411’s Fighter of the Month: June
Posted by on 07.01.2008
It was an explosive month for MMA as Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres successfully defended their WEC titles, Amir Sadollah won The Ultimate Fighter, Shinya Aoki advanced in the lightweight grand prix, KJ Noons retained the EliteXC lightweight championship, and Josh Thomson captured the Strikeforce lightweight strap! But which fighter took top honors for Fighter of the Month?
Welcome to 411's Fighter of the Month for June, 2008! I'm Adam Tool, your ever humble Friday news guy here in the MMA zone.
June was a busy month in the world of mixed-martial arts. We had an awesome card from WEC to kick things off, followed by UFC 85, EliteXC: Return of the King, DREAM 4, Adrenaline MMA, the Ultimate Fighter Finale and Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson. Who will take the top prize for June? You're about to find out…
How It Works
Each staff member picks five fighters and ranks them. I'll assign a point value to those rankings. Points are determined as:
1st - 5
2nd - 4
3rd - 3
4th - 2
5th - 1
The fighter with the most points is our Fighter of the Month and then new points are assigned that will go towards Fighter of the Year. Those points are:
1st - 15
2nd - 12
3rd - 9
4th - 6
5th - 3
6th - 1
The Voting
Bren Oliver
1) Urijah Faber
Solidified himself as the top American Featherweight with a win over Jens Pulver, helped sell over 10,000 tickets to a non-UFC event, and showcased his improving striking ability.
2) Shinya Aoki - Continued his dominance in DREAM and could find himself ranked the #1 Lightweight in MMA if he wins the Grand Prix. In my opinion, when you seemingly invent a submission technique and have it named after you (Aokiplata), you deserve a bit of love when it comes to the monthly ranking.
3) Josh Thomson - The hardworking American Kickboxing Academy 155-pounder won the biggest fight of his career in defeating consensus "Top 5" fighter Gilbert Melendez to win the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship. His performance was especially impressive due to his recovery from shoulder surgery and the nine-month layoff he experienced as a result of it.
4) Amir Sadollah - Came out of nowhere to win the Ultimate Fighter 7 and beat a heavily favored CB Dollaway in two fights against him. He's also endeared himself to fans with his humility and sense of humor while maintaining a high level of class throughout the Ultimate Fighter process.
5) KJ Noons - Became EliteXC's posterboy with a dominating TKO win over Yves Edwards and was part of a much-discussed melee with Nick Diaz (and camp) after the victory. Noons only has nine professional MMA fights and already appears to be a superstar in the sport.
Jonathan Solomon
1) Urijah Faber
Still one of the best fighters in the world despite the fact he has never fought in a "top" promotion. He sealed his position with a big win over Jens Pulver. In the process, he was big business in drawing fans to the building and getting eyeballs to watch VERSUS. His performances are making UFC consider putting a non-UFC fight on one of their future PPVs.
2) Josh Thomson - A big upset victory against Gilbert Melendez to earn the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship. He fought so well, he made Melendez forget all about his gameplan. Thomson fought his fight, against one of the best lightweights in the world.
3) Shinya Aoki - Perhaps the most exciting fighter in DREAM right now, he continues to be a dominant force. Hell, that modified-gogoplata was awesome.
4) Miguel Torres - The WEC sure does have a great group of talent. One of the top fighters in the world had one of the best fights of 2008. It's amazing that on a show headlined by Faber/Pulver, in some circles, Torres' win over Yoshiro Maeda had more buzz after the fact. It was a plain old fun battle to watch unfold.
5) Murilo Ninja Rua - He gets a spot on my list for the awesome beat down he put on Tony Bonello. For some reason, Bonello acted like a brute during the introductions. He was trash talking right in Ninja's face. What unfolded was a simple destruction featuring tremendous ground and pound.
Wendell Mitchell
1) Urijah Faber
The three of you that read my column know my love for URIJAH is boundless, but that's not why he's topping the list. He flat out had an outstanding fight with Jens Pulver that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish wonder if Urijah was going to finish or if Pulver would pull off the upset. In the end, the California Kid did what he does best and prove that he is the absolute best in his weight class.
2) Miguel Torres - Arguably the most exciting fight I have personally seen, this match may have even outshined the Faber/Pulver showdown. I can't wait to see him fight again. Hell, throw Maeda in there again and let's watch them make more magic.
3) Josh Thomson - Fresh off his victory with Gilbert Mendez, the new StrikeForce Lightweight Champ is riding high and nabs a spot in my top five.
4) Michael Bisping - Finally showed me something. Very impressive victory over a guy I thought would give him problems. Now let's see if he can parlay this victory into fighting a few of the bigger dogs at Middleweight.
5) Amir Sadollah - Epitomized what The Ultimate Fighter is all about. Despite arguably one of the hardest roads to the finals, he managed to finish each of his opponents and made short work of the ostensible favorite of the competition.
