MMA News Story of the Year

[Turd Ferguson]

This year was huge in terms of MMA news. Here are a bunch of stories... what was truly the biggest?

1.) Josh Barnett tests positive for steroids, causing Affliction to fold as a promotion days before its PPV.

- If Barnett doesn't test positive for steroids, killing Affliction, who knows how big the company truly would have gotten. This set off a major chain reaction. Maybe Tito and Hendo sign with Affliction instead. Maybe Kimbo pops up there rather than in the UFC. Strikeforce would be nowhere as huge as it is right now. This had major implications for the world of MMA.

2.) The UFC dominates PPV.

-With the top 10 events consisting of seven UFC events, two boxing, and Wrestlemania. UFC 100 does more buys than Pacquaio/Cotto... leading to the first time MMA has outdrawn boxing. The UFC also outdid the estimated buys it had last year by more than 1.3 million. UFC 100 had the fourth most buys of any pay-per-views in history. UFC 94 and 101 were also rumored to have over 1 million buys. The UFC is only getting bigger.

3.) Strikeforce emerges as a major threat to the UFC.

-By signing some high-profile fighters, as well as running fights on CBS and Showtime, Strikeforce has come out of nowhere to emerge as something of a true competitor to the UFC. Of course, Showtime could mettle with Strikeforce trying to do its own thing, but right now, it should be interesting to see how the company builds on this momentum.

4.) Fedor picks Strikeforce instead of the UFC.

-After failed negotiations, including Dana offering everything but the moon to Fedor, he chooses Strikeforce because M-1 wanted co-promotion on all events. Dana refused to let that happen, so Fedor now has taken significantly less to fight with Strikeforce, and it has led to speculation that he is ducking Brock Lesnar. As long as Fedor's manager, Vadim Finkelstein continues to ruin his career, Fedor in the UFC will continue to be the biggest "What if?" with fans.

5.) Dan Henderson leaves the UFC for Strikeforce.

-Henderson was extremely popular, but he wanted money that is reserved for the biggest draws in the company, which Dana felt he wasn't. Henderson is worth big money though, he's a favorite among the die-hards, and that knockout of Bisping, as well as a strong first round vs. Anderson Silva showed that a rematch would have been very interesting to say the least. Henderson will be missed by UFC fans, but he should prosper in Strikeforce and hopefully win some titles there.

6.) Rampage Jackson Takes Role of BA Barakus, becomes on bad terms with Dana White.

-After Rampage Jackson beat Keith Jardine, Jardine's BFF, Rashad Evans, started talking shit to Rampage, which led to one of the best staredowns in recent memory. They went on to coach TUF 10, with them trading verbal barbs with each other throughout the season. Dana White set a match between the two for UFC 107 in Jackson's hometown of Memphis, except Jackson was offered the role of BA Barakus in The A-Team Movie, which he accepted and put the Rashad fight on the backburner with. This upset Dana White, understandably, and Rampage was offended by Dana being mad about the situation. These two, who were once very close, are now bitter enemies.

7.) Tito Ortiz Returns to the UFC.

-Dana's bloodfeud with Tito Ortiz ended, with Tito making a return to the UFC and seemingly now on friendly terms with Dana, something that was thought to be a severe impossibility. Tito main evented UFC 106, losing to Forrest Griffin in a great fight, and is now going to coach TUF 11 against Chuck Liddell.

8.) Kimbo Slice Becomes a TUF Competitor.

-Another severe impossibility became possible, with Kimbo Slice vying to be The Ultimate Fighter. He lost to Roy Nelson, but showed marked improvement and a humble and gentle side that people didn't think existed. He went on to pick up a decision victory against Houston Alexander at the TUF finale. He still has a lot of work to do, but Kimbo has shown to be at least competent in the Octagon.

9.) Brock Lesnar Gets Sick, Future in Doubt.

-Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin was a fight MMA fans were looking forward to at UFC 106 until it was discovered he had mono and the fight had to be postponed. Then the UFC 108 fight was called off entirely when Brock became gravely ill and was seemingly on the verge of death. It was discovered he had diverticulitis, and he's at least doing better. It remains to be seen if he'll ever fight again.

10.) The Injury and Illness Bug hits the UFC.

