Matthew Roth: 2011 was a gigantic year for combat sports, what was your favorite moment(s) of the year? Not talking fight of the year, I’m talking moments. The kind that gave you goosebumps or made you jump out of your seat.
Tim Burke: Two moments made me run around my house like a crazy person. The first was Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira knocking out Brendan Schaub. That ruled on so many levels. The second was the very next bout, when Shogun bounced Forrest Griffin’s head off the mat like a basketball. UFC 134 made my Pride fanboy year.
There was also UFC 135, when Mark Hunt went for that armbar…
Matthew Roth: For me, my favorite moments didn’t actually take place in MMA. My first favorite moment was Mark “Fight Shark” Miller’s return to kickboxing. Mark has one of those amazing stories where he’s dealt with adversity his entire life. Being able to return to kickboxing after open heart surgery was huge. Winning in seconds just made it an incredible moment for me. Just so much going on that I had a personal investment in the fight.
My other favorite moment was Badr Hari’s walk out in France against Tony Gregory. The fight was complete ass but the walkout was Muhammed Ali in Africa-esque. He was swarmed by fans who awaited his return. It literally gave me goosebumps.
Tim Burke: If we’re including other sports, Jim Gray eviscerating Russell Mora after his terrible reffing in the first Mares/Agbeko fight makes it there for me too. Gray is generally a moron, but he was absolutely awesome in those few moments.
More after the jump…
Ben Thapa: 2011 was the year that Nick Diaz ascended to stardom. By now, it is apparent to almost all combat sports fans that Nick is fundamentally not built to fight in a non-entertaining way. His start to the year with the Evangelista Santos fight was fun, but his next fight with Paul Daley would yield maybe the most exciting round in the history of mixed martial arts. I watched it live, jumped out of my seat upon the first knockdown, stayed up hollering at the TV like a demented monkey until the surprising end and still cannot watch that fight months afterwards without getting charged up.
Then Nick went out and put on the B.J. Penn fight. His fighting skills were on full display, but the star-making performance came from his particular brand of volatile complaining interspersed with extremely quotable and directed verbal jabs at future opponents and those around him. Nick touched all kinds of nerves that night and everything was right to give him the shot against Georges St. Pierre. Unfortunately, the injury saga of GSP has tabled that fight, but we still get to see Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz fight soon.
How awesome is that? And it’s all due to Nick Diaz being a stubborn, squeaky wheel type who won’t back down from anyone and has the skills to back it up.
Dallas Winston: Maybe it’s more recent and still weighing on my mind, but The Korean Zombie’s KO of Hominick is my choice. The guy has a knack for pulling off amazing accomplishments and no one giving him a chance in hell made it that much sweeter.
Honorable mention would be Nick Diaz’s UFC debut against Penn. I like and respect both fighters but Diaz replicating the same level of pitter-patter domination he did in Strikeforce made for a phenomenal statement.
David Castillo: Easy pick: the end of round 1 as Frankie Edgar walks to his corner at UFC 136. Edgar/Maynard 3 may not be the best fight of the year when all is said and done, but that moment could not have been more vivid or surreal.
Edgar gets smashed in round 1, and we’re left wiping the reality windshield like Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park as if we’re not sure we aren’t watching a replay of the second fight earlier this year. But specifically following round 1 at 136, you just weren’t sure. Would Maynard, having learned his lesson, finally capitalize? Or would it be all Edgar from here on out just like in the 2nd fight? A moment in MMA that was at once, confusing, exhilarating, and important. Plus the fight capped off an end to one of the few, and truly great trilogies in MMA history (and no the first fight wasn’t that bad).
KJ Gould: Time to give some non-MMA, lower profile combat sports some love.
Bubba Jenkins upsetting Penn State’s David Taylor in the 157lbs NCAA Division I final, in Pennsylvania, rubbing it in the face of his former team and of his former coach Cael Sanderson.
Jordan Burroughs going from his second NCAA championship to being World Freestyle champion just a few months later.
