Davis




2011 "TUW" Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
Michael Chandler


I was THIS close to giving the award to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones, but then I thought about it. The "breakthrough fighter of the year" award usually goes to someone who snuck up like a fart in church and let the MMA world know that they have officially arrived as one of the top dog's. The more I thought about it, I HAD to give this award to Chandler. At the beginning of 2011, everyone knew Jon "Bones" Jones was going to eventually become a UFC champion. It wasn't a matter of "if," but "when." Also at the beginning of 2011, NO ONE knew who Michael Chandler was. Well, some people will say they knew about him from his stint in Strikeforce last year, but those people are big fat liars. There's no doubt in my mind that Chandler deserves this award. He started off 2011 with a win over Marcin Held in the first-round of Bellator's 2011 lightweight tournament. It took Chandler a little under four-minutes to defeat Held with an arm-triangle choke to advance to the second-round. Just about a month later, Chandler was back in the Bellator cage and this time ended up defeating Lloyd Woodard via unanimous-decision to advance to the finals of Bellator's 2011 lightweight tournament. Chandler was a huge underdog going up against Patricky "Pitbull" Freire in the finals of the tournament, but shocked the world when he defeated "Pitbull" via unanimous-decision, thus winning the tournament and earning a title shot at Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. With a 3-0 record in 2011 under his belt already, could Chandler pull off the miracle victory and defeat one of the top ranked lightweight fighters in the world? You bet your ass he could. Chandler went ahead and shocked the world again when he defeated Alvarez via rear-naked choke in the fourth-round of their title fight at Bellator 58. At the beginning of 2011, no one knew who Michael Chandler was. At the end of 2011, he's the Bellator lightweight champion and has two victories over top ranked opponents under his belt. Yep, 2011 will definitely be remembered as the year that Michael Chandler officially arrived in MMA....





1st Runner-Up:
Jon Jones - 4-0 in 2011 with wins over Ryan Bader, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida.




2nd Runner-Up:
Daniel Cormier - 3-0 in 2011 with wins over Devin Cole, Jeff Monson and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva.




3rd Runner-Up:
Johny Hendricks - 3-0 in 2011 with wins over T.J. Waldburger, Mike Pierce and Jon Fitch.

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2011 KO of the Year


2008 Winner: Rashad Evans KO's Chuck Liddell at UFC 88
2010 Winner: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua KO's Lyoto Machida at UFC 113.




2011 "TUW" KO of the Year
Anderson Silva kicks Vitor Belfort's face off at UFC 126


This was not only my favorite KO of the year last year, it's one of my all-time favorite KO's ever! I was pretty excited going into the Belfort/Silva fight, but I knew deep down inside that Belfort was in a lot of trouble. Silva is easily the best striker in MMA history and he once again showed how dangerous he is in the standing game by knocking Belfort out with what was basically the "CRANE KICK" that was popularized by "The Karate Kid" movies. Silva admitted after the fight that legendary Hollywood actor Steven Seagal had showed him that move and he was not shocked that it ended up paying off so well for him. For the rest of us though, the KO was absolutely sickening. Watching Belfort drop quicker than a bag of wet clothes was a memory that I won't soon forget. It's no secret that Silva is my favorite fighter and he moved up the ranks that much more with this highlight reel victory over "The Phenom." Seriously though, I could watch replays of this kick over and over again. That's just how sick it is.....





1st Runner-Up:
Lyoto Machida "crane kicks" Randy "The Natural" Couture into retirement at UFC 129.




2nd Runner-Up:
Cheick Kongo KO's Pat Barry just seconds after almost getting knocked out himself at UFC on Versus 4.




3rd Runner-Up:
John Makdessi KO's Kyle Watson with one of the best looking spinning back fist's in UFC history at UFC 129.

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2011 Submission of the Year


2008 Winner: Shinya Aoki defeats Katsuhiko Nagata with the gogoplata at DREAM 4.
2010 Winner: Anderson Silva chokes out Chael Sonnen with a triangle choke/armbar at UFC 117.




2011 "TUW" Submission of the Year
"The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung submits Leonard Garcia with a twister submission at UFC Fight Night 24.


