411’s Fighter Of The Month: October 2008

Posted by Adam Tool on 10.31.2008

I don’t need to remind you how crazy October has been, do I? The voting was some of the strangest in history so don’t miss the staff’s picks for the best performance from all this month’s action. Who wins it? Will it be Anderson Silva, Thiago Alves, Andrei Arlovski, Michael Bisping, or Sean Sherk? Or could it be Seth Petruzelli, Junior Dos Santos, Luis Cane, or even Patrick Cote?

How weird was the month of October for the sport of mixed-martial arts? So weird that our staff was all over the place with their voting this month, resulting in one of the downright nuttiest Fighter Of The Month sessions in this feature's short history. How crazy was it? There is one vote a piece separating each of the top three spots. Read on to see how it all broke down.

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

Dustin James

1) Seth Petruzelli
How could you NOT give it to this guy? Not only did he defeat Kimbo Slice in like 14 seconds, but he took down the entire EliteXC promotion! Talk about somebody who is on a roll. Although he gets some points deducted from his score due to the strength of his competition. But still, taking down EliteXC gives you some cred now.

2) Michael Bisping - Defeated Chris Leben via decision and was announced as coach for the next season of "The Ultimate Fighter". I would say that is a pretty fantastic month.
3) Junior dos Santos - EXPLODED in to the UFC's heavyweight division with a win over Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90. What a huge win for this guy and he could be one to look out for in the future.
4) Luis Cane - Got an impressive win over another top light heavyweight at UFC 89 when he defeated Sokoudjou via TKO. He may be one to talk about when discussing the best light heavyweights in the UFC.
5) Thiago Alves - Becomes the #1 contender to the UFC Welterweight Title with an impressive win over Josh Koscheck. Alves will now fight the winner of GSP/Penn unless GSP wins and Dana White decides to blow his load on Anderson Silva vs. GSP say at.......UFC 100??? Either way, great month and a huge win for Alves.

Jonathan Solomon

1) Seth Petruzelli
This may be the most ironic pick in the history of the rankings. Seth Petruzelli shocked the world. Period. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE~! He also happened to kill Elite-XC. A stretch much? Not really. His comments in the wake of the SHOCKING win caught the attention of not only the MMA world, but the mainstream world, too. CBS/Showtime pulled out of potential talks to purchase EXC due to the negative press and now it's dead. Petruzelli may be the fighter of the month...but DAMN~!

2) Patrick Cote - I don't care that he technically lost his fight. The man took Anderson Silva to the third round in the UFC. Anderson Silva....third round. That just shouldn't happen. Plus, who knows what may have happened if his knee stayed intact. Who knows? All that earns him my number two spot.
3) Michael Bisping - He main-evented another European UFC show and won yet again. His fight with Chris Leben was also pretty damn entertaining. If he does end up on the next season of TUF, more TV exposure is NEVER a bad thing.
4) Junior Dos Santos - Who?! He knocked Fabricio Werdum OUT, that's who! Dos Santos is an immediate player in the UFC heavyweight division. Past the Couture/Lesnar vs. Nogueira/Mir fight, plans are pretty open.
5) Gina Carano - In her final fight on prime time network television, The First Lady of MMA kicked ass. Arguably the most entertaining fight of the broadcast, Carano continues to prove why she's such a dynamic figure in the sport. Wherever she ends up, the fight with Cyborg is sure to be one of the more anticipated fights in 2009.

John Curry

1) Sean Sherk
Not to take anything away from Petruzelli but the guy wasn't some pushover that I had any fear about Kimbo defeating unless EliteXC paid him to take a dive. Which apparently seemed legit enough to cause anyone who had any faith in the organization to pack it in and run. Now with that out of the way. I have to give it to Sherk because after his loss to Penn I legitimately thought he was going to become a gatekeeper. However, after watching the fight this past weekend I have to say that he has worked on his stand-up, and in my opinion can open the door to a great rematch with Penn.

