Before the fight/sub/ko/fighter/ect of the year are put out by various websites. What's your opinions? UFC.com already has out there 10 biggest upsets of 2007...
12/30/2007
Ten Best – The Biggest Upsets of 2007By Thomas Gerbasi
If there was one sure thing in the UFC in 2007, it was that a favorite was never safe once the bell rang. From Chuck Liddell and Georges St-Pierre to Mirko Cro Cop and ‘Shogun’ Rua, the upset bug bit hard and often in the past 12 months, so what better way to kick off the unofficial awards of 2007 than with the biggest upsets of the year?
10 (tie) - UFC 69 – April 7 - Yushin Okami W3 Mike Swick
In hindsight, this doesn’t seem as that big of an upset, but at the time, Swick was running through the middleweight division with extreme prejudice and Okami only had wins over up and comers Alan Belcher, Kalib Starnes, and Rory Singer in the UFC to brag about. But Okami spoiled Swick’s Texas homecoming with a clear-cut win that was so physically dominant that Swick dropped to 170 pounds after the fight.
10 (tie) – UFC 69 – April 7 - Josh Koscheck W3 Diego Sanchez
With Sanchez unbeaten and fresh off a 2006 that saw him beat Karo Parisyan, John Alessio, and Joe Riggs, a le shot was going to be a formality if he got by the man he beat on season one of The Ultimate Fighter, Koscheck. But Koscheck was burning for redemption and he had the gameplan to win, which he did by executing perfectly and surprisingly standing throughout much of the fight, befuddling the now 19-1 Sanchez.
9 – UFC 68 – March 3 - Randy Couture W5 Tim Sylvia
Sure, it was Randy Couture, but after the former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion’s yearlong layoff, finding someone to pick ‘The Natural’ to beat the 6 foot 8 Sylvia was near impossible. But he pulled off yet another miracle in winning a shutout five round decision, delighting a packed house at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, in the process.
8 – UFC 75 – September 8 - Cheick Kongo W3 Mirko Cro Cop
By this time in 2007, Cro Cop was expected to be spending his nights polishing his new championship belt, not fighting Kongo on the comeback trail. But that was the case in London and Kongo surprised many with his ground game in nullifying a listless Cro Cop en route to a three round decision win.
7 – UFC 76 – September 22 - Keith Jardine W3 Chuck Liddell
Before UFC 71, Liddell was the most dominant light heavyweight in the world, and Jardine was coming off a stoppage of Forrest Griffin and apparently a couple of wins away from a le shot. What a difference a night makes, but even after Liddell lost to Quinton Jackson, he was still expected to make short work of Jardine, who was annihilated by Houston Alexander. But with a disciplined game plan and some acious kicks, Jardine put Liddell’s career on ice for the moment with a three round split decision win.
6 - UFC 71 - May 26 – Quinton Jackson TKO1 Chuck Liddell
Maybe this isn’t the best pick, considering Jackson’s pedigree as a fighter and his previous victory over Liddell in PRIDE. But to the casual fan or the person drawn to UFC 71 because of all the pre-fight hoopla - which included a Sports Illustrated cover and Liddell on the cover of ESPN magazine and in HBO’s Entourage – Jackson’s first round stoppage of Liddell may very well have been the upset of the century. To my eyes, the upset here has to do with the way Rampage ended the fight – with a single right to the jaw in the first round followed up by a couple of ground strikes. We’ve never seen Liddell go out like that, and it shocked many in the fight game. But what it also did was excite the MMA fanbase for the reign of the new king, Quinton Jackson.
5 - UFC 71 - May 26 – Houston Alexander TKO1 Keith Jardine
Practically no one knew who Houston Alexander was when he stepped into the Octagon against Jardine at UFC 71 other than the fact that he was a radio DJ on the side, and a father of six. But everyone knew who he was after his 48 second blitz of the highly-regarded Jardine, who was bludgeoned into defeat with a high-impact assault that electrified the packed house at the MGM Grand. And after that fight, everyone wanted to see ‘The Assassin’ fight again.