When "The Korean Zombie" and Leonard Garcia faced off in 2010 at WEC 48, the two had one of the best fights I've ever seen. It was fifteen-minutes of non-stop action and once it was over, MMA fans everywhere were clamoring for more. The UFC finally gave us our wish when they scheduled "Korean Zombie" vs. Garcia II for the UFC Fight Night special in March. Everyone was expecting part II of their awesome first fight, but what we ended up getting was something a little different. Instead of going to war for three straight rounds, "The Korean Zombie" reached into his bag of tricks and managed to get the submission victory over Garcia in the second-round. Now, I know that doesn't sound anywhere near as exciting as their first fight, but what the "Zombie" managed to pull off became an instant UFC classic moment. With just seconds left in the second-round, Chan Sung Jung wrapped up Garcia in a spine-twisting move that I had never seen before. At first, I had no idea what the "Zombie" was doing. All we saw was the "Zombie" twisting Garcia's legs in one direction with his legs and he was twisting Garcia's upper body in the opposite direction putting some intense pressure on Garcia's spine. We learned after the fight that this was indeed an actual submission and was aptly called "the twister." When a fighter can pull off a submission hold that is rarely seen in MMA, there's no doubt in my mind that he deserves this award. Will we ever see the "twister" submission again in the UFC? Who knows? I'm just glad we got to see it all.....





1st Runner-Up:
Vinny Magalhaes chokes out Viktor Nemkov via gogoplata neck crank at M-1 Challenge 25.




2nd Runner-Up:
Frank Mir breaks Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's arm with a kimura at UFC 140.




3rd Runner-Up:
Jon "Bones" Jones chokes out Lyoto Machida with a guillotine choke at UFC 140.

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2011 MMA Promotion of the Year


2008 Winner: UFC
2010 Winner: UFC




2011 "TUW" MMA Promotion of the Year
UFC



And in the least shocking news of the year, the UFC is once again the "MMA promotion of the year." It's kind of hard to lose that moniker when you are easily the biggest MMA organization around. The UFC got even more of a boost when they purchased their #1 rival Strikeforce early this year and also managed to sign a record-setting deal with FOX. As of right now, the promotion's only competition is itself. Will they repeat in 2012? You would have to be a fool to bet against them....





1st Runner-Up:
Bellator




2nd Runner-Up:
Strikeforce




3rd Runner-Up:
DREAM

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2011 MMA Fight of the Year


2008 Winner: Joachim Hansen vs. Eddie Alvarez at DREAM 3
2010 Winner: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen at UFC 117




2011 "TUW" Fight of the Year:
Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua - UFC 139



Was the long-awaited fight between Dan Henderson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua the best MMA fight of 2011? Easily. Dan Henderson came out like a man on fire and had Rua almost finished more than a few times in the first-round. The second-round was much closer, but Hendo once again took the round with better work in the clinch and by landing more strikes. The third-round things started to get interesting again as Hendo once again rocked "Shogun" with a huge right hand that put Rua down. Hendo started raining down some ground and pound, but somehow Rua managed to survive. Rua even rocked Hendo a few times before the round was over and it was no secret that both fighters were extremely gassed at this point. Hendo almost had "Shogun" finished with a few submission attempts early in the fourth-round, but Rua once again survived and almost had Hendo finished with a nasty uppercut. The fight was just insane at this point and both men looked like they could fold at any second. "Shogun" finished the fourth-round by getting full mount on Hendo and hitting him with some nasty punches, but Hendo reversed it at the last second and got top position on Rua to finish out the round. At this point, this was already one of my favorite fights of all-time and I was happy as a clam that we were getting a fifth-round. Needless to say, the fifth-round was ALL "Shogun." He spent the majority of the round on top of Henderson, but there was no way the ref was going to stop this fight unless Hendo was in serious trouble. I personally had the fight ending in a draw, but I thought it could really go either way. The outcome wasn't really important because us MMA fans had just witnessed one of the best MMA fights of all-time courtesy of two of the best MMA fighters of all-time. I would love to see a rematch between these two in 2012 and who knows....they could win this award again next year.





