Another feisty year in fight history comes to an end. It’s been a period of transition for combat sports. In boxing, it’s a fight for redemption, an attempt to return to the glory days where heavyweight fights were discussed around the water cooler. In MMA, everyone wants to be like McGregor, who managed to trash-talk his way to becoming the third richest athlete in the world last year. This is why Khabib is talking about fighting Mayweather and not taking another fight for less than $50 million. It’s why Mayweather is maybe/maybe not toying with the idea of fighting Tenshin Nasukawa, a prodigy kickboxer from the One promotion. But as usual, it’s been another great year for people leathering seven shades out of each other, and we still have a rematch between Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson to come. Here’s a look at 10 of the best fights that took place this year.
Zabit Magomedsharipov v Kyle Bochniak, UFC 223
Zabit looks like a nice kid. He’s not flashy or exuberant, he does not do trash talk or play up to the crowd. He’s a bit scrawny perhaps, and with a head that is maybe one size too big for his body. But within this calm exterior lies the heart of a martial arts genius. Hits come in from all angles: spinning back elbows, switch kicks, flying knees and superman punches off the cage. He can take you down at will, displaying the same effortless mastery of his opponent’s balance and momentum that Khabib and Daniel Cormier possess. Trust me, “ZaBeast” will become a firm favourite for all MMA fans in the coming years, and he’s certain to appear in the GOAT conversation soon. How the hell do you beat a guy like this? Well, if you’re Kyle Bochniak, you drop your hands and keep stalking forward, screaming at the top of your lungs while blood pours down your face and then you stand and bang for the last 20 seconds of the third round. Sure, Bochniak was outclassed, but you have got to admire his heart (and the fact that he’s quite insane).
GGG v Canelo 2
It is the general consensus that this fight was even closer to call than the first, and yet the unimpeachably neutral Nevada judges (why yes, that IS sarcasm) were more able to come to a decision than they were in the first fight. As usual, the quality of the judging overshadows what had been an excellent display of boxing skill. Canelo used his counter-punching to try to wear GGG down in the early rounds and while he did not make much of an impact on the Russian’s endurance, he took the early rounds. However, Golovkin came back hard, and started to pull away in the 10th and 11th round. Both threw everything they had left at each other in the final round, with the judges feeling that the Mexican fighter would provide better opportunities for them to profit than a Russian boxer uh… that he had done enough to win the match. Stand by for part 3.
Chan Sung Jung v Yair Rodriguez, UFC Fight Night 139
Speaking for my people, MMA fans aren’t the brightest. But it does not help when the UFC itself treats us like idiots. Case in point: feeling that “Chan Sung Jung” was too difficult to say or understand, the poster for Fight Night touted a bout between Yair Rodriguez and “The Korean Zombie” (see also the “Schevchenko vs Joanna” poster for UFC 231 this weekend, because “Jedrzejczyk” is also too complex). Jung had been away for a while due to two years enforced military service in his homeland of Korea and a knee injury that put paid to most of his 2017. A bout was fixed for November this year against Frankie Edgar, but the latter pulled out and was replaced by Yair Rodriguez. What followed was an epic confrontation, both men throwing all that they had at each other, capped by a last second, no-look elbow that dropped the Zombie like an axe to the head.
Jéssica Andrade vs Karolina Kowalkiewicz, UFC 228
UFC 228 was one of the best cards of the year, if you ignore the headline fight (a relatively uninspiring Darren Till vs Tyron Woodley). As well as two unique ‘banana split’ submissions, we got this out-and-out war between Andrade and Kowalkiewicz. Both women went at it straight from the opening bell. After trading a couple of range-finding shots, they were biting down on their mouthpieces and swinging leather against the cage wall before 10 seconds had even elapsed. Andrade had the upper hand throughout, her striking clearly dominant, before knocking Kowalkiewicz clean out with two minutes remaining in the first round. It will be interesting to see how current champ Rose Namajunas deals with the Brazilian’s power when they eventually meet.
Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov, UFC 229
Oh, you’ve heard about this one? Well, suffice to say, it went just about as everyone familiar with MMA expected. McGregor is famed for coming into his fights with a plan, such as the timing work they did for Jose Aldo, and the uppercut that made Floyd Mayweather worry even if it was for just a moment. His preparations for Khabib were no exception. They knew that he could be taken down at will, but if you watch the first round, once down, Conor controls Khabib, minimising the damage that he could inflict on the ground. But it’s Khabib, one of the most dominant wrestlers the sport has ever seen; holding him off for a while and hoping he gassed was never going to work. It was not the most competitive of fights, and then there was all the drama that went down afterwards, which still remains unresolved. However, it was probably the most talked-about fight of the year and so it makes the list.
Anthony Pettis vs Tony Ferguson, UFC 229
Same event, but a curious thing. It was not the Irishman’s performance that got the hundreds of travelling Irish fans singing “Ole”, but the fight before it – Anthony Pettis vs Tony Ferguson. This was supposed to have been a relatively easy return for Ferguson, getting former star Pettis out of the way so that he could make a fifth attempt at fighting Khabib. But Pettis did not read that script and the two put on an amazing display of heart. When the proper MMA websites put together their end of year lists, Round 2 of this fight should win any ‘Round of the Year’ honours with ease. Pettis knocked Ferguson down early in the second and had the other man scrambling for cover. Sadly, with a huge cut on his forehead and a broken hand, Pettis’s corner threw in the towel before round 3. Many were disappointed by this, but we think it’s one of the best and bravest decisions that could have been made.
Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury
The first PPV for the UK and USA since 2002 took place last weekend and for a change, a heavyweight boxing match actually lived up to the hype. Wilder, a lethal KO artist faced Fury, a more technical ‘jab and move’ boxer, and both fighters kept to their game plans throughout. Fury was racking up wins in the early rounds but was knocked down in Round 9 and was lucky to make it through the round. He was knocked out again in the 12th Round, and this one looked like a finisher. But amazingly, Fury rose again, Undertaker style, and managed to see the fight through to the end. A draw seemed like a fair result, until the judges’ scorecards were looked at. Still, a rematch will be lucrative for just about everyone, unless your name is Anthony Joshua.
Dustin Poirier vs Justin Gaethje, UFC on Fox 29
There is apparently something beneficial to being beaten up by Conor McGregor. It happened to Max Holloway in 2013, and he has not lost since. It is almost the same thing with Justin Poirier, who has only suffered one loss since McGregor took him out in 2014. Justin Gaethje is a very dangerous fighter, a wrestler who prefers to swing, with some of the most devastating leg kicks in the UFC. It was those kicks that gave Poirier problems in the early rounds, but both men were giving it everything they had. Eventually, it was Poirier, very late in an exhausting Round 4, that got the finish, and both men won a well deserved ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus.
Demetrious Johnson vs Henry Cejudo, UFC 227
With DJ being traded to the ONE FC promotion and the entire UFC Flyweight division apparently in peril, it would be remiss of us not to mention one of the most successful MMA fighters of all time. Sure, he lost, and the only reason he lost was that he failed to utterly dominate Henry Cejudo and as a consequence, the fight appeared a lot more competitive than it was. The only thing classier than DJ’s 11 consecutive title defences was the way in which he calmly accepted the decision, congratulated Cejudo and then went home to his wife to prepare for the birth of his third child. There could have been recriminations – to many, DJ won that fight. He might have demanded an immediate rematch but didn’t. In fact, DJ’s pleasant, calm and affable persona may have indirectly been responsible for the alleged failure of the UFC’s Flyweight Division. But he’s on to different things now, and we can only say thanks and wish him luck.
Max Holloway vs Brian Ortega, UFC 231
This one is as fresh as they come: at time of writing, the most recent fight in the UFC. It was a rough 2018 for Max Holloway. A leg injury took him away from the first part of the year, and then a nasty weight cut saw him pulled from his return card. Then there were the mystery ‘concussion-like’ symptoms that still remain unexplained. When he finally came back last weekend against undefeated prospect Brian Ortega, there were doubts right up until the bell that the fight would go ahead. Holloway even came into the fight as an underdog. And then the fight started, and all doubts were dispelled. Not only was Holloway fine, he was better than ever. Brian Ortega is no joke, and he showed incredible heart, hanging in there for four rounds and even hurting Holloway a few times. But Holloway was on another level. He threw more strikes over four rounds than all of the other winning fighters on the main card combined over 12 rounds. Now he sits at the big table, staring across from Khabib, Ferguson and the last man to beat him: McGregor.