4- UFC Fight Night – January 25 – Jake O’Brien W3 Heath Herring
No, it wasn’t the most compelling fight you’ll ever see, but in terms of having a gameplan, sticking to it, and executing it flawlessly, Jake O’Brien was spectacular in defusing the attack of PRIDE and K-1 star Heath Herring, who came to the Octagon with plenty of fanfare, but who instead was soundly outpointed by O’Brien, a veteran of only 10 pro fights.
3 - UFC 70 – April 21 – Gabriel Gonzaga KO1 Mirko ‘Cro Cop’
Sure, Gonzaga was an underdog against the feared Croatian striker, but there were more than a few people (including UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture) who figured the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt had the right stuff to beat Cro Cop – on the ground. Beating Cro Cop with a single kick to the head? Those are the kinds of odds that wouldn’t even show up in Vegas. But Gonzaga pulled it off, earning himself a shot at Couture’s crown and a permanent spot in UFC highlight reels.
2 – UFC 76 – September 22 - Forrest Griffin WSub3 Mauricio Rua
No one thought Griffin was going to lie down and take a beating from the high-profile PRIDE import when they met in Anaheim. Griffin was going to show up, be compe ive, swing for the fences, and eventually get put away by ‘Shogun’ – at least that’s what the Hollywood script called for. Griffin didn’t get the memo though, and he not only beat Rua, he dominated him, putting the icing on the cake with a submission in the final minute to cap the upset victory.
1 - UFC 69 – April 7 - Matt Serra TKO1 Georges St-Pierre
2007 was the year of the upset, but when it came to a fighter who was given virtually no chance to take down a champion expected to reign atop his division for as long as he chose to, Serra’s stoppage of GSP took the cake. And in the great scheme of things, it was nice to see a longtime vet like Serra finally get his just due and for the rest of the world to see the personality of someone we’ve been covering here on the east coast for years. Will he get by St-Pierre in their 2008 rematch? Who knows, but one thing’s for sure, we won’t be counting him out.
Mine-
Upset: GSP vs Matt Serra
Sokoudjou vs Nog
Chuck Liddell vs Keith Jardine
Keith Jardine vs Houston Alexander
Fighter: Anderson Silva
Randy Couture
Fight: Roger Huerta vs Leonard Garcia
Nick Diaz vs Takanori Gomi
KO: Gabriel Gonzaga vs Mirko Cro Cop
Rashad Evans vs Sean Salmon
Submission: Marcus Davis vs Paul Taylor
Forrest Griffin vs Shogun Rua
Ten Best – The Best Submissions of 2007
By Thomas Gerbasi
From the subtle to the spectacular, submission victories in the UFC in 2007 had something for every fan, and for some of the game’s elite fighters, like BJ Penn, the ability to finish fights in this fashion has been a key to a career full of success. For others, like Marcus Davis, learning the art of submitting opponents has been the difference between a life in the UFC and a life struggling on the small show circuit. Read on for ten of this year’s best finishes by submission.
10 – UFC Fight Night – April 5 – Joe Stevenson WSub1 Melvin Guillard
Melvin Guillard is able to put opponents to sleep with his fists. Joe Stevenson can do the same thing with submissions, and in this clash of rising lightweight stars, it was the grappler, Stevenson, who emerged victorious, as he threw the MMA equivalent of a perfect game, rocking Guillard with a left hand, and then using ‘The Young Assassin’s subsequent aggressiveness against him as he sunk in a guillotine choke that produced a tap out just 27 seconds into the fight. It was Stevenson’s second straight win by guillotine, and maybe a nickname change from ‘Joe Daddy’ to ‘The Executioner’ wouldn’t be entirely out of the question if he keeps this up.
9 – TUF6 Finale – December 8 - Matt Arroyo Wsub1 John Kolosci
Matt Arroyo took his share of criticism from fight fans for opting out of the TUF6 semifinals due to injury, but when the Floridian got his shot in the big show, all was forgotten as he had Kolosci in constant trouble due to his extensive ground game, eventually submitting his fellow cast mate with an armbar.
