Combat sports yearender

It has been another healthy year for mixed martial arts and boxing as we’d been blessed again with spectacular events, fights and finishes. This year we’ve seen the continuous rise of dominant champions like Jon Jones for MMA and Nonito Donaire for boxing. Young guns like Benson Henderson and Chris Weidman have taken the MMA scene by storm while Danny Green and Leo Santa Cruz are looking like the torchbearers for the sport dubbed as sweet science.  

In this year, we’ve also seen the struggles of a legend in Manny Pacquiao, losing two straight, including a knockout loss at the hands of archrival Juan Manuel Marquez, and the return of welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre for MMA. Clearly, it has been one fruitful year for combat sports now. Let’s review the best of the best the past year.

Fighter of the Year (Boxing)

Nonito Donaire

Year record: 4-0 (Wilfredo Vasquez Jr, Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka, Jorge Arce)

It doesn’t even come close. 2012 is the year of the Filipino Flash. Nonito probably had the best year a boxer had in years. Sure, Andre Ward winning the Super Six in 2011 was a great feat, Sergio Martinez dominating in 2010 was awesome and Pacquiao dominating in 2006, 2007 and 2009 was masterful but it doesn’t even come close to what Donaire has done this year.

Nonito’s year has been a mix of quality and quantity, having fought for four times this year (which is a rare feat for a world champion) and making highly regarded opponents look bad in the process. He started by moving up in super bantamweight to challenge Wilfredo Vasquez Jr., knocking down Vasquez in a fight wherein Nonito dominated but for some reason, one judge saw it otherwise. Donaire then fought South Africa’s Jeffrey Mathebula, a highly regarded super bantamweight in a unification title bout. Donaire secured a fourth round knockdown in another dominant unanimous decision win where in a fight wherein he broke Mathebula’s jaws into pieces. Up next for Donaire is Ring Magazine number 1 rated super Bantamweight Toshiaki Nishioka, knocking down the Japanese pug twice before winning the fight via TKO in the ninth round. Donaire then ended the year with a bang, making quick work of Mexican legend Jorge Arce in two rounds to cement his fighter of the year status for 2012.

Honorable Mentions: Juan Manuel Marquez 2-0 (Serhiy Fedchenko, Manny Pacquiao) Danny Garcia 2-0 (Eric Morales 2x, Amir  Khan) Leo Sta. Cruz 5-0 (Alejandro Hernandez, Vusi  Malinga, Eric Morel, Victor  Zaleta, Alberto Guevarra) Carl Froch 2-0 (Lucian Bute, Yusef Mack) Brian Viloria (Omar Nino, Hernan Marquez)

Fighter of the Year (MMA)

Cain Velasquez

Year record: 2-0 (Antonio Silva, Junior dos Santos)

There’s a reason why I waited until UFC 155 to name my fighter of the year for 2012. If Cain lost to JDS, this would have been given to Benson Henderson who had a tremendous year in his own right. However, it’s tough to ignore what Cain Velasquez.

Velasquez started out this year by dominating heavyweight contender Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, a guy who just came off a dominating victory over the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time in Fedor Emelianenko. Velasquez then went on to reclaim the heavyweight title in UFC 155, making Junior dos Santos look bad in a five round rout. Velasquez truly deserves the fighter of the year award this year.

Ben Henderson would have been another logical choice for MMA fighter of the year this year however, his two wins over Frankie Edgar was disputable. Compare that to Cain Velasquez’s wins this year and there you have it.

Honorable mentions: Benson Henderson 3-0 (Frankie Edgar 2x, Nate Diaz) Jon Jones 2-0 (Rashad Evans,  Vitor Belfort) Renan Barao (Scott Jorgensen, Urijah Faber) Anderson Silva (Chael Sonnen, Stephan Bonnar in 205) Ronda Rousey (Miesha Tate, Sarah Kauffman)

Fight of the Year (Boxing)

Brandon Rios vs Mike Alvarado

We have been blessed we’ve some of the best fights in boxing this year, but this by far takes the cake.

The co-main event of the Donaire-Nishioka fight was the best fight of this year. What more can you ask for? From the opening bell up to the Rios finish in round 7 we have seen some of the best exchanges we have seen in awhile. Toe to toe action, no clinches, continuous momentum shifts in an ultra competitive bout. This was definitely the best fight of boxing this year and that is a huge feat considering we have seen great matches this year.

Honorable mentions: Juan Manuel Marquez vs Manny Pacquiao 4, Orlando Salido vs Juan Manuel Lopez 2, Brian Viloria vs Hernan Marquez, Robert Guerrero vs Andre Berto.

Fight of the Year (MMA)

Chan Sung Jung vs Dustin Porier

It’s safe to say that the Korean Zombie is a walking, talking fight of the year candidate. And in UFC on Fuel 3, he proved that to everyone once again.