1st Runner-Up:
Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II - UFC 125




2nd Runner-Up:
Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann - UFC on Versus 3




3rd Runner-Up:
Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber II - UFC 132

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2011 Most Disappointing Fighter of the Year


2010 Winner: Fedor Emelianenko




2011 "TUW" Most Disappointing Fighter of the Year
Brock Lesnar


At the beginning of 2011, I still had semi high hopes for Brock Lesnar's future in MMA. I mean, the guy was just coming off a loss to Cain Velasquez that saw him lose his UFC heavyweight title. Plus, before that loss to Velasquez he had a huge four-fight win streak that included wins over Heath Herring, Randy Couture, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin. It's not like Lesnar was 45 years old and on a five-fight losing streak or anything. Lesnar fans everywhere rejoiced after the big news hit that Lesnar was going to appear as a coach on "The Ultimate Fighter" season 13. Everyone was hyped that we would get some great Brock Lesnar moments, but what we ended up with was an overall forgettable season of "TUF" and to make it worse, Lesnar had to pull out of his fight with Junior dos Santos due to his diverticulitis. As if 2011 wasn't already horrible enough for Lesnar, the former WWE champion squared off with Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 and put on arguably the worst performance of his MMA career. And to top it all off, he went ahead and announced his retirement from MMA in a move that really didn't surprise anyone. If you would have told me at the beginning of 2011 that by the end of the year Brock Lesnar's MMA career would be over, I would have been extremely disappointed. Unfortunately that's exactly what happened....





1st Runner-Up:
Cain Velasquez - 0-1 in 2011: KO loss to Junior dos Santos




2nd Runner-Up:
Jon Fitch - 0-1-1 in 2011: fought to a draw with B.J. Penn, KO loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 141




3rd Runner-Up:
Jake Shields - 0-2 in 2011: unanimous-decision loss to Georges St. Pierre, TKO loss to Jake Ellenberger

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2011 Fighter of the Year



2008 Winner: Rashad Evans
2010 Winner: Cain Velasquez




2011 "TUW" Fighter of the Year
Jon "Bones" Jones


This was easily the easiest award to hand out this year. No one in MMA had a year quite like Jon "Bones" Jones did. At the beginning of the year, "Bones" Jones was still considered a prospect in MMA who was right on the cusp of breaking out. Well, it didn't take long for him to break out. He started things off with a bang by defeating the previously-undefeated Ryan Bader at UFC 126 with a guillotine choke. "Bones" was then offered the opportunity of a lifetime when he was offered a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title when Rashad Evans was forced out of his title fight with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128. The fight came a little over a month after "Bones" victory over Bader and that actually seemed to work in Jones' favor as he ended up winning the title after almost killing "Shogun" in the third-round of their fight. Jones followed up his victory over "Shogun" with two straight submission victories over former UFC light heavyweight champions, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida. Jon "Bones" Jones was 4-0 in 2011, captured the UFC light heavyweight title and beat the cream of the crop in his division. Something tells me deep down inside that "Bones" is also going to be a contender for this award next year. After all, who's going to stop him?





1st Runner-Up:
Dan Henderson - 3-0 in 2011: TKO win over Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, TKO win over Fedor Emelianenko, unanimous-decision win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua




2nd Runner-Up:
Junior dos Santos - 2-0 in 2011: unanimous-decision win over Shane Carwin, KO win over Cain Velasquez




3rd Runner-Up:
Nick Diaz - 3-0 in 2011: submission win over Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, TKO win over Paul Daley, unanimous-decision win over B.J. Penn


And with that, I officially put 2011 to bed here in "The Ultimate Writer." I look forward to 12 more months of hard hitting action in the wonderful sport of MMA and hopefully I will still be here next year to discuss it all with you. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though....

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Tweet Tweet!





This feature looks at some of the best tweets posted on Twitter by MMA fighters or anyone else connected to the world of MMA.


Courtesy of @KennyFlorian - "The least Edson Barboza could do last night was thank Steven Seagal for teaching him that kick last night. #Gratitude #KO #Kicks #Moo-Moos"

Courtesy of @UrijahFaber - "Man @josealdojunior is a great champ, @chadmendes was doing awesome till the knee. He will b back stronger! Flight Home to Cali in 12 hrs."