8 – UFC 68 – March 3 - Martin Kampmann WSub1 Drew McFedries
The beautiful thing about MMA is that when Plan B doesn’t work, you can always go to Plan B. Martin Kampmann, a noted kickboxer, was getting his head handed to him by knockout artist Drew McFedries before he took his foe to the ground and showed the other side of his game by submitting the Iowan with a sleep-inducing arm triangle.
7 – The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale – June 23 – BJ Penn WSub2 Jens Pulver
Let’s just call this an ac ulative honor, since Penn showed off a number of impressive jiu-jitsu moves throughout his rematch with Pulver, with only ‘Lil Evil’s submission defense and heart keeping him in the fight as long as he was. By the second round though, Penn’s ground wizardry had taken its toll on Pulver, and the Iowan was finally forced to suc b to a rear naked choke.
6 – UFC 71 – May 26 - Din Thomas WSub2 Jeremy Stephens
Want to show a casual fan what a solid submission game can do, put this fight on. Thomas was facing an aggressive and hungry youngster in the debuting Stephens, and despite his unyielding will to win, Thomas had an answer for everything and transitioned beautifully from position to position, almost submitting his opponent with a rear naked choke in the first round. In the second though, Thomas finished the job with an armbar that was in so tight even a slam by Stephens couldn’t break it. Stephens’ arm wasn’t going to be as lucky, but referee John McCarthy wisely halted the bout. Said Thomas, “He probably didn’t tap, but I was gonna break his arm and take it home with me.”
5 – UFC 79 – December 29 – Georges St-Pierre WSub2 Matt Hughes
For sheer dominance of a world-class opponent, look no further than GSP’s lopsided victory over Hughes, who had no answers whatsoever for the Canadian standout. Finally, after a clinic that included takedowns, throws, and positional control, St-Pierre closed the door on Hughes with an armbar, the same maneuver that Hughes used to beat GSP in their first meeting in 2004.
4 - UFC 75 – September 8 - Marcus Davis WSub1 Paul Taylor
In a fight that lived up to its billing, Davis’ nine fight winning streak was in jeopardy early when he was dropped by a kick to the head from the UK native, who kept the pressure on for much of the opening frame. But suddenly,
the former pro boxer turned the tide, and he didn’t do it with a haymaker, he did it with an armbar, continuing his evolution as an MMA fighter in his most impressive win of the year.
3 - TUF6 Finale – December 8 – Roger Huerta WSub3 Clay Guida
Down on all three scorecards entering the final round, Roger Huerta turned the tables on Clay Guida in an amazing show of heart as well as skill, hurting his foe first with a knee and then finishing him off with an improbable rear naked choke that made the fans at The Palms in Las Vegas erupt.
2 – UFC 73 – July 7 - Chris Lytle WSub1 Jason Gilliam
At this level, if you have stellar technique and can get a well-trained mixed martial artist to make enough of a mistake where you can capitalize and submit him, it’s safe to say that you’re a pretty good fighter. Lock your opponent up in two submission holds at once? That’s off the charts. But that’s what Lytle did in his highly impressive win over Gilliam, catching his foe in a triangle and an armlock to get the tap out and the submission of the night bonus in one of those sequences you have to see to believe.
1 – UFC 76 – September 22 – Forrest Griffin WSub3 Mauricio Rua
Sometimes the best submission of the year isn’t one that is memorable for spectacular technique or the ‘wow’ factor, but one that will live on in the minds of fight fans for what it meant at that particular moment in time. When Forrest Griffin closed the show on the heavily favored PRIDE import ‘Shogun’ Rua with a rear naked choke in the final minute, it was an exclamation mark on a result no one saw coming, especially Rua, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt. Not a bad win for a guy once seen as just a one-dimensional brawler.
Honorable Mention - Anderson Silva WSub2 Travis Lutter, Frank Mir WSub1 Antoni Hardonk, Akihiro Gono WSub2 Tamdan McCrory, Roman Mitichyan WSub1 Dorian Price, Mac Danzig WSub1 Tommy Speer, Kenny Florian WSub1 Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Rich Clementi WSub1 Melvin Guillard.
