Now that 2007 is in the books, its time to take a look back on the year that was and pass out the annual MMA HQ awards. I received a lot of great nominations in each category and it took a lot of thought and hard work to pick the final winners.
When you look back at 2007, you can’t help but remember what a truly great year for MMA is was. We were treated to some truly spectacular events, fighters, knockouts and submissions over the past 12 months, and in many cases it was next to impossible to select the top 3 for each category. However, I’ve done my best and I now present part 1 of the 2007 MMA HQ awards.
Worst Judge’s Decision
- This is the only category on the list where there really can be no discussion. In fact, I really feel that there was only one fight all year that was so controversial and outrageously decided that I’m not even going to bother listed a top 3 list. Matt Hammill vs Michael Bisping is without a doubt the hands-down winner for the worst decision of the year. Hammill brought the fight to Bisping from the outset and dominated the match. When the hometown decision came down for Bisping, MMA fans around the world collectively picked their jaws up from the floor.
Best Promotion
- UFC - Not much needs to be said regarding the UFC’s supremacy in 2007. From the purchase of PrideFC early in the year, to the acquisitions of the WFA and the WEC last December, the UFC made their move to establish themselves as the premier Mixed Martial Arts organization in North America.
- EliteXC - Gary Shaw has taken his startup MMA organization and made some significant moves over the course of 2008 to position EliteXC as one of the top MMA promotions in North America. Buy combining forces with Strikeforce, ICON, Rumble on the Rock, and Cage Rage, EliteXC is positioning itself for a long-term run in the MMA game. Their deal with Showtime allows them to get their product out to a much larger audience than they would solely via PPV shows and only time will tell where the ceiling for EliteXC is.
- WEC - The WEC rose from a small-level show to a much larger MMA force over the course of 2007. Signing fighters such as Paulo Filho and Jens Pulver combined with existing fighters like Urijah Faber, Carlos Condit, John Allesio and Rob McCullough gives the WEC a solid stable of fighters. With the influx of Zuffa cash and marketing prowess there can only be greener pastures ahead for the UFC’s “minor league.”
Best Fight Card
- Pride 33 - The last “real” PrideFC event was spectacular. Pride 33: The Second Coming took place in Las Vegas in late February and really was the last Pride event ever. Sure Pride 34 took place, but Zuffa has already purchased Pride at that point. The Pride 33 fight card was filled with great fights from top to bottom including Trigg-Misaki, Sakurai-Danzig, Sokoudjou-Nogueria, Rua-Overeem, Gomi-Diaz, and Henderson-Silva. Pride 33 was the first time we got a glimpse of Sokoudjou as he took out Lil’ Nog in 23 seconds. We also were treated to Nick Diaz’s and Takanori Gomi throwing bombs at each other with Diaz defeating Gomi via gogoplata (while high on marijuana, don’t forget). The night ended in grand fashion with Dan Henderson knocking out Wanderlei Silva to win the Pride Middleweight title.
- EliteXC-Strikeforce: Shamrock vs Baroni - I might get some heat for putting the Shamrock vs Baroni card at number two, but I really don’t care; in my mind, this was the second best fight card of the year. Nearly every fight on this PPV was excellent from Buentello-Williams, Rua-Villesenor, Thompson-Gonzalez, Le-Fryklund all the way to the main event between Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni. Cung Le continued to look impressive as he picked apart the veteran Fryklund. Josh Thompson showed once again that is one of the least-known, most underrated lightweights in the game today. “Ninja” Rua won the first ever EliteXC Middleweight belt, and Shamrock and Baroni finally met face-to-face to settle the feud that had been brewing between them. What a great card; I still go back and watch this one from time to time on my DVR.
- UFC 79 The UFC saved their best fight card for last, and UFC 79 was an excellent event that finished off 2007 on a high note. The long awaited fight between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva finally took place and left everyone satisfied. Georges St. Pierre once again showed why he is easily considered the best welterweight in the world right now when he submitted Matt Hughes in the second round virtually sealing Hughes’ retirement.