Vinny Magalhaes gutting his way through a Fabricio Werdum applied armbar to a points victory that won him Heavyweight gold at ADCC in Nottingham, England.
Andre Galvao winning his division and the open weight Absolute at ADCC, showing an improvement in his wrestling, the ability to survive a Rousimar Palhares heelhook attempt, and finishing Pablo Popovitch with a Frank Gotch-esque toehold. With the double gold Galvao has the right to claim to be the best active submission grappler in the world.
Ben Thapa: Marcelo Garcia ripping through the Mundials and ADCCs was incredible too. I think Murilo Santana might have been the only person to score points on him this year.
Anyone ever get the feeling watching grappling tournaments that we’ve been thisfreakinclose to seeing Rickson pull a Jordan and re-enter competition? Seeing that craggy, super-intense face matside is probably up there with having John Smith walking the mats during college wrestling meets.
Also, Burke, no mention of this magical CM Punk moment? Is this a secret shame of yours like owning Mandy Moore’s first album?
KJ Gould: Oh, you have to add Anthony Robles to the list. One legged wrestler who competed against and beat able bodied opponents to become an NCAA Division I champion? Plus is now going round giving motivational seminars and the like? This young man wins at life.
T.P. Grant: Robles would be near the top of the list, as is vinny weathering werdum’s armbar at adcc. UFC Rio as a show was just awesome.
KJ took most of my moments in the world of grappling. For me 2011 was the year of the UFC mega card between UFC 111 and UFC Rio those two cards were just plain special in a way I hadn’t experienced since UFC 100.
Matthew Roth: 2011 has produced so many moments where I went ‘woah’. Even inside MMA with seeing Frankie Edgar’s knockout over Gray Maynard from press row. That was so ridiculous. No one expected it.Obviously Anderson’s front kick to Vitor’s face is up there. But for me the most memorable moment in MMA this year was Henderson beating Fedor. That was the best of the year. Junior Dos Santos’ reaction to beating Cain Velasquez is a close second.
Josh Nason: There were so many great moments in the cage or ring that I want to change gears and mention two “Holy sh*t” moments I’ll always remember 2011 for that happened outside of it. The first was when I got the text on Saturday, March 12 that UFC had bought Strikeforce. I thought it was a joke and then, my Twitter feed exploded. I couldn’t wrap my head around what happened and couldn’t get enough news on what the story was. The other was the first wide shot from April’s UFC 129 in Toronto. The sheer visual of that many people in one place to watch the UFC was something to see.
Tim Burke: The SF buy was a total ‘no way’ moment for me too. Good call Jason.
Fraser Coffeen: Roth hit the nail on the head with Mark Miller’s big KO. I wish I could give more from the world of kickboxing, but not too much else really stuck out and grabbed me this year there.
As for MMA, I’ve already written maybe 3 articles on what I think is the singular moment of the year, but I have no issues writing about it again: Tito Ortiz. UFC 132. Grave digger. Love Tito or hate Tito, if you’ve been a fan of the UFC for more than a few years, you have seen a lot of Tito Ortiz in the Octagon. And you’ve likely seen him in some absolutely incredible, dramatic wars. Fights against Frank Shamrock, Ken Shamrock (the 1st fight), Forrest Griffin (again, the 1st), the two Chuck Liddell fights – Tito brought a level of emotion and excitement to so many classic UFC showdowns. I’m a fan, but I admit it – I thought he was done, and that Bader would knock him out hard. Didn’t happen. The run down, beat up champ got that one last win, and then did what he does better than anyone else in the business – celebrate. The grave digger routine, the leap onto the cage, the shouted message to the fans – it was like watching 2002 all over again, and I ate it up.
The sport will always have icons, and people will, over time, surpass Tito Ortiz. But for a distinct period of UFC history, he was THE icon, the superstar, the legend. To see him have his one final moment of glory was a beautiful thing.
Josh Nason: You know, for a singular “Wow!” moment, that Ortiz submission over Ryan Bader was incredible. I think that got overlooked with the amount of title matches.