Courtesy of @VitorBelfort - "Thanks for all the support that I have from my hardcore fans from the past and from the new fans I love u guys"

Courtesy of @DanaWhite - "Holy shit!!!!!!!! Most brutal KO I have ever seen in front of me!!!!! [Editor's Note: This is in regards to Edson Barboza's insane KO over Terry Etim of course....]

Courtesy of @DanaWhite - "Erick Silva is the real deal. Going to be fun to watch this kid."

Courtesy of @EdsonBarbozaJr - "I have no words to describe this moment in my life! I have to thank God for everything! I want to thank you my fans, my friends and family.."

Courtesy of @ForrestGriffin - "So apparently the 10 second rule doesn't apply to babies. Just a little FYI"

Courtesy of @ForrestGriffin - "Not sure but I'm thinking this UFC stuff might catch on. It's still too soon to tell"

Courtesy of @MiguelTorresMMA - "Nothing about the winter is awesome. Can't wait to move to Florida, I'll take the chance of a hurricane over snow every year any day."

Courtesy of @MiguelTorresMMA - "That awkward moment when you're watching the Saints v 49rs game & ur friends are going crazy & you have no reason why?"

Courtesy of @RoyNelsonMMA - "Hey feel shafted the @ufc did not mention me for @ufc 143 just nick and condit, feelings hurt but fans know whats up!"

Courtesy of @JonnyBones - "I had no clue I would get so much love and respect from the brazilian fans, I'm really loving it here."

Courtesy of @MayhemMiller - "Not sure if you can berate someone for doing it, if you haven't had the chance to piss on the corpse of someone who has killed your friends."

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Current Champions:

This feature is pretty self explanatory. I list the current champions in each relevant promotion, and you guys sit and read. Easy enough for ya?





Junior dos Santos - UFC Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Cain Velasquez back on November 12, 2011 at UFC on FOX 1

Jon Jones - UFC Light Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Mauricio "Shogun" Rua back on March 19, 2011 at UFC 128

Anderson Silva - UFC Middleweight Champion

Won the title from Rich Franklin back on October 14, 2006 at UFC 64

Georges St. Pierre - UFC Welterweight Champion

Won the title from Matt Serra back on April 14, 2008 at UFC 83

Frankie Edgar - UFC Lightweight Champion

Won the title from B.J. Penn back on April 10, 2010 at UFC 112

Jose Aldo - UFC Featherweight Champion

Won the title from Mike Brown back on November 18, 2009 at WEC 44

Dominick Cruz - UFC Bantamweight Champion

Won the title from Brian Bowles back on March 6, 2010 at WEC 47





Luke Rockhold - Strikeforce Middleweight World Champion

Won the title from Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza back on September 10, 2011 at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov

Gilbert Melendez - Strikeforce Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Josh Thomson back on December 19, 2009 at Strikeforce: Evolution

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos - Strikeforce Featherweight Female Champion

Won the title from Gina Carano back on August 15, 2009 at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg

Miesha Tate - Strikeforce Bantamweight Female Champion

Won the title from Marloes Coenen back on July 30, 2011 at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson





Bibiano Fernandes - DREAM Bantamweight Champion

Won the title from Antonio Banuelos back on December 31, 2011 at DREAM 2011 New Year's Eve Fight For Japan.

Hiroyuki Takaya - DREAM Featherweight Champion

Won the title from Bibiano Fernandes back on December 31, 2010 at Dynamite!! 2010 New Year's Eve show.

Shinya Aoki - DREAM Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Joachim Hansen back on October 6, 2009 at DREAM.11

Marius Zaromskis - DREAM Welterweight Champion

Won the title from Jason High back on July 20, 2009 at DREAM.10

Gegard Mousasi - DREAM Light Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Tatsuya Mizuno back on September 25, 2010 at DREAM.16






Cole Konrad - Bellator Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Neil Grove back on October 14, 2010 at Bellator 29

Christian M'Pumbu - Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Richard Hale back on May 21, 2011 at Bellator 45

Hector Lombard - Bellator Middleweight Champion

Won the title from Jared Hess back on June 19, 2009 at Bellator 12

Ben Askren - Bellator Welterweight Champion

Won the title from Lyman Good back on October 21, 2010 at Bellator 33

Michael Chandler - Bellator Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Eddie Alvarez back on November 19, 2011 at Bellator 58