Most Disappointing Fighter
- Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic - Cro Cop entered the UFC in February of 2007 and was supposed to be the “savior” the UFC heavyweight division was in desperate need of. After easily dispatching Eddie Sanchez, Cro Cop went on to drop two straight fights to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo respectively. Gonzaga knocked Cro Cop out in spectacular fashion, giving the Croation a taste of his own medicine with a vicious high-kick at UFC 70. Mirko came back at UFC 75 and dropped a decision to Kongo, after which many fans and critics questioned whether or not Cro Cop would fight again. Cro Cop went from the mountain top to the valley in the space of 10 months.
- Fedor Emelianenko - While Fedor remained at the top of the overall heavyweight rankings over the course of 2007, the Russian superstar saw his stock continue to drop as the year progressed. Fedor only fought twice in 2007 defeating Matt Lindland, a middleweight, in April and Hong Man Choi on New Years Eve in Japan. Hopes for a Fedor-Couture matchup never materialized as Fedor signed with M-1 Global and Randy subsequently resigned from the UFC. As 2008 begins Fedor faces an uphill battle to retain his “pound-for-pound” best fighter in the world status.
- Chuck Liddell - The third and final spot in the “disappointing” list was a very tough choice for me to decide but ultimately I think that the Iceman wins our final spot. Liddell finished 2006 with another KO victory over Tito Ortiz and was expected to continue dominating the light heavyweight division of the UFC through 2007. Chuck was given a shot at revenge against Quinton Jackson in May of ‘07, but he once again fell victim to Rampage and lost the belt he had held for the past 2 years. Hoping to bounce back quickly, Liddell dropped a dreadful decision victory to Keith Jardine in September in a fight that, frankly, shocked most fight fans. Liddell did redeem himself against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79, but it was too little, too late to pull him out of the number 3 spot in my book.
Biggest MMA Story
- Complete Collapse of Pride Fighting Championships - If you had told me this time last year that PrideFC would no longer exist by then end of the year I would have laughed in your face. For all the in-fighting between UFC and Pride fans, we really were blessed to have two top-tier MMA promotions putting on great fights year-round. Whether is was a result of the Yakuza connections that were chronicled at FightOpinion.com, or a direct result of losing their Japanese television deal, there is no denying that PrideFC when from the top to the bottom faster than Enron. Now while the savvy Japanese DSE businessmen may have ultimately made out like bandits by only selling what amounts to a pile of VHS tape to Zuffa, there is no getting around the fact that they had to close up shop and sell to their arch-enemy. Realistically, some sort of Pride/DSE-run show will arise again in the near future as we have already seen with the Yarennoka, but it will never hold the same luster as it once did.
- Randy Couture Resigns - Randy Couture could have made the “biggest story” list more than once for his exploits in 2007. When Randy announced he was coming out of retirement and moving up to heavyweight to take on Tim Sylvia at UFC 68, the MMA scene was set on fire. Could Randy come back after a layoff and move back up to heavyweight and be successful? The answer proved to be a definitive YES. After completely dominating Tim Sylvia for five rounds, Couture defeated rising star Gabriel Gonzaga in through rounds in August. Riding the high of a successful comeback proved not to be enough for Couture, as he decided to “resign” from his UFC fighting contract and commenting duties in October. Randy cited a lack of respect, both monetary and personal, as his reason for leaving the organization he had a large part in building. Randy’s move shocked the MMA community, and Couture continues to insist that he will not return to the UFC and instead plans on making a fight with Fedor Emelianenko happen sometime in late 2008 outside of Zuffa control.
- Steroids Ravage Mixed Martial Arts - Steroids played a large part in the landscape of sports over 2007, and the mixed martial arts community was not exempt. The past year saw many MMA fighters, both big names and small, test positive for banned substances. Legend Royce Gracie, UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk, TUF contestants Stephan Bonnar and Melvin Guillard, Phil Baroni, Hermes Franca, Vitor Belfort, Thiago Alves, Kimo; the list goes on-and-on. MMA athletes and fans want the sport to be recognized by the mainstream” public as a legitimate sport: it’s time for the athletes to start acting like it.