Chan Sung Jung and Dustin Porier went back in forth for four rounds before Jung connected with an uppercut, a flying knee and a d’arce choke to finish the fight in the early goings of round 4. The fight was as competitive as it can be with Porier getting the early advantage rocking the Korean Zombie in the early goings of the first round before wobbling him again in the final seconds of the opener. Jung then bounced back in the second round connecting with a flying knee and huge uppercuts to rock Porier. This then led to a memorable sequence of submission attempts and transitions with Jung going for an armbar and a triangle before Porier countered with an amazing transition to side control before the round ended.

The two went back and forth for the next 6 minutes or so before Chan Sung Jung finally sealed the deal by rocking Porier and locking in a d’arce choke in one of the best MMA matches we’ve seen this decade.

Honorable Mentions: Ben Henderson vs Frankie Edgar, Joe Lauzon vs Jamie Varner, Dan Miller vs Joe  Lauzon.

Knockout of the Year (Boxing)

Juan Manuel Marquez over Manny Pacquiao

There are no words to describe El Dinamita’s knockout punch to Manny Pacquiao. Words cannot justify the brutality and the irony in that finish.

In an exciting bout which went back and forth for six rounds, Marquez scored the buzzer beater, landing a perfectly timed counter right hook to Pacquiao’s jaw prompting referee Kenny Bayless to stop the fight. The Filipino boxing legend was unconscious for a good two minutes or so as Marquez nailed a punch that will forever cement his legacy as one of the greatest Mexican boxers to ever enter the ring.

With two proud fighters fighting for pride, vindication and redemption, it was expected that a finish was not far-fetched. After all, both fighters have already secured respective knockdowns in the first five rounds alone. However, no one expected that it was going to be Pacquiao laying down face first in the canvass following a booming counter right hook by Juan Manuel Marquez

Finish of the Year (MMA)

For consistency, this will include the best finish in MMA, meaning knockouts and submissions are included altogether

Edison Barboza over Terry Etim

This was a finish that was straight from a Street Fighter/Mortal combat video game. A spinning heel kick to the face with Terry Etim falling with a straight body to the ground? That was a thing of beauty.

While I’m not expecting everyone to witness the fight, this is a finish that everyone needs to see (Watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv-gBMBErC4, thank me later)

Just watching that video alone, you know that this will grace every MMA highlight video in the next few years, maybe even in the next few decades. As I’ve said, I’ve never seen a finish like this in MMA, a finish which reeks of the words “Finish him!” and “Fatality” right after the Barboza victory. Simply masterful. A thing of beauty.

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year (Boxing)

Danny Garcia

Year record: 3-0 (Eric Morales 2x, Amir Khan)

Garcia started out this year defeating Mexican legend and comeback fighter of the year in 2011, Eric Morales in a convincing unanimous decision victory. However, Garcia’s biggest victory came at the expense of light welterweight superstar Amir Khan.

In that fight, Garcia came in as a 1-7 underdog , with Khan showing to everyone why he’s favored to win the bout in the first two rounds. However, a thunderous left hook sent Khan to the canvass before the end of round 3 changing the momentum to Garcia’s favor. In the fourth round, the inevitable happened for Khan as Garcia knocked him back down twice, prompting referee Kenny Bayless to stop the fight.

Garcia then went on to finish his year with another win over Eric Morales, this time more convincingly as he knocked out Morales in the fourth round.

Honorable mention: Leo Sta. Cruz 5-0 (Alejandro Hernandez, Vusi  Malinga, Eric Morel, Victor  Zaleta, Alberto Guevarra)

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year (MMA)

Chris Weidman

Year record: 2-0 (Demian Maia, Mark Munoz)

Weidman was a relative unknown in the MMA world before he took his fight against ranked middleweight and former number 1 contender, Demian Maia. Taking the fight on just 11 days notice after Michael Bisping went down with an injury, Weidman made the most out of the situation defeating the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu wizard in a unanimous decision in an uneventful match.

Mark Munoz was then expected to be the next in line to Anderson Silva’s title. However, Weidman would have to say something about that. Weidman delivered one of the biggest upsets of the year in MMA, knocking down Munoz with a perfectly timed elbow before finishing him off with elbow and punches, catapulting him to the top of the title shot ladder in Mixed Martial Arts.

Weidman was supposed to take on fellow middleweight contender Tim Boetsch in UFC 155 but he had to pull out via injury.

Honorable mention: Costa Philippou 3-0 (Court Mcgee, Riki Fukuda, Tim Boetsch)

That’s it. The best of the best in combat sports in 2012 in an article. 2013 for sure will be another year to look forward to as we already have great matches in store for MMA such as the Aldo-Edgar fight in February and for boxing the Garcia-Judah fight in January. Stay tuned people and have a happy new year!

For more MMA and boxing commentary, follow the writer at twitter @bassman500