Ladies and gentlemen, in 2016, we have a unanimous decision victory for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. As much as 2015 was a year full of exhibition and spectacle for hardcore and casual fans alike, it is safe to say that 2016 has surpassed, if not at least matched the torrent of unexpected outcomes in tremendously well-tailored fights.
As this is the last year Joe Silva will be involved with match-making in the UFC, it comes as no surprise that he left it all on the table for his farewell.
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If styles make fights, and marketing brings in the greatly indispensable hype, then Joe Silva and his contemporary Sean Shelby truly managed to hit the sweet spot. One bull’s eye after another..
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The year marked the titles changing hands several times and in rather unsettling and unforgiving fashion. Egos were bruised and shattered, an unhealthy amount of pride was boasted and many who once ruled the kingdom were left in the dumps to rebuild themselves from scratch.
Some had to construct a viable model of the light in which they choose to scrutinise their skill sets, and some, even their lives. Many houses of cards came tumbling down and many are currently standing, ignorantly pursuing the road to glory, because that is what fighters do, until they can't anymore.
You have to be a special kind of crazy to put your health and even life on the line to chase a feeling of invincibility that barely lasts long enough to be cherished. Maybe you go in like a Gladiator, and come out with a loss on your record and pain in areas of the body that you didn't even know existed.
All while being under the laser focus of the public's microscope. The other side of the coin is being worshipped as the ‘baddest’ man/woman on the planet in that weight division. But as we have seen time and time again, there is no such thing as a free lunch, not at least on this planet. There is a price to be paid, and usually a hefty one.
In 2016, some fighters went ahead and paid the price, holding nothing back, resulting in some of the most entertaining fights to have ever graced the Octagon that left us at the edge of our seats, anticipating the possibilities of every moment more desperately than the last one.
Here are 10 awe-inspiring fights that made 2016 an extremely memorable year for the fans of Mixed Martial Arts.
#10 Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping
When all-time great Anderson Silva signed an agreement to fight Michael Bisping in London, England, he was arguably at the lowest point in his career. Two devastating and traumatising KO and TKO losses to Chris Weidman, including a horrific leg fracture, made a lot of people question if Silva still had a few fights left in him.
While Silva was without a doubt in a funk for the last few years, Michael Bisping also wasn't exactly riding the wave. Sporting a two-fight win streak in a lacklustre career couldn't be called having momentum on your side. But Bisping still came into the fight extremely confident and ready to put on a show.
After a back-and-forth battle which saw Bisping landing a greater volume of peppering punches and low kicks, as usual, the rhythm of the fight was very slow and uneventful, until Silva became the aggressor.
Known primarily as a crisp and precise counter puncher, Silva didn't come out all guns blazing in the beginning but picked up the pace, realising he was behind on the scorecards.
After a brutal beating that involved Bisping getting scorched by quick counters that led to a huge gash and a broken nose, Silva dropped Bisping with a flying knee in the last few seconds of the third round, landing flush on the jaw.
In the heat of the moment and watching his adversary virtually knocked out, Silva started to celebrate, only to come to the realisation that the fight was still not over.
A disappointed Silva and a broken but motivated Bisping then took the battle to the distance. To the surprise of the fans and even Bisping himself, Bisping's volume punching earned him a very controversial unanimous decision victory. A decision that many fans and even Dana White publically protested.
Regardless, the fight that had a very slow beginning, rounded off with a dramatic plot, concluding with a textbook anti-climactic ending. A recipe for gripping sports entertainment.
#9 Conor Mcgregor vs. Nate Diaz 1
Up until the Silva vs. Bisping card, a lot of people felt that Michael Bisping defeating Anderson Silva would be the number one upset of the year. A belief that was going to be obliterated only a few weeks from then.
Silva vs. Bisping was followed up by Mcgregor vs. Diaz after the latter agreed to be the short notice replacement for the then Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos.
As expected, Diaz was a huge underdog, considering Mcgregor was the reigning Featherweight Champion riding an enormous 15-fight win streak with 14 picture-perfect knockouts, including a jaw-dropping (no pun intended) 13-second KO victory over the great Jose Aldo.
