Over the next few days, Bloody Elbow is going to ask for your opinion on some of the best things that have happened in the MMA world over the first half of 2013. There will be a total of six different categories you’ll be asked to vote on. For simplicity’s sake we’re going to stick with high-level and relevant MMA stuff in these posts. While I’m sure there was a ludicrous knockout in an unscheduled MMA event at The Lumberyard strip club in Des Moines, or an insane pancreas lock submission on an obscure ZST! card in Japan, let’s just stick to stuff a lot of us have seen, okay? (If that spiel looked familiar, it’s because I’ve used the same one for three years in a row. Originality? What originality?)
It’s pretty simple. I’ll post some options in a category, you vote for what you think was the best. If you think I left something really important off my list, post it in the comments and we can add it to the poll if it’s deemed worthy. I can almost guarantee you won’t like all my suggestions, but narrowing down these lists is tough.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get onto the first poll – the best celebration of the first half of 2013. There have been some amusing and heartwarming celebrations all over the MMA landscape in the first six months of this year, and getting the list down to 8 is very difficult. But I did (with the help of BE’s Zane Simon), and this is what made the cut.
You can still vote for Best Submission here.
Here we go, in no particular order:
Ed West slams cornerman into the cage, Bellator 91 – After a sick head kick knockout and a tackle courtesy of a referee, West went over to his corner and slammed his man George Roop into the cage. The sequel to this is below.
Mark Hunt breaks Stefan Struve’s jaw and walks off, UFC on Fuel 8 – Hunt’s swagger cannot be matched. After dropping Struve with the monster left, he just casually walks off to the side like his job is done. After a look back, he wanders over to see if Struve wants any more, but the ref stops him.
Leonardo Santos searches for Jose Aldo, UFC on Fuel 10 – After his submission win over William Macario, Santos tearfully tore out of the cage looking for his friend and teammate. Amusingly, Aldo had already made his way to the cage and they missed each other. They figured it out soon enough though, and Santos’ post-fight interview was one of the more heartwarming moments in MMA this year.
Rose Namajunas runs around after quick win, Invicta FC 5 – She spazzed. I can’t think of any other way to describe it. Running around, jumping, humping the mat, bumping the announcer, dancing. You name it, it happened. And I’d probably do all of that too if I won with an insane move in 12 seconds.
Shawn Jordan does flip after knocking out Pat Barry, UFC 161 – I can’t think of many 250-pound men that can do a standing back flip after a cage fight.
George Roop slams his cornerman into the cage, UFC 160 – If West can do it to him, he can do it to his own guy. Roop’s slam after the win over Brian Bowles was the more impressive of the two in my eyes, but it wasn’t as original anymore.
Josh Burkman hits walk-off choke on Jon Fitch, WSOF 3 – We’ve all seen the clip by now – Burkman locked on the perfect guillotine and put Fitch to sleep so fast that Steve Mazzagatti was caught updating his twitter on his phone while the fight ended. Burkman didn’t need a ref though – he just dropped the unconscious Fitch and got up to celebrate before the fight was even waved off.
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