411's Fighter Of The Month: August 2008
Posted by Adam Tool on 09.01.2008
Time again for the staff at 411mania to make their picks for the best performances of the past month! There were big winners in the UFC, WEC and World Victory Road, but who's the biggest winner of the month?
Welcome back to 411mania's Fighter Of The Month. I'm your emcee Adam Tool, better known as the Friday news/video review guy. The blockbuster summer of mixed-martial arts is winding down, and August was one of the slowest periods in recent months. We still had a tremendous show from the WEC as well as UFC 87. And there was…Sengoku 4. That's pretty much it. And while the guy at #1 is probably no big shock (spoiler alert: he's French-Canadian), the rest of the pack had some fairly diverse selections.
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
Jonathan Solomon
1) Georges St. Pierre
The only possible criticism you can make against GSP after the Fitch fight was his inability to finish the former Purdue wrestler. However, I give the credit to Fitch more than looking at it as a negative for St. Pierre. Georges was too powerful for Fitch and out wrestled a tremendous wrestler. St. Pierre looked unbeatable and deserves the top spot.
2) Brock Lesnar - With his performance at UFC 87, Brock became the talk of the MMA world. Whether it was due to his complete and utter domination of Heath Herring or his "antics", people were talking. Brock showed his unbelievable power and dominant wrestling ability. In just his third professional fight, he looked almost as unbeatable as GSP. Nobody can avoid his takedowns. NOBODY!
3) Carlos Condit - Condit won a tremendous fight which some called potential fight of the year quality. I'm not so sure about that but I do know Condit is one talented welterweight champion. As is the case for many of the guys in WEC, there is only so high Condit can go.
4) Jon Fitch - Sure, Fitch lost and was beaten beyond belief. He showed a ton of heart and fortitude to never give up and continue fighting despite the beatdown. GSP was never in danger of losing but no matter what he did, he could not put Fitch away. He will be back and Fitch will be a better fighter because of it.
5) Takanori Gomi - The Fireball Kid gets the final spot on my list. Sure, he probably should have finished his opponent but Gomi won regardless of that. Fans would love to see him fight the stacked 155'ers in DREAM or come to America, but neither looks like it will happen anytime soon.
Dustin James
1) Georges St. Pierre
Wow, a UFC title holder who is actually defending his title. Outside of Anderson Silva that seems extremely rare now a days. GSP ended Jon Fitch's hall-of-fame run of 8 straight victories in the UFC and is now looking towards an awesome rematch with BJ Penn on January 31. Congratulations GSP, you could end up being the fighter of the year.
2) Brock Lesnar - This former pro wrestler defeated a top 15 heavyweight in Heath Herring. Lesnar is definitely still a work in progress, but give the guy some time...and he is going to be dangerous.
3) Kenny Florian - The guy just can't seem to catch a break. He goes out and defeats Roger Huerta at UFC 87 and now has to wait about 9 months for a possible title shot. But he doesn't take that lying down....no sir. He will now face Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. If Florian defeats Stevenson, expect even more backlash from UFC fans about Penn not defending his title in a timely manner.
4) Steve Cantwell - Defeated "MILITARY MAN" Brian Stann to become the new WEC light heavyweight champion. Not only that, but he also more than likely earned himself a ticket to the UFC. Not a bad month for Cantwell at all.
5) Satoru Kitaoka - Many people considered him an underdog against Clay French in Sengoku's lightweight grand prix, and guess what. He defeated French with an Achilles lock in 31 seconds. He is now the favorite to win the grand prix and face Takanori Gomi.
Scott Kuzckowski
1) Georges St. Pierre
With his victory over Fitch, GSP demonstrated why he belongs near the top of the pound for pound rankings. Fitch showed a ton of heart, but he couldn't get any momentum going for him throughout the bout. He not only dominated a very tough competitor in Fitch, he showed a lot of class by putting Fitch over in the post fight interview.
2) Brock Lesnar - Brock hit Herring with a punch that will probably haunt Herring for the remainder of his career. A fighter who is rarely dominated, Herring couldn't amass any sort of offense against Brock and was totally at a loss as to how to handle the big man. Lesnar looked incredible during the fight and demonstrated great improvement from his last fight. Yes Brock, we can see you now.
3) Kenny Florian - KenFlo dominated Huerta and showed the rest of the division why he should be considered a #1 contender for Penn's title. Huerta was clearly outclassed by Florian and couldn't figure out how to take Florian out of his game. Realizing Penn will first face GSP, Florian has accepted a fight with Joe Stevenson, which is an incredible risk.
4) Carlos Condit - Condit defeated Miura after a long and hard-fought battle that saw both guys gassed by the time it was over. Condit has a stellar record and is at the top of his game. Unfortunately, despite being one of the Top 10 ranked welterweights in the world, he won't get the respect he deserves until he fights in the UFC.
5) Frank Trigg - Trigg made his unanimous decision victory over Olympic gold medalist Takimoto look pretty easy. This puts Trigg on a two fight winning streak, which he hopes to continue when he fights Falaniko Vitale on October 3.
Jeremy Lambert
1) Georges St. Pierre
GSP became bulletproof with his win over Jon Fitch. He showed that he's mentally over the hump and he's no longer gunshy. He beat Jon Fitch the way Jon Fitch beats people and showed that he can not only be a flashy fighter but a blood and guts fighter. Plus he has an awesome accent.
2) Brock Lesnar - Lesnar proved that he was for real with his win over Herring. He controlled a game Herring for 15 minutes, almost knocked his head off, and laughed straight to the bank.