That’s it for now. Check back later this week when I post Part 2 of the MMA HQ yearly awards for Best KO, Best Submission, Breakout Fighter, Best Fight, and Fighter of the Year.
Loading ...
good article doc…i do disagree with the liddell decision… but you suck doc i wanna read round 2 lol
It was between Liddell and Shogun for that last spot. Shogun only fought twice, beating Overeem and then losing to Forest.
In the end, I just felt the two losses in a row, and especially the way he lost to Jardine, was just a bigger disappointment than Shogun’s loss to Forrest.
shogun looked better in the overeem fight way way way way way better.Im glad to see pride 33 at first i personnally ordered that card(the only pride card i ever ordered)and it was none stop action the whole time
PRIDE rarely disappoints when it comes to putting together a fight card. they always had good fights top to bottom.
that ***** sucks… zuffa shouldnt have pulled that **** with pride… well organize it better so there would still be bouts under the pride name..
the only thing that gets me mad is that the ufc has the potential to pull off “superfights”or close to them every single ppv but the choose not to.Its like a pot dealer that sells chronic but gets high off stress
lmao good analogy! dont mess with the stress lol
how did i know that the canadians would get that joke
No offense, but I think this thread title would be better chronicled as
“Dr J’s Take on MMA in 2007, MY OPINIONS” … but hey … I agree with all of your picks up there so I am really just talking to hear myself.. lol
Is it automatically understood that someone’s blog is his own personal opinions????
yea you do alot of that kansas
It’s not funny when I already admitted it….lol…. go back to caps Patrick, thats what makes you… PATRICK.. lol
kansas
man i wish i could of been there when u seen the liddel silva match i bet it was priceless,oh refresh my mind who won that match by the way?
LOL Richard, your really milking it eh? hehe. Wandy lost the fight fair and square but hes not going anywhere, can you say you dont wanna see Wandy fight again? After that one fight hes become one of the most exciting fighter in the UFC right now for new fans. Even if they never seen him before, im sure they know who Wandy is now.
I wish Wandy won, but like doc said, Chuck needed the win more than Wandy at this point. Put Chuck back on the winning side which i liked to see too. I like Chuck man, i just like Wandy more, just as i like GSP but i like Hughes more, I like Royce but i like Sakuraba more hehe.
Why have people given up on CroCop? Just like Liddell, he suffered a first-round knockout followed by an ugly decision loss. Like Liddell, he needs a top fight to rebound.
I havent given up on crocop.. Id still be excited to watch him fight especially since hes in the UFC and there soo many guys at LH now. I hope he doesnt retire or anything like that soon because win or lose crocop is still a legend man.
I still disagree with your pick for worst decision doc. I still say its when Maynard got robbed of his win. Bad decisions happen all the time, but i dont think ive ever seen anything like that before. The guy tapped out! the fight was over! how can you go back and change your mind after the fact?
While I agree, that Maynard “won” that fight, technically it was the correct decision. I may not like that fact, but according to the rules, it was the right call.
What rules are those drehog??
i just like to rub stuff in, i for sure am excited to see what is next for both liddel and wandy,i actually want to see wandy vs rampage 3.I dont think gray got robbed in that match the fu*cker was knocked out.
ok Richard answer this, if he was knocked out, why didnt the ref stop the fight? as i recall, the ref stopped the fight after emerson tapped.
So after the fight was over, people can speculate and say, well he was already knocked out.. why does it even matter if he was? the fight was already over! LOL.
If it was Randy vs Fedor, and Fedor tapped and they went back and changed the decision, i think more people would agree with me lol. Probably cuz people dont really care about that fight, it was just kind of brushed off.
He got str8 robbed and i havent read one good argument to suggest otherwise, from anyone here, or anywhere on the net.
I considered putting the Emerson-Maynard as #2, but really don’t think there could have been any other outcome.
