2011 Card of the Year

[INDYjon22]

2011 saw some really good shows. We talk about hypothetically good cards, which end up sucking, but 2011 delivered some very good overall shows. From cards we didn't expect to be awesome, to the return to Brazil, we had some awesome shows. And with so many within such a short period it should be that way.

UFC 125- Edgar vs. Maynard II

UFC 125 kicked the year off with a bang. We got to see the epic fight that was Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard. In addition, Brian Stann upset a very hot Chris Leben by KO. As well as a competitive fight between Nate Diaz and Dong Hyun Kim and Clay Guida submitting Takanori Gomi.

UFC 132- Cruz vs. Faber

UFC 132 was a tremendous card with three very good headlining fights. Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber gave one hell of a performance in a five round title bout. Wanderlei and Leben had a short but electric war which saw Leben come out on top. We also saw Tito return to his winning ways by knocking off Ryan Bader. Other highlights include Dennis Siver out pointing Matt Wiman, Carlos Condit viciously knocking out DHK, Melvin Guillard beating up Shane Roller and Raphael Dos Anjos upsetting George Soti.

UFC 134- Silva vs. Okami

UFC 134 saw the UFC return to Brazil for the first time in a long time. This card did not disappoint either. It was filled with stoppages and very good fights. Okami was the last man to defeat Anderson, and Anderson defeated him in the rematch quiet easily. In addition, Shogun got revenge on Forrest and Big Nog beat that big mouth jack ass known as Brendan Schaub. There were also a bunch of other fun fights including what I hope is now the legendary Dan Miller vs. Rousimar Palhares fight. So entertaining.

UFC 139- Rua vs. Henderson

UFC 139 was a great night for some of the legends of the sport. Stephan Bonnar had one hell of a fight with Kyle Kingsbury, not saying it was a good fight, but it was nice to see the Stephan of old show up. Martin Kampmann rebounded against that hype train of a man named Rick Story. Faber made a statement of why he deserves another shot at Cruz by submitting Brian Bowles. Wanderlei picked up a huge win by way of a TKO victory over Cung Le. And most of all we got to see that now legendary fight between Rua and Hendo.

UFC 140- Jones vs. Machida

UFC 140 capped off what was a tremendous year in MMA for Jon Jones. He pulled off one with nastiest submissions of the year against a very good fighter. In addition, Mir and Big Nog had their long awaited rematch and it also included a very nasty submission. Lil Nog beat up Tito Ortiz, Brian Ebersole kept his winning ways going and the Korean Zombie picked up a 9 second win.

This was to be Chris Lytle's final fight in what has been a great career and he made it a memorable one by submitting Dan Hardy. Jim Miller and Ben Henderson had a very solid fight. Cerrone beat up Charles Oliveira. And, Duane Ludwig out pointed Amir Sadollah on the main card. Cole Miller, Jimy Hettes, Jarred Hamman, and Ed Herman all also picked up big wins that night as well.

Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley

This was a very entertaining card to say the least. Not only did we see a crazy and exciting fight like Daley/Diaz, but we also got to see Gilbert Melendez light up Tatsuya Kawajiri, and we got to see a side of Keith Jardine we hadn't seen in a long time when he went to a draw with Gegard Mousasi. We also got to see Shinya Aoki beat the shit out of Lyle Beerbohm.

Bellator 58

Bellator 58 saw two of the promotions corner stones fight. Eddie Alvarez was submitted by Michael Chandler for the Lightweight championship and Hector Lombard blasted Trevor Prangley. In addition, Jessica Aguilar defeated Lisa Ellis-Ward and Marlon Sandro got back to his winning ways.

 

[JWGunslinger]

UFC 132 for me, 139 and 125 came close in this one for me. 132 gave us more enjoyable fights in all IMO when you stack up fights like Dos Anjos vs Soti, Guillard vs Roller, Condit vs Kim, Wandi vs Leben, Ortiz vs Bader and Cruz vs Faber it really dominates every other card this year. Other cards had fights that were bigger in terms of importance and size like Shogun-Hendo or Jones-Machida, but all in all I think that 132 delivered more in excitement with each fight than the other cards.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Why I nominated UFC 139 was for the following:

1.) The greatest fight possibly in UFC history between Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua.
2.) We saw vintage Wanderlei Silva. Sure, he beat up an actor, but still, it was a great moment.
3.) Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles was a matchup I had wanted to see for awhile. It didn't disappoint.
4.) Rick Story became possibly one loss away from being cut, and all around good guy Martin Kampmann got a much needed win.
5.) Stephan Bonnar, another all around good guy, clawed his way back into title contention. Who cares if it was boring?
6.) Ryan Bader bounced back with a KO of Jason Brilz.
7.) Michael McDonald and Chris Weidman both had excellent first round finishes. Both are the future at their respective divisions.
8.) Shamar Bailey had his "Last Call" in the UFC.

All around, an excellent card. Top to bottom, there wasn't a card that was any better.

 

[Fizzy]

139 for me. It featured my favorite fighter putting on an absolutely incredible performance against Okami. Seriously, he embarrassed him and it was beautiful to watch. Big Nog had me screaming when he KOed Schaub with everybody writing him off. It was one of the best moments in MMA history. Rua had a beautiful KO on Griffin, and the atmosphere in the arena was amazing. The best all around card of all time in my opinion, and the most fun i've ever had watching an MMA event.

 

[jmt225]

I would pick Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley, but what hurts that card is the absolute shitty outcome of Mousasi vs. Jardine, which I still have a bitter taste in my mouth about, lol.

So, I'm going with the other sentimental favorite of mine on the list, and that's UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle, where we saw the last fight of one of my all time favorite fighters, Chris Lytle. And man... did he go out with a bang or what? The first 2 and a half rounds was just him and Hardy banging it out, until mid-way through the 3rd Hardy went for a takedown and ended up getting submitted. It was fantastic. And the reception Lytle and his family received after the fight was completely heart-warming and something I'll never forget as an MMA fan.

But the undercard was damn good as well. We saw a great technical battle between one of my other favorite fighters Benson Henderson vs. Jim Miller, where Henderson showed his superiority in every aspect of that fight. We also saw the Cowgirl Donald Cerrone give Charles Oliveira an entertaining beatdown. And we got a fun fight between Amir Sadollah and Duane Ludwig to open the show up.

At the end of the day, however, I'm giving this vote for the card because of Chris Lytle. It was just a special night to witness, and it was all thanks to him and his awesome career as a professional Mixed Martial Artist.