-In addition to Brock's illness, there came a point where the only healthy champion in the entire promotion was BJ Penn. Fighters began to drop like flies from undercards as well due to injuries and illnesses. The UFC 106 and UFC 108 cards are two of the most cursed cards in history with how many injuries have taken place. Thiago Silva has an ankle injury and he's getting a bonus just to fight with a hurt ankle on Saturday in order to keep the Evans/Silva main event intact. It bears mentioning that Dave Meltzer reported months ago that "a top promotion was going to start drug testing fighters and report that they had injuries if they failed tests." Maybe there's a bigger problem here that we're not being exposed to.

11.) Charles "Mask" Lewis Passes Away

-He co-founded the Tapout clothing line, helping it build to a multi-million dollar empire that is more than just shirts. The company also has a reality show. He wound up dying in a high speed car crash. He was posthumously inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport.

12.) Greasegate

-BJ Penn lost to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94, but accused GSP's corner of illegally greasing his back with Vaseline. It was investigated by the UFC, and even included a letter sent by BJ's mom to Dana White. The UFC and the Nevada State Athletic Commission investigated and found no problem.

13.) Shogun vs. Machida

-It was widely thought that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua had defeated Lyoto Machida in a very convincing decision. Then, the judges ruled in favor of Machida which outraged Dana White, the crowd, and MMA fans worldwide. It was made even worse when Doc Hamilton said that upon re-watching the fight, he thought Shogun had won. This fight showed that the judges are nothing more than boxing judges that have no clue what they're watching and reform needs to take place.

14.) From War Machine to Porn Machine

-Crazy MMA Fighter Jon Koppenhaver War Machine continued his crusade to set the sport back by turning to porn. After becoming a porn star, he went nuts and attacked a bunch of his new co-workers at a party.

 

[INDYjon22]

A lot of important things are on that list but none are nearly as important as the botched scoring for the Rua/Machida fight. Decisions like that are just going to give the enemies of mixed martial arts even more ammunition to shoot. They could have if they did not raise arguments like the UFC is fixed and maybe the mafia or some organized crime has some interest in who wins and pushes it that way. Fortunately, it did not have that huge of an impact but it did finally bring to the forefront the argument that the judging and judges need to be reassessed so that it is fair. I hope that explanation makes since.

 

[Mr. TM]

I am picking Fedor choosing StrikeForce over UFC. Fedor is the biggest draw not in the company most would say at this point, and he proved it when Strikeforce went on CBS and drew big views and cemented it as a major player in the game. It was a shame about Lesnar getting sick, but I think he will be back. Affliction closing down wasn't that big in my books, and I think the UFC was expected by many to be movin g well up in terms of UFC buys. However, the shame of the year was BJ, and his downplaying of GSP. That was a let down for all who love the sport.

 

[Rizza]

I choose Brocks illness, there is a lot of good ones up there so this was actually pretty hard to decide, but he is the one of, if not the biggest draw in MMA, and their champion, and he comes down with a Intestinal infection or some shit like that. Intestinal infections or whatever just don't happen everyday and for him to get it while he has a ton of momentum coming off of the second Mir fight is down right tragic. He had the whole MMA community, love him or hate him, dying to see him in the octagon again, and now we have to wait some more.

Like I said though, there are tons of good ones to choose from in that poll like Shogun/Rua decision, Fedor goes to Strikeforce, Affliction's demise, Ect.

 

[Frozentrash75]

I would say it is the Rampage Dana White argument just because it cost the ufc to lose one of there best fighters and one of the great personalities in the ufc today i kind of blame Dana for the situation i mean it could only have been a plus for rampage to be a key role in a major movie.

Even if his fight with rashad was postponed it could of still happened and with more publicity because Rampage would have more fame because of the A-team movie and that would make more money for Dana and more word of mouth for the ufc.

 

[burningfnhammer]

I am picking Fedor choosing StrikeForce over UFC. Fedor is the biggest draw not in the company most would say at this point, and he proved it when Strikeforce went on CBS and drew big views and cemented it as a major player in the game. It was a shame about Lesnar getting sick, but I think he will be back. Affliction closing down wasn't that big in my books, and I think the UFC was expected by many to be movin g well up in terms of UFC buys. However, the shame of the year was BJ, and his downplaying of GSP. That was a let down for all who love the sport.

Fedor is not a draw. His numbers with Affliction, Bodog and PRIDE prove it.

The answer is Lesnar's illness.

Oh and correction, Rampage started the shit talking first.