Some additional upsets:
Akiyama vs Kang
Noons vs Diaz
Schultz vs Horodecki
Additional fight of the year candidates:
Griffin v Guida
Henderson v Silva
Worst matches:
Fedor vs Choi
o vs Rashad
Bisping vs Rashad
Sanchez vs Palalei
Ten Best – The Top Knockouts of 2007
By Thomas Gerbasi
Nothing ignites a crowd like a spectacular knockout, and 2007 had its share of great ones. Of course, nothing that happened can touch the KO that checks in at number one for the year, but the rest of the top ten was pretty impressive in its own right.
10 - UFC 75 – September 8 – Houston Alexander TKO1 Alessio Sakara
As a former pro boxer, you would have expected that Sakara was going to test Alexander’s standup in his second UFC bout. But as soon as Sakara ate some of the Nebraskan’s thunder, the Italian shot for a takedown. Alexander threw him off like a ragdoll and moments later he effectively ended the fight with a knee to the head.
9 - UFC 77 – October 20 – Anderson Silva TKO2 Rich Franklin
It wasn’t one blow that ended Silva’ rematch with Franklin, but the wide array of techniques displayed by the UFC middleweight champion were a thing of beauty, and left Franklin not only defenseless, but with a look on his face wondering what the best pound for pound fighter in the world was going to unleash on him next.
8 – UFC Fight Night – September 19 - Nate Quarry KO3 Pete Sell
If Nate Quarry thought his return to the Octagon after close to two years was going to be easy, the first few bombs he took from Pete Sell erased that notion. But over the course of the next two-plus rounds, both fighters gave as good as they got, with Quarry finally ending the brutal slugfest with a huge right hand in the third.
7 - TUF6 finale – December 8 – Jon Koppenhaver TKO3 Jared Rollins
TUF 6 castmates and buddies Koppenhaver and Rollins tore at each other with a savage ferocity in their welterweight bout, but when one fighter seemed to be on his way out, the other would roar back. And that’s how the fight ended, as Koppenhaver survived what looked to be a finishing flurry from his foe, reversed position, and landed a series of punches that halted the bout and left the
6 – UFC Fight Night – September 19 - Chris Leben KO3 Terry Martin
It wasn’t the fight of the year that everyone expected going in, but in the third round, Leben and Martin let the bombs go. When Martin scored with a right hand, Leben staggered back to the fence in serious trouble. Martin raised his hands, apparently sure of victory, and moved in for the kill. Leben, knowing no other way to fight, waded in with haymakers of his own, and a single left hook laid Martin out in a spectacular turnaround.
5 – UFC 69 – April 7 – Matt Serra TKO1 Georges St-Pierre
As far as aesthetically pleasing knockouts go, there are better choices, but you can’t help but give a nod to a knockout that belongs strictly for its historic and shock value, and Matt Serra’s upset of the seemingly unstoppable GSP definitely applies. A hard right hand that clipped a ducking St-Pierre took the champion’s equilibrium, and as he tried to get his legs under him, Serra was calm, cool, collected, and sending bombs down the pipe that were keeping the Canadian from getting back into the fight. Finally, a series of unanswered shots on the ground forced a halt to the bout, and the MMA world had a new champion in the charismatic New Yorker, Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra.
4 – UFC Fight Night – January 25 – Rashad Evans KO2 Sean Salmon
In the lead-up to his main event bout with Sean Salmon, Rashad Evans started going by the moniker ‘Sugar’. Well, the former MSU Spartan showed a little e in this fight, battling through a sluggish first round to put an emphatic end to Salmon’s UFC debut in the second with a picture perfect right kick to the head. Salmon was out on impact, and he hit the head with a thud as the fans in attendance gasped. Thankfully, Salmon was all right, but if you needed any reminders that this is a contact sport, Evans’ spectacular knockout win provided all the proof you needed.
3 – UFC 71 - May 26 – Houston Alexander TKO1 Keith Jardine
At around 4:30am on Sunday, May 27, the morning after he took out Keith Jardine in just 48 seconds, Houston Alexander was getting the rock star treatment, signing autographs, taking pictures and shaking hands with well-wishers
while waiting for his ride to the airport. It’s what you get when you enter the Octagon for the first time and knock out a contender who was a couple wins away from a likely le shot. And that’s what Nebraska’s Alexander did, actually stunning Jardine with repeated right hands at close range and then unleashing the finisher with a couple vicious right uppercuts that put ‘The Dean of Mean’ down and out in under a minute. It was a spectacular debut to say the least, one of the most memorable in some time.
