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Ranking the top MMA fights of the first half of 2010
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2010
MMA MATCH RATINGS FOR FIRST HALF OF 2010
This is a lot tougher than it looks. As I laid out in the article, there was a list of 4-star rated fights that readers voted on and from there trying to pick the Top 5 was really tough. I won’t say here which fight I picked #1, so you’ll have to read the article to find out who I voted for and why.
I do think it’s interesting how people view fights in terms of rankings. Some people vote based on what kind of style of fight they like, while importance seems to be the primary qualification for a lot of people. Uniquely interesting is how high of a rating the Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin fight got. A lot of casual fans and semi-hardcore fans thought it was a great fight, but the hardcore fans absolutely detested it and called it Toughman-level.
I do wonder where you rank a fight like the Bibiano Fernandes/Joachim Hansen fight from DREAM on the list. It’s not a fight that enough voters have seen but it is readily available to watch online.
I thought the most curious fight ranking above four stars was the Jamie Varner/Kamal Shalorus fight. Since I scored that fight 30-26 in favor of Varner, I wasn’t sure what was so attractive about that match. Lots of low blows, injuries, and hard kicking. Yes, it was a war, but I don’t even think it was the best fight on that Edmonton card.
If you had to make your own Top 5 list of best bouts for the first half of 2010, what would they be, how would you rank them in order, and why would you rank them in that particular order?
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I agree with the Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin fight as number 1. Very exciting back and forth fight that actually had technique unlike Garcia vs Korean Zombie.
That’s an awesome review Zach! The one I mainly disagree with is Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung. I agree with what you said about the fight, just not the ranking given by your or the consensus on the site. Its just not my type of fight, but there’s no right or wrong and that’s why we collect everyone’s rankings.
BTW, Jamie Varner vs. Kamal Shalorus was rated 3.67 out of 5 stars.
I really think people need to watch a fight at least 3 times before they’re ready to call it one of the best of the year. So many times people get swept up in the moment and go all hyperbolic Joe Rogan style over something that really wasn’t half as good as they felt at the time.
Lesnar-Carwin was not a 4 or 5 star fight. It was very exciting to watch live, but it does not hold up upon repeated viewings to be considered anywhere close to best of the year. I’m not saying it was as shitty as “Toughman level”, but it was a guy turtling up until the other guy gassed out. Call me an MMA snob, but I don’t want to see that crap.
Same with Garcia-Jung. Yeah, live that fight was very exciting. But I’d call it the Bonnar-Griffin of this decade because it does not hold up upon repeated viewings because there was no real skill offered. Bonnar-Griffin was very important in drawing new fans to UFC, but that fight is embarrassing in retrospect. I’ve seen more skill shown in after school fights on playgrounds. And Garcia-Jung was only slightly better.
IMO I think Hansen-Fernandes, Sotiropoulos-Stevenson, Aldo-Faber, Hominick-Jabouin, and maybe Leben-Aikyama are the best of first half 2010.
I agree. I know always rewatch the top contenders around the end of the year. I remember last year my favorite fight, which seemed t get to love was Condit/Kampmann.
Probably gonna get killed for this but I gotta have both Garcia-Jung, and Lesnar-Carwin in my top 5. I know there was not much technique involved with either, but IMO the top 3 questions to judge quality of fights on is competitiveness, relevance, and excitement with technique being the 4th. I have it:
5. Lesnar-Carwin
4. Leben-Akiyama
3. Jung-Garcia
2. Condit-Macdonald
1. Jabouin-Hominick
Honorable mention: Noons-Heun
Carwin/Lesnar and Fernandes/Hansen are the only real keepers from the first half of this year IMO. Totally different reasons for each. I know Zombie/The Other Dude is gonna be loved forever and ever in spite of being pretty generic and lacking in technique, but I’ve gotten over that.
Since you offered that dichotomy of criteria, I’ll split mine into two groups:
Most “Important” Fights That Were Also Good/Great:
1. Patricio Freire vs. Joe Warren*
2. Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen
3. Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin
4. Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
5. Hatsu Hioki vs. Lion Takeshi (Shooto)
Fights I Enjoyed The Most:
1. Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef
2. Gesias Calvancante vs. Katsunori Kikuno
3. Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia*
4. Tatsuya Mizuno vs. Melvin Manhoef
5. Alan Omer vs. Paul Reed (Ultimate Challenge UK)
Special Achievement Award for Unintentional Comedy:
Mirko CroCop vs. Pat Barry
*Marred by crap decision
Nothing has really stood out for me much this year. I did really enjoy Imada vs Vanier from Bellator though. Lesnar vs Carwin was entertaining but not a good fight at all. The “#1 HW” gets tagged and runs away, then goes fetal while getting beat on. The ref gives preferential treatment to the star. The other guy gasses out and has nothing in round 2. Take away the stage the fight took place on and it was pretty lame.