2) Patrick Cote -Did Silva toy with him or was Cote just that good? Who the hell knows, what I do know is that Cote looked the best of anyone who has fought Silva in the UFC so far. Just surviving into the 3rd round with him is enough to earn numero dos from me, even though he cost me money because I bet that Cote would defeat Silva. That's right I bet on Cote. HA!
3) Junior Dos Santos - KO OF the year. Enough said.
4) Marcus Davis - Does anyone remember how legit Davis actually is? We know he is one of the hardest hitting guys in the entire UFC but know we know he can handle his business on the ground. Just another building block to the title fight.
5) Andrei Arlovski - KO'd Ben Rothwell, KO'd Roy Nelson, Next up Fedor. Arlovski's fight against Nelson actually has me thinking he can beat Fedor. Will he...no. But at least getting me to think he can warrants a spot on this list.

Daniel Plunkett

1) Junior Dos Santos
He came into UFC 90 over matched against a top 10 heavyweight in Fabricio Werdum, he came out of UFC 90 a contender and with a $65,000 knockout of the night bonus.

2) Seth Petruzelli - Sure, defeating Kimbo Slice shouldn't be that big of a deal, but he also single handedly killed the deal for CBS to buy EliteXC, which killed Pro Elite.
3) Thiago Alves - With his win over Josh Koscheck, Alves cemented his spot as the number 1 contender for the UFC Welterweight Title. He also became the only man who could pose a serious threat to the winner of the BJ Penn-Georges St. Pierre fight.
4) Andrei Arlovski - Even though his fight against Roy Nelson was the only one to lose viewers (100,000 of them), Arlovski still fought in front of millions. Next up, a fight with the best heavyweight of all time, Fedor Emelianenko.
5) Luis Cane - Cane shocked many when he TKO'd top 10 light heavyweight Sokoudjou, another win puts him right in there for a title shot.

Scott Kuczkowski

1) Thiago Alves
Thiago defeated Josh Koscheck in a mostly one-sided decision and secured himself a crack at GSP's welterweight championship. He also silenced a number of critics who questioned his ability to make the weight for the fight. The win also established him as one of the top 5 welterweights in the world.

2) Seth Petruzelli - Seth stepped in and took a fight with Kimbo Slice on a few hours notice and shocked the world by knocking out the internet sensation in 14 seconds. Seth also mentioned in a subsequent interview that he was paid to keep the fight standing, which sparked an investigation by the Florida athletic commission and influenced CBS's decision not to buy the dying promotion. Never in MMA history has one person gotten so much mileage out of 14 seconds.
3) Junior dos Santos - Junior arrived at UFC 90 scheduled to act as a stepping stone for Werdum's ascension into the #1 contender position after the heavyweight title picture cleared up. Unfortunately, no one told dos Santos this, as he played the spoiler and knocked out Werdum in the first round.
4) Andrei Arlovski - Arlovski dispatched another former IFL heavyweight champion by decimating Roy Nelson via strikes in the 2nd round. This comes on the heels of his defeat of Ben Rothwell, also by strikes.
5) Sean Sherk - Sherk emerged victorious after a fierce battle with Tyson Griffin during which the two earned fight of the night honors. Sherk also cemented his place amongst the top stars in the UFC's lightweight division.

Larry Csonka

1) Junior dos Santos
Sure Seth Petruzelli's KO of Slice was surprising and all, but I think the KO by Junior dos Santos was way more impressive for the simple fact that he beat someone many considered a top 10 heavyweight and a guy that was in line (supposedly) for a title shot. I am not sure what the future holds for Mr. dos Santos, but his UFC tenure is off to a very good start.

2) Andrei Arlovski - Andrei Arlovski gets a very impressive win on prime time TV and secures a WAMMA Title shot against FEDOR!
3) Thiago Alves - Thiago Alves gets an impressive win over Josh Koscheck and lays claim to a Welterweight title shot. The man is certainly a threat for the title and I really want to see Alves vs. GSP.
4) Michael Bisping - Michael Bisping takes out Chris Leben in his home country and gets closer to a Middleweight title shot.
5) Seth Petruzelli - Petruzelli's double KO can't go unmentioned, when you end a myth and a promotion all in one night you have to discuss that.

Jeremy Lambert

1) Thiago Alves
Dominated Josh Koscheck with superior striking and good takedown defense en route to a shot at the Welterweight title. Plus he made weight this time.

