[FONT="]MMA Fight of the Year 2010 5[/FONT] [FONT="] Brock Lesnar (c) d. Shane Carwin, arm triangle choke, UFC 116[/FONT] [FONT="] Brock Lesnar's destruction at the hands of Cain Velasquez in October means a lot of fans write the big Golden Gopher off as a flash in the pan. However looking back to UFC 116, Lesnar's unstoppable frate trane aura was still on track. The meaty wrestler from North Dakota was seen as a Neanderthal-type smashing machine thanks in large part to a pulverizing performance against Frank Mir in 2009. When Shane Carwin started to run through Lesnar at UFC 116, the audience reaction at the MGM Grand and in the homes of the 1.16-million PPV buyers was amazement. Carwin crushed Lesnar for nearly the entire first round, pinning him against the cage wall and clobbering him with hammer fists and punches until Lesnar's face was smeared with blood. It seemed like Lesnar the bully was getting his comeuppance until the second round began and it was evident that Carwin had expended all of his energy trying to finish Lesnar off in the round previous. Lesnar proceeded to knock Carwin down like a drunk and slowly choke him out with an arm triangle (the only submission Lesnar had trained, according to his coach), proving that Lesnar wasn't just a bully--he was a resilient son of a bitch to boot. The big man has gone into hiding since his defeat at the hands of Velasquez. 4[/FONT] [FONT="] Leonard Garcia d. Chan Sung Jung, split decision, WEC 48[/FONT] [FONT="] War has been described as long periods of boredom and inactivity punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Some MMA fights are like that--tension builds throughout a fight and explodes with submission and knockout attempts. Garcia vs. Jung was not that kind of fight. For fifteen minutes these two featherweights went ballistic, launching recklessly into attacks with no regard for their own well-being. Garcia's wild flailing style vs. Jung's straightforward, Terminator-style marching resulted in a daredevil fight that will be remembered long after the WEC pool has drained into the UFC ocean in 2010.[/FONT][FONT="] Fans as well are unlikely to forget or forgive the judges for awarding the bout to Garcia when half his strikes battered nothing but oxygen molecules. 3[/FONT] [FONT="] Mauricio Rua d. Lyoto Machida (c), knockout- strikes, UFC 113[/FONT] [FONT="] Lyoto Machida, the invulnerable, unbeaten light heavyweight champion of the UFC, went five rounds with Mauricio Rua in Las Vegas in 2009. The fight left participants and fans alike unsatisfied--so much so that a rematch was demanded and contracted quickly thereafter. Barely three months later the two met again, this time in Montreal, armed with a greater understanding of their opponent and a point to prove. Their second match stands out in incredible contrast with the first. Last October the two engaged in a cautious and uneventful duel that might've lasted all night had the timekeeper fallen asleep. This May the rematch was the opposite. Both fighters engaged readily. Machida, the elusive man, abandoned his trademark karate point-fighting style and leapt into Rua with punches and knees. Rua, the Muay-Thai machine, completed his return to the top of MMA with a thundering counter overhand right to the jaw of an incoming, airborne Machida, crumpling his fellow Brazilian before following up with hammer fists and ending the contest. Rua's dramatic rebirth as the world's top light heavyweight at the expense of the unbeaten champion will go down as one of MMA's most memorable moments.[/FONT] [FONT="] 2[/FONT] [FONT="] Anderson Silva (c) d. Chael Sonnen, triangle choke/armbar submission, UFC 117[/FONT] [FONT="] It takes a special kind of beat down (or comeback) for a completely one-sided fight to be nominated for fight of the year. Chael Sonnen did a tremendous job of hyping this fight beforehand. His insane ranting leading up to UFC 117 drew massive media attention to the event. Ultimately Anderson Silva's lukewarm drawing power still kept this card from being one of the highest selling of the year, which is a shame since their fight was highly entertaining. Sonnen backed-up a landfill of trash talk with four and a half rounds of punishing, thoroughly dominating Silva with his wrestling, top control, and ground-and-pound. To the utter shock of the majority of onlookers Sonnen also dominated Silva with his boxing, wobbling the champion early and often during the fight. In the waning minutes of the fifth round Silva was able to distract Sonnen with elbow strikes long enough to pass his leg over Sonnen's arm and secure a triangle choke. It was the eighth time Sonnen has been submitted in his career and the first time Silva has bailed himself out of a UFC fight. Sonnen's positive steroid test following the bout puts a significant damper on the contest.[/FONT] [FONT="] 1[/FONT] [FONT="] Jorge Santiago (c) d. Kazuo Misaki, TKO- corner stoppage, Sengoku SRC 14[/FONT] [FONT="] By the end of 2010 MMA in Japan might be back to where it was directly after the collapse of PRIDE FC. The two major federations in Japan, Dream and Sengoku, are struggling financially and seem to be on the verge of implosion. It would be a shame if this came to pass as both promotions put on fights that are consistently of outstanding quality. The rematch between Santiago and Misaki was the quintessential MMA title fight--nearly five rounds of well-paced, evenly matched and varied action including several near submissions and knockouts. This fight was ostensibly the opposite of Garcia vs. Jung, expertly demonstrating every aspect of MMA with technicality and precision. Misaki was coming off a quick knockout loss to Melvin Manhoef at Dynamite!! 2009, his second loss in three fights, and seemed to be an easy opponent for Sengoku champion Santiago to get through. The four-and-a-half round battle that ensued thrilled the audience at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan and whoever was able to stay up until 5am in North America to watch on HDNet. Unfortunately the number of people who have seen this fight is paltry compared to the average UFC event and as such Santiago vs. Misaki 2 has received little credit as this year's best fight. So here it is: [/FONT][video=youtube;VmaTGFYynT4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmaTGFYynT4[/video] [video=youtube;p6MmbEvqDlk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6MmbEvqDlk[/video]