Larry Csonka
1) Urijah Faber
Urijah Faber is the man, plain and simple. His fight with Jens Pulver was a damn good fight and proved some things. It proved that the smaller fighters can draw, it proved that proper promotion is vital and that you don't have to have a grudge to sell a fight. Where Faber goes from here I am not sure, but he is dominating at 145.
2) Josh Thomson - This man went in there and dominated Gilbert Melendez. And not only did he dominate him, he seemed to know what Melendez was going to do before he did it. A dominating performance by Thomson to be sure.
3) KJ Noons - He whooped Yves ass handily and is looking to be the real deal. WAR NOONS!
4) Shinya Aoki - Aoki is dominating in DREAM right now, and is really the only reasoni check out the promotion.
5) Amir Sadollah - Winning the Ultimate Fighter Finale is enough to take the bottom spot this week.
Dustin James
1) Urijah Faber
Proved to the world that he is the best featherweight out there. He defeated the undefeated (at featherweight) Jens Pulver via decision in an awesome fight. The next best thing for Faber? Either a re-match with the only man who has beat him (UFC's Tyson Griffin) or perhaps the AWWSUM KID YAMAMOTO~! Either fight would be vagtastic.
2) Shinya Aoki - Did you see those rainbow tights he wore during his fight? How about that "Aokiplata" he used to submit his opponent? Usually just the rainbow tights alone would get you first place in my rankings, but Faber is FABER. And Aoki = $$$!
3) Josh Thomson - Captured the Strikeforce lightweight title and defeated Gilbert Melendez in the process. I'd consider that a pretty damn good month!
4) Amir Sadollah - Overcame unbelievable odds and managed to live in a house with Jeremy May for 2 months without killing him. Oh, and he won the Ultimate Fighter.
5) KJ Noons - Kicked Yves Edward's ass, and then made himself into a superstar with post-fight drama involving Nick Diaz. Say what you will about EliteXC, but they can make anybody look like a star.
Adam Tool
1) Urijah Faber
A month packed with fight cards means some tough decisions on who stood out the most. However I feel confident in saying that the WEC featherweight champion put on the best performance this month by overcoming the biggest threat to his title reign so far. This award is all about individual accomplishments and to me nobody accomplished more than "The California Kid" when he shut out Jens Pulver and cemented his place as the premier athlete in the world at 145 lbs.
2) Amir Sadollah - I had to give some love to Amir not only for his performance at the Ultimate Fighter Finale, but his amazing run on the entire season. Look back at the tournaments that have been held on "The Ultimate Fighter," and tell me that Amir didn't have a tougher road to the title than anyone else previous. After all, CB Dollaway was the odds-on favorite and Amir beat him twice. That alone speaks volumes to the talent and tenacity that this man has.
3) KJ Noons - He did it again. Almost everyone figured Nick Diaz would roll through KJ Noons to win the EliteXC lightweight title, and Noons proved them wrong. Then came his first title defense against the dangerous Yves Edwards, and Noons puts him away in less than a minute. KJ Noons gets his spot for proving that he is most certainly, the real deal.
4) Miguel Torres - He had the best fight of the year (so far), he successfully defended his newly-won bantamweight title, and he made a big splash on pound-for-pound rankings all over the place. Pretty good month, I'd say.
5) Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza - I can certainly understand my fellow 411 staffers that are showing love to Shinya Aoki, as he had a great showing at DREAM 4. However the performance that impressed me the most on that card was Jacare, who had a decisive win over the very tough Jason "Mayhem" Miller. In my opinion Jacare is now hands-down the favorite to win the entire middleweight grand prix.
John Curry
1) Amir Sadollah
Came in with a 0-0 record and beat the show's favorite not once but twice. How can anyone say anyone else deserves fighter of the month rather than Amir.
2) Uriah Faber - He beat Jens Pulver in the hardest fight of his young life. The only fight left for him is the hope that the UFC/WEC brass can find a way to bring "Kid" in to fight him.
3) Shinya Aoki - Enough Said.
4) KJ Noons - Showed he was the better man in the EliteXC.
5) Josh Thompson - Couldn't have been a better month for him. However, I expected it from him.
The Results
Honorable Mention: Miguel Torres
5th Place - KJ Noons (10 points)
Noons puts away Yves Edwards in quick fashion in his first EliteXC lightweight title defense.
4th Place - Amir Sadollah (15 points)
The latest "Ultimate Fighter" made a lot of new fans this month.
3rd Place - Shinya Aoki (16 points)
When you pull off a submission that Bas Rutten has never seen, you definitely get some attention ‘round here.
2nd Place - Josh Thomson (18 points)
A big win over Gilbert Melendez caps off a great month for "The Punk."
Fighter of the Month for June - Urijah Faber (34 points)
After defeating Jens Pulver "The California Kid" stands tall atop the featherweight division, and easily wins the Fighter of the Month.