2) Junior dos Santos - Knocked out heavy favorite Fabricio Werdum and became the MMA darling because he hit pads really hard.
3) Seth Petruzelli - Knocked out Kimbo Slice with his hands, knocked out EXC with his mouth. And he made Jared Shaw lose his mind.
4) Michael Bisping - Looked really good against a game Chris Leben and earned himself a slot as the coach on TUF9.
5) Gina Carano - Looked great in the cage against Kelly Kobald and looked great at the weigh ins against the towel.

Adam Tool

1) Anderson Silva
I'm a little sad to see I'm the only one showing "The Spider" some love this month, but I can understand if everybody's still a little bitter about UFC 90 and the final fight of the evening. He didn't finish Cote, but he did win the fight and retain his middleweight belt. The journey may not have been pretty, but the destination is all that really matters anyways.

2) Thiago Alves - If there was any doubt about Alves' place in the welterweight ranks, he put an end to it with another dominant performance. Alves vs. GSP? Alves vs. Penn? I'll take either or both as soon as possible.
3) Jake Shields - Again, I have to be the only one voting for somebody who may not have had the most exciting fight. That doesn't change the fact that Shields goes down in history as the final EliteXC champion to defend his title. He also stands to gain the most from the demise of his former employer, as he'll finally get the chance to prove himself in the UFC.
4) Sean Sherk/Tyson Griffin - I feel like applauding the efforts of both these guys after their tremendous war to open last weekend's show. This fight had plenty of action and was closely contested until the final bell. Sherk got the win but I say match these two up again in the future.
5) Michael Bisping - In his home country, fighting in the main event, Michael Bisping didn't crack under the pressure and earned a nice win over Chris Leben. He was also announced as a coach on next year's "Ultimate Fighter," and he could be looking at a middleweight title shot within the next year or so. Not a bad month at all in my book.

The Results

Honorable Mention: Sean Sherk, Patrick Cote

5th Place - Andrei Arlovski (9 points)

After his win over Roy Nelson on EliteXC‘s final card, Arlovski jumps right into a big-time showdown with Fedor in January.

4th Place - Michael Bisping (12 points)

It may not have been pretty, but Bisping got the job done against Leben and will now return to "The Ultimate Fighter" as a coach.

3rd Place - Junior Dos Santos (20 points)

Where the hell did this guy come from? Dos Santos makes a big impact on the UFC's heavyweight division and knocks Fabricio Werdum RIGHT THE FUCK OUT

2nd Place - Thiago Alves (21 points)

After wins over Parisyan and Hughes earlier this year, Alves cements his spot in the welterweight ranks by dominating a tough opponent in Josh Koscheck.

Fighter of the Month for October - Seth Petruzelli (22 points)

Where the hell did this guy come from? Part 2. From "TUF" loser to Kimbo killer, Seth Petruzelli shocks the world and kills EliteXC dead. Who could've seen that coming?

Fighter Of The Year Standings

Voting began on June 3rd.

Seth Petruzelli - 15 points
Rashad Evans - 15 points
Georges St. Pierre - 15 points
Forrest Griffin - 15 points
Urijah Faber - 15 points
BJ Penn - 15 points

Josh Thomson - 13 points

Thiago Alves - 12 points
Gegard Mousasi - 12 points
Brock Lesnar - 12 points
Fedor Emelianenko - 12 points
Wanderlei Silva - 12 points

Junior Dos Santos - 9 points
Nate Diaz - 9 points
Kenny Florian - 9 points
Anderson Silva - 9 points
Shinya Aoki - 9 points
Eddie Alvarez - 9 points
Lyoto Machida - 9 points

Michael Bisping - 7 points

Wilson Reis - 6 points
Clay Guida - 6 points
Carlos Condit - 6 points
Robbie Lawler - 6 points
Joachim Hansen - 6 points
Amir Sadollah - 6 points
Kimbo Slice - 6 points

Andrei Arlovski - 3 points
Rich Franklin - 3 points
Jon Fitch - 3 points
Steve Cantwell - 3 points
Christian Cyborg - 3 points
KJ Noons - 3 points
Miguel Torres - 3 points

Sean Sherk - 1 point
Patrick Cote - 1 point
Nate Marquardt - 1 point
Dan Henderson - 1 point
Frank Trigg - 1 point
Jake Shields - 1 point
Scott Smith - 1 point