2 – UFC 71 – May 26 – Quinton Jackson TKO1 Chuck Liddell
In a case of ‘he shoulda known better’, UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell threw a lead to the body from five feet away at UFC 71 and paid for it, getting stopped in 1:53 of the first round by Rampage Jackson, who made it 2-0 against ‘The Iceman’ in the biggest UFC event of the year. Jackson’s right to the jaw of Liddell was a thing of beauty, dropping the soon to be ex-champion hard to the mat. The follow-up barrage by Jackson was just a formality, and a new 205-pound king was crowned at the MGM Grand.
1 - UFC 70 – April 21 – Gabriel Gonzaga KO1 Mirko Cro Cop
Many felt that Gonzaga’s ground game was good enough that if he could take Cro Cop to the mat, he had a chance to win. Well, Gonzaga followed that plan and grounded and pounded Cro Cop for much of the opening round. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, his efforts seemed for naught when the fight was stood up with 35 seconds left in the round. Suddenly, Gonzaga was going to face the wrath of the most feared striker in the game. But then a funny thing happened, and Gonzaga whipped a right kick to Cro Cop’s head, and the Croatian fell like he was shot, grotesquely twisting his knee and ankle in the process. Not only was it shocking, it was spectacular, and even though it happened in April, the rest of 2007 couldn’t possibly come up with a knockout to top this one.
Honorable Mention - Terry Martin KO1 Jorge Rivera, Drew McFedries KO1 Jordan Radev, Anthony Johnson KO1 Chad Reiner, Patrick Cote TKO1 Kendall Grove, Grey Maynard KO1 Joe Veres, Ed Herman KO3 Joe Doerksen.
Ten Best – The 2007 Fighters of The Year
By Thomas Gerbasi
We’ve counted down the best submissions, knockouts, upsets, and fights of 2007 this week. Now the only thing left is to honor the UFC’s best fighter of 2007. Who got the nod? Read on for the 2007 UFC Fighter of The Year.
10 (tie) - Kenny Florian / Marcus Davis - Alumni of season one and season two of The Ultimate Fighter series, respectively, Kenny Florian and Marcus Davis each notched three wins in 2007. Florian’s victories (over Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Alvin Robinson, and Din Thomas) showed his development as a finisher and also let the lightweight division know that there were no ill-effects from his five round war with Sean Sherk in 2006. Davis, who has burdened by the tag ‘former pro boxer’ hanging around his neck for the last couple of years, may have finally shed his old skin with wins over Pete Spratt, Jason Tan, and Paul Taylor that showed him to be a true MMA fighter and elevated him from prospect to contender.
9 – Matt Serra – The winner of season four of The Ultimate Fighter reality show, Serra was given little chance to unseat the seemingly unstoppable UFC welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre, at UFC 69 in April. But Serra was loose and well-trained entering the biggest bout of his career, and he showed it as he stood in the pocket and traded with GSP on even terms in the early going. Of course, most expected St-Pierre to get in gear and eventually end the bout, but that never happened, as Serra clipped the champion with a right hand that took his legs away, and subsequently went to work with a controlled abandon, eventually halting St-Pierre to win the 170-pound le in one of the year’s great upsets and stories. Gameplan, at ude, and execution – Serra showed it in his lone fight in 2007, and the magnitude of that victory earned him a spot here.
8 – Roger Huerta – Being the first MMA fighter to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated should have been enough to make 2007 memorable for ‘El Matador’, but the Minnesotan also fought at an exhaustive pace, notching five wins without a loss, with three of those wins coming by TKO. In the other two wins, over Leonard Garcia and Clay Guida, Huerta engaged in two bouts firmly entrenched on the year’s best fights list, with the come from behind submission victory over Guida an instant classic. Now he’s earned a vacation.