Joe Warren - Bellator Featherweight Champion

Won the title from Joe Soto back on September 2, 2010 at Bellator 27

Zach Makovsky - Bellator Bantamweight Champion

Won the title from Ed West back on October 14, 2010 at Bellator 32

Zoila Gurgel - Bellator 115lb Women's Champion

Won the title from Megumi Fujii back on October 28, 2010 at Bellator 34

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Upcoming Events:

Here are a few of the upcoming events in the wonderful world of MMA:



UFC on FOX 2 - January 28 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois

-Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis
-Chael Sonnen vs. Mark Munoz
-Michael Bisping vs. Demian Maia
-Evan Dunham vs. Nik Lentz
-George Roop vs. Cub Swanson
-Shane Roller vs. Michael Johnson
-Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely
-Mike Russow vs. Jon Olav Einemo
-Dustin Jacoby vs. Chris Camozzi
-Johnny Bedford vs. Mitch Gagnon
-Joey Beltran vs. Lavar Johnson


UFC 143 "Diaz vs. Condit" - February 4 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada

-Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit (for the UFC interim welterweight title)
-Roy Nelson vs. Fabricio Werdum
-Josh Koscheck vs. Mike Pierce
-Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway
-Scott Jorgensen vs. Renan Barao
-Ed Herman vs. Clifford Starks
-Matt Riddle vs. Jorge Lopez
-Edwin Figueroa vs. Alex Caceres
-Rafael Natal vs. Michael Kuiper
-Stephen Thompson vs. Justin Edwards


UFC on FUEL TV 1 - February 15 at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska

-Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego Sanchez
-Stefan Struve vs. Dave Herman
-Aaron Simpson vs. Ronny Markes
-Jonathan Brookins vs. Vagner Rocha
-Stipe Miocic vs. Philip De Fries
-Ivan Menjivar vs. John Albert
-T.J. Dillashaw vs. Walel Watson


UFC 144 "Edgar vs. Henderson" - February 25 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

-Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson (for the UFC lightweight title)
-Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
-Jake Shields vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
-Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon
-Cheick Kongo vs. Mark Hunt
-Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
-Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
-Takanori Gomi vs. George Sotiropoulos
-Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
-Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
-Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso
-Leonard Garcia vs. Tiequan Zhang


Bellator 60 - March 2 at a location that has yet to-be-announced

-No fights are scheduled at this time


Strikeforce "Barnett vs. Cormier" - March 3 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio

-Josh Barnett vs. Daniel Cormier (finals of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix)
-Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey (for the Strikeforce women's bantamweight title)
-Paul Daley vs. Kazuo Misaki
-K.J. Noons vs. Josh Thomson
-Sarah Kaufman vs. Alexis Davis

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Video of the Week!

If I have to explain to you what "video of the week" is, than please grab a pencil and stick it in your neck for the benefit of society....

Thanks to UFC 142, I'm in a violent mood right now.....

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My top 5 MMA Rankings:

These are my current top 5 MMA rankings! I know 411mania.com has their own rankings as a collective unit, but I figured I would list mine for you guys to tear apart each week....

Heavyweight:

1. Junior dos Santos
2. Cain Velasquez
3. Alistair Overeem
4. Shane Carwin
5. Fabricio Werdum

Light Heavyweight:

1. Jon Jones
2. Rashad Evans
3. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
4. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
5. Dan Henderson

Middleweight:

1. Anderson Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Vitor Belfort
4. Yushin Okami
5. Mark Munoz

Welterweight:

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Nick Diaz
3. Josh Koscheck
4. Carlos Condit
5. Jake Ellenberger

Lightweight:

1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gilbert Melendez
3. Gray Maynard
4. Ben Henderson
5. Shinya Aoki

Featherweight:

1. Jose Aldo
2. Hatsu Hioki
3. Chad Mendes
4. Diego Nunes
5. Pat Curran

Bantamweight:

1. Dominick Cruz
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Urijah Faber
4. Demetrious Johnson
5. Brian Bowles

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And that's it for me this week. Make sure you follow me on Twitter for all sorts of good MMA, NBA, NFL, and other random crap talk. Trust me, I won't let you down.

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