3) Kenny Florian - Florian turned into the Lyoto Machida of the lightweight division in the Huerta fight. He was a hired assassin to take out some punk wanting more money and he got the job done.
4) Carlos Condit - Showed a lot of heart in his fight against Miura and won a possible fight of the year candidate.
5) Rob Emerson - KOed Manny Gamburyan in 12 seconds. Need I say more?
Larry Csonka
1) Georges St. Pierre
GSP was dominant against Fitch, and sure he didn't "FINISH" him, but he humbled him with great victory. GSP looks to be headed towards a battle with BJ Penn, which should be a great battle.
2) Brock Lesnar - Brock Lesnar looked great against MMA veteran Heath Herring as he dominated him for 15-minutes. While Brock needs to continue to work and learn to finish people, soundly dominating a veteran like Herring was a big accomplishment for his young MMA career.
3) Kenny Florian - Kenny Florian soundly defeated Roger Huerta and in my mind is the #1 contender for the lightweight title.
4) Frank Trigg - Trigg won a unanimous decision victory over Olympic gold medalist Takimoto at the SENGOKU 4 show, and not only that, but he helped me win the SENGOKU 4! ROCK ON TRIGG!
5) Carlos Condit - Condit had a great title defense at the latest WEC show. Most felt it would be a walk, but he was really tested by Miura and his judo. Fights like these are the true test of a champion, and Condit passed big time.
Bren Oliver
1) Georges St. Pierre
Try to be best,
‘Cause you're only a man,
And a man's gotta learn to take it.
Try to believe,
Though the going gets rough,
That you gotta hang tough to make it.
History repeats itself.
Try and you'll succeed.
Never doubt that you're the one,
And you can have your dreams!
You're the best!
Around!
Nothing's gonna ever keep you down
You're the Best!
Around!
Nothing's gonna ever keep you down
You're the Best!
Around!
Nothing's gonna ever keep you dow-ow-ow-ow-own!!!
2) Brock Lesnar - Dominated 99% of his two UFC appearances, both of which came against far more experienced opponents. Not only did he establish himself as a heavyweight to be reckoned with at UFC 87, he established himself as an "entertainer" through his taunting of Heath Herring. Being a polarizing figure works wonders when it comes to selling tickets and getting PPV buys. Just ask Tito Ortiz.
3) Kenny Florian - Beat up talented posterboy Roger Huerta with Machida-like precision, earning him consideration as the UFC lightweight division's top contender to BJ Penn's belt. Not satisfied with waiting for Penn and St. Pierre's rematch to take place, Florian also announced an intention to fight again before the end of the year (likely against Joe Stevenson).
4) Jon Fitch - Fitch went 25 hard minutes against one of the top three pound-for-pound fighters in MMA. He took a lot more punishment than he gave out, but never stopped coming at GSP when most men's wills would have been broken.
5) Mizuto Hirota - I don't expect him to ever get another mention in "Fighter of the Month", but Hirota knocked out the heavily favored Ryan Schultz and prevented the IFL champ's expected Sengoku-showdown with Takanori Gomi.
Adam Tool
1) Georges St. Pierre
With his hard-fought victory over Jon Fitch, GSP proves that he is on another level in the welterweight division. St Pierre used everything in his arsenal and showed why he is one of the most complete mixed-martial artists in the sport today. Even though he couldn't put Fitch away he still left no doubt at the end as to who the better man is.
2) Brock Lesnar - Heath Herring almost finished the current (interim) UFC heavyweight champion, but he couldn't get anywhere near a finish against Brock. The former WWE champion showed that he belongs in this sport of mixed-martial arts, flattening Herring with a big punch early and pounding on him for the decisive win. With this victory and the depleted scene at heavyweight, Brock could be a win or two away from a title shot. Seriously.
3) Carlos Condit - He survived the toughest defense yet of his WEC welterweight title. It may not have been pretty, but Carlos got the job done. It was a great battle to close out a stellar card, and I can't help but wonder where Condit goes from here.
4) Steve Cantwell - After getting KO'd last year against Brian Stann, nobody really gave Cantwell much of a chance in the rematch. Cantwell worked a solid gameplan, stayed out of danger, and exposed the big holes in Stann's game. He's the new WEC light heavyweight champion, and he may be the last if he heads to the UFC later this year.
5) Jamie Varner - Yep. All three of the men that walked out of WEC 35 with championship belts deserve some form of attention for their wins. Varner's was the most dominant of the three but the challenge Marcus Hicks presented, and the way Varner overcame it, proved that "The Worm" is for real.
The Results
Honorable Mention: Frank Trigg
5th Place (TIE) - Steve Cantwell and Jon Fitch (4 points)
Cantwell avenges his only loss and gets a new gold strap in the process, while Fitch gave everything he had and took the best guy in his weight class to the limit.
4th Place - Carlos Condit (11 points)
The "other" dominant welterweight champ in the Zuffa Empire had an outstanding defense to kick off the month.
3rd Place - Kenny Florian (15 points)
The guy they call "KenFlo" didn't finish the fight, but he did get a nice win to put himself atop the pack of UFC lightweight contenders.
2nd Place - Brock Lesnar (28 points)
He passed the test and proved he belongs in the octagon, but if the rumors are true he could be facing a much bigger challenge before the year is up…
Fighter of the Month for August - Georges St. Pierre (35 points)
GSP handles what may have been the toughest opponent he's faced yet, and in the process he widens the gap between himself and everyone else at 170 lbs.
Fighter Of The Year Standings
Voting began on June 3rd.
Georges St. Pierre - 15 points
Forrest Griffin - 15 points
Urijah Faber - 15 points
BJ Penn - 15 points