The fact is that Maynard was knocked unconscious. Yes, Emerson did tap meaning he could not continue the fight. But Maynard was unconscious which means that he also could not continue the fight. If neither fighter can continue, then a draw is the only possible outcome.
in my opinion what happen first maynard was knocked out as soon as he hit the canvas wright?then a second later emerson tapped so who was unable to fight first MAYNARD plain and simple,the ref had to pyhsically remove maynard from on top of emerson.
yup draw….i agree.. i would have voted the same outcome…. man the lw division is so stacked anyone agree… sherk..penn..stephenson…lauzon….diaz..huerta… damm
If Maynard couldnt continue, why didnt the Ref stop the fight guys? he was in the top position, he was in no danger and Emerson wasnt threatening him at all. Thats why the ref didnt stop the fight, after Emerson TAPPED OUT, the ref immediately jumped in and called the fight by way of verbal submission.
Just because someone is rocked or hurt, that doesnt mean they cant come back and win the fight. Thats why we often see guys get hit and their knees buckle, then they take 3 or 4 shots to the face before managing to get their wits back and on some occasions actually come back and win the fight!
Even if he WAS unconscious, which nobody can confirm, how long was he out? nobody can say for certain. There is only one certain thing that can be said, EMERSON TAPPED OUT, there is no doubt about that.
Another undisputable fact is that the ref stopped the fight as a result of Emerson tapping out. How the **** do you TAP OUT and get a draw?? LOL you guys amaze me sometimes..
GUYS… what are you talking about????
FIRSTLY… You can say Maynard was KO, but nobody knows FOR SURE if he was 100% KO or just Stunned by the blow. The doctors that examined him after the fact could not find any signs of damage associated with a KO, concussion, etc.. so theres no evidence of it there. We can all say what we think happened, but theres no concrete proof one way or the other. Its only speculation, its not a FACT.
SECONDLY… Talking about FACTS, lets examine the REAL FACTS of that incident.
FACT #1: Maynards head hit first before Emerson tapped, did the Ref jump in and stop the fight?? NOOOOO.
FACT #2: Did Emerson both Physically and Verbally submit and ask the Ref to stop the fight? YESSSS!!!
FACT #3: Did the Ref jump in and stop the fight immediately after Emerson tapped out and waved off the fight by way of verbal submission? YES.
THE END.. Fight over.. how can you guys all think the contrary to this, i just cant understand.. someone please respond to this and explain it to me. USING FACTS.
First, you are correct. No one can definitively say that Maynard was knocked out. But since that is the case, it also means that you can’t argue that he wasn’t knocked out either. You have to accept both possibilities.
Second, the whole sequence of events was very fast. You are making it sound like it happened in slow motion and everything was obvious as it was happening. Maynard was knocked out, and then Emerson tapped.
Upon seeing the tap, the ref stepped in to stop the fight and get Maynard off of Emerson. When he tried to move Maynard it became obvious that Gray wasn’t coherent and conscious.
At that point, the ref had to make a decision. He didn’t have replay to time like we have had to go back and study the tapes, so he made the only fair call.
Doc, im watching it right now, in response to Gray being KOed, that was my point, it cant be argued one way or the other. Nobody can say for sure about that.
What WAS for sure, was that Emerson Tapped out, does anyone dispute that?
If you have the means, pop the dvd in and check it out real quick.
This is what happened ive just watched it like 10 times hehe. Gray dominated him the whole fight upto that point, so it was the kids win to begin with. Gray picks him up and slams him at which point his knocks his head, i count a full 6 seconds before Emerson taps and mazzagatti is looking into emersons eyes with one hand on emersons chest and the other hand waving off the fight. After mazzagatti waves off the fight, Gray ROLLS HIMSELF off Emerson, The ref didnt roll him off Richard, check it again. At this point i consider the fight over and Maynard the winner by verbal submission.
The controversy begins after the fight is over, Gray is lying on his back with his arm trapped under Emersons body. The next minute or so, both guys are still down, Gray is clearly still dazed, not being able to standup etc..