7- Jon Fitch – He’s not a mystery anymore. The best unknown fighter in the UFC, Fitch continued his unbeaten run in the Octagon in 2007, submitting Luigi Fioravanti and Roan Carneiro before arriving on the world stage with his three round decision win over Diego Sanchez at UFC 76 in September. Now all that remains to be seen is id Fitch will parlay his success and new fame into a welterweight le shot in 2008.
6 – Forrest Griffin - Bouncing back from a devastating loss to Keith Jardine at UFC 66 in December of 2006, Forrest Griffin, the season one winner of The Ultimate Fighter, re-established himself in 2007, not only in the UFC, but worldwide, as he drilled out a disciplined but decisive three round win over dangerous Hector Ramirez at UFC 72, and then shocked fans with his three round domination of Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC 76 in September, closing the show with a rear naked choke that left no doubts that Griffin is one of the best 205-pound fighters on the planet.
5 – Georges St-Pierre – If anyone would have told me that I would be putting GSP on this list after his upset knockout loss to Matt Serra in April, I would have called them crazy. But in a dominating three round win over Josh Koscheck in August and a simply brilliant performance in a second round submission victory over Matt Hughes, St-Pierre not only bounced back from the worst loss of his career, but he has people placing him high on the mythical pound for pound list once again. That’s some turnaround, and by this time next year, GSP may be on the top of this list.
4 – Frankie Edgar – In January of 2007 Frankie Edgar was an unknown kid from Jersey getting ready for his UFC debut at UFC 67. Three wins later, and Edgar is a top ten lightweight contender who is possibly on the path to a le shot by the end of 2008. And Edgar didn’t go 3-0 in the Octagon beating anyone either, as he took down previously unbeaten Tyson Griffin, previously unbeaten Mark Bocek, and highly regarded contender Spencer Fisher, who early in 2007 was one win away from a world le shot. If Edgar continues in this fashion, he’ll be making appearances on this list on a regular basis.
3 – Randy Couture – It was the most emotional victory of the year, and maybe of the last few years, as Couture returned from a one year retirement to win the UFC heavyweight crown from Tim Sylvia at UFC 68 in March. Using
textbook technique and a disciplined gameplan, ‘The Natural’ dominated the bout from start to finish en route to a shutout five round decision, and made any skeptics believe that when it comes to Couture, everything is possible and that age ain’t nothin’ but a number. Add in a decisive three round stoppage of Gabriel Gonzaga in August, and that’s a year any fighter would envy.
2 – Anderson Silva – Seen as a standup assassin after his first round stoppages of Chris Leben and Rich Franklin, Silva impressively showed the other facets of his game in his 2007 wins over Travis Lutter and Nate Marquardt. In February, Silva was taken to the mat by his fellow Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and had some early difficulties with Lutter. But in the second, Silva was back on track and he submitted Lutter in impressive fashion. Five months later, ‘The Spider’ was expected to face one of his toughest tests in Marquardt, but instead, Silva was brilliant in a first round victory, ending matters with strikes on the ground after a beautiful sweep that put Marquardt in deep and fight-ending trouble. In October, Silva capped the year with a repeat stoppage victory over Franklin that cemented his place on the pound for pound lists. It’s hard to believe, but Silva’s getting better with each fight.
1 – Quinton Jackson - With three wins in the Octagon in 2007, including a first round knockout of Chuck Liddell to win the UFC light heavyweight crown at UFC 71 in May, and a le unification win over Dan Henderson in September, the selection of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson as Fighter of The Year was close, but there should be little uproar over the choice. At UFC 67 in February, the former PRIDE standout kicked off his UFC career with a second round knockout of the first man to beat him, Marvin Eastman, and in May, he repeated his 2003 win over Liddell in even more emphatic fashion, dropping ‘The Iceman’ with a right hand and finishing the bout off on the ground at the 1:53 mark. There was no rest for ‘Rampage’ though, as he put his belt on the line in a unification bout against PRIDE champion Henderson in the headliner of UFC 75 in London, and he delivered yet again, showing his underrated ground game in the decision win. That’s two wins over pound for pound entrants in the same year. Hard to argue with results like that.
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