johng Blog

Go read my round up from last year first. Wow. What a difference a year makes.

Most turbulent year in the history of MMA: 2007

Best Division: UFC Lightweight
A ton of high quality fighters having a ton of high quality fights. Fast paced, entertaining and highly competitive. It will be interesting to see who gets the winner of BJ/Stevenson vs Sherk next year.

Favourite Fighter: Quinton Rampage Jackson
Inside and outside the octagon always a character and with a new training team behind him this year was able to take out Liddell and defend against a very game Dan Henderson.

Favourite Match: Phil Baroni vs Frank Shamrock
This one is too hard. I picked this match because of the story, the characters and the fight all built up perfectly. Both guys were physically and mentally destroyed afterwards. Also worthy are Tyson Griffin vs. Frankie Edgar, Chuck Liddell vs Wanderei Silva, Clay Guida vs Roger Huerta, Roger Huerta vs. Leonard Garcia, Tyson Griffin vs Clay Guida, Forrest Griffin vs Shogun, Randy Couture vs Tim Sylvia. The list goes on.

Favourite Moment: Randy Couture comes out of retirement to defeat Tim Sylvia
This was such a special fight, it was Rocky but real. Everyone disliked (hate is a strong word) Tim Sylvia and everybody loved (past tense) Randy. No one expected that first punch and no one expected it to be such a great performance. I was standing for all 25 minutes.

Worst Moment: Randy Couture parts ways with the UFC
After the high of winning the belt and then crushing Gonzaga, Randy decided to hang up the gloves due to some really dumb reasons. I think he is hiding something now. UFC should just call his bluff and co-promote a Fedor vs Couture fight with M1 Global. With the cool $2 million that will get him there will be no excuses.

Worst Trend: It’s all about the money
Randy, Tito, Fedor, etc. Stop bitching and start fighting.

Best Match That Never Happened: Fedor Emelyanenko vs Randy Couture
See above. Fedor ran away and Couture left his contract.

Show Of The Year: Pride 33
An absolute classic filled with upsets. The last great Pride event.