Thats exactly what happened, how can you tapout and get a draw? LOL. Its ridiculous, and i still havent heard a good argument to convince me otherwise, but i would LOVE to hear one. Make me understand where you guys are coming from..
bv
common… look at the tapes if i could throw out a challange like the nfl does… i would .. and steve would stop look at the fact gray was kod before the tap he would then rule in favor of emerson..gray was kod before emerson tapped… plain and simple gray cant ******** himself outa that one
that ***** was knocked the *** out
So basically, if you think your opponent is hurt, you can just tapout and say “look! hes hurt too! draw! draw!”. He tapped out man, it has nothing to do with if Gray was KO or not. The guy SURRENDERED! if he WAS KO, then Emerson tapped out to an unconscious fighter, any way you look at it, Emerson lost.
YOU CANT TAP OUT AND GET A DRAW!
uhh yea ya can if your opponent is also knocked out… lol
Patrick, if Gray was FULLY KO, unconscious, asleep! then why is it that when mazzagatti waved off the fight, Gray rolled over right away?
If he was KO like you say, he wouldnt be able to roll himself over like that. Although he could if he was just hurt, exhausted and dizzy. How can he be unconscious when hes aware of his surroundings?
bv
he was koed he rolled over cuz it was how his body was positioned on emerson that was gravity baby… when the officials sat him up he fell right back over commmon that ***** was out ….
Patrick, so your saying, it was gravity lol. I guess it was a coincidence that immediately after Mazzagatti waved off the fight he rolled over? if it was gravity, why wouldnt he have rolled over even before Emerson tapped?
I know you dont even believe that yourself patrick lol. Go back and watch the fight man.. then holla at me and you tell me if it was gravity or not..
ok ill get back to ya in like a half hour…
in the fight grey doesnt just plain roll over on his on mazaggati has to phsically roll him over then he takes a couple of huge breathes on the floor the guy was knocked out sorry bvrasp i cant agree with u on this one
word richard
Richard, i told you man, i watched it like 10 times today, you must not remember but if you watch it again, you will see that Mazzagatti doesnt even touch Gray. He has one hand on Emersons chest and the other hand waving off the fight. Theres no disputing that man.. watch the ending again and you will see, theres no way anyone can say Mazzagatti rolled him off.
I like the fact that your making a good argument Richard, but the Mazzagatti rollover myth has been busted! hehe
Patricks theory of gravity doesnt pull its weight.
And the most popular theory, “he got KTFO!” we already established can not be proven one way or the other. NOBODY knows, EVEN GRAY!! LOL funny but true man, if he wasnt out he was definately disoriented. If he WAS out, he would have just woke up seconds later disoriented and would still think he never went out.
What ive been wondering is, what would have happened if Emerson DIDNT tap. If Gray was KO or not, one thing is for sure, it took Gray a LOOONG time to recover. Emerson was hurt, but if he didnt tap, 2 things could have happened.
1. Mazzagatti stops the fight and says Gray was KO, so Emerson gets the win.
2. Gray recovers after about a min of man love and finishes the fight, or gets the decision, he was already way up in points.
Either one of those results would have been fine with me. Its not that Gray lost, its the fact that, Emerson Tapped and Mazzagatti ended the fight based on that. Then they changed their mind after watching the replay. Thats what pisses me off, and it obviously pissed Gray off hehe.
but for sure grey would win the rematch no question about that
I agree Richard.. In other news.. Thales Leites broke his hand and wont be facing Fisher at UFC 81. Tough break man, i was looking forward to this fight, but it will be interesting to see who they match Spencer up with now. Hopefully not some UFC debut fighter….
Leites was set to face Nathan Marquardt, not Spencer Fisher. Thales is a middleweight.
err.. whered i get Fisher from? hehe must have got confused reading a bunch of different articles.. i meant Marquardt.
Fishers fighting Marcus Aurellio..
Who do you think they will be matching up with Marquardt doc??
I have no idea. I dont think the UFC really knows what to do with Marquardt. He is too good of a fighter to put up against a can, but they have shown in the past that they aren’t interested in promoting and marketing Marquardt.
To be honest, I think they wouldn’t mind being done with him once his contract is up.
Also read an interview this morning, Shamrock vs Shamrock! Gary Shaw confirmed that the fight was in the works and being discussed, but no date has been set yet.
Oh man, id love to see that fight hehe.. Frank all the way baby!
yea frank would take taht one