It was only understandable that Diaz would be the underdog against such a dominant force but nobody questioned his durability in the fight except maybe, McGregor himself. It was obvious from his plan since he chose to completely overlook Diaz and decided to essentially run him over, in his pursuit of the Lightweight Gold.
However, when the two squared off in the Octagon, Mcgregor started off with landing haymaker after haymaker, quickly opening up the abundant scar tissue on Diaz’s face. At a fleeting glance, it looked like Mcgregor was close to another KO/TKO victory to add to his resume.
But as the fight progressed, the durability of Diaz became obvious to Mcgregor and his camp. A failed game plan was now awaiting to come full circle with disastrous energy management McGregor’s part.
With every punch that McGregor landed, he ate a few quick but hard and accurate shots. As he depleted himself of the necessary gas to go five rounds, the tables now turned in the favour of the underdog.
Single punches now morphed to fully fledged and comprehensive combinations landing flush, one after another, the end was near, but nobody wanted to believe it could actually happen.
Then out of nowhere, catching the timing and rhythm of Mcgregor, Diaz landed a simple 1-2 combination that stunned the Champion, who immediately shot for a takedown in panic. And now into the world of Diaz, on the ground, where McGregor was even more helpless than usual as he was already rattled on the feet.
At a moment's notice, a swift pass of the guard, side control and onto full mount, Diaz started brutalising McGregor, seconds away from a potential TKO victory. In that moment, McGregor almost voluntarily gave up his back and proceeded to be choked out in what was deemed, the biggest upset of the year so far now.
It was a truly historic moment as us fans swallowed the bitter pill that our heroes are never truly invincible. The story, however, was far from over.
#8 Luke Rockhold vs. Michael Bisping 2
It was almost as if Bisping took it on himself to pull off a bigger upset than Diaz did against Mcgregor. Luke Rockhold had become the Middleweight king by dominating Chris Weidman on the same night when Mcgregor finished Aldo in 13 seconds to unify the Featherweight Belt.
Mcgregor left no doubt in people's minds that he had a rather brash persona of an outspoken, politically incorrect fighter for whom business was paramount. It was a deliberate act that came off as more hilarious than arrogant.
But since gaining the belt, Rockhold had shown signs of being arrogant and disrespectful towards his opponents, as he begged Dana White to serve Vitor Belfort to him on a silver platter. A fighter who was on the downside of his career but still had a spectacular spinning heel kick knockout victory over him.
Luke Rockhold instead got an instant rematch with Chris Weidman, a match that failed to manifest many times over the course of a few months due to Weidman's recurring injuries.
As fate would have it, Bisping was set and ready to go as a short-notice replacement to save UFC 199 from falling off. Having previously been battered and absolutely dominated by Rockhold, only to be finished with a one-handed guillotine, Bisping was wary of Rockhold's skill on the ground and standing up.
But Rockhold took the rematch very lightly, consistently disrespecting Bisping's skill and punching power.
Ironically, as the fight began, after a lousy exchange in the first few minutes, Rockhold got caught big time with a beautifully timed long overhand left. Losing his legs almost instantly, Rockhold sought to regain his balance but Bisping closed the deal with yet another overhand left that sent Rockhold falling against the cage, practically unconscious.
Bisping had added one more huge upset to the year of 2016 and in spectacular fashion to become the new (and probably the most unexpected) UFC Middleweight Champion. But, as we got to witness later, this year was to be full of stories of not only upsets but also of redemption and retribution.
#7 Nate Diaz vs. Conor Mcgregor 2
Earlier in the year, Diaz had shocked the world by defeating McGregor in a dominant performance but apparently he was not surprised. McGregor was now in a bad spot, to say the least, having been defeated by the number 4 Lightweight in a devastating submission loss.
McGregor's legitimacy to fight for the Lightweight title as a Featherweight Champion was now in jeopardy, unless, he set the record straight and got a one up on Diaz, hopefully in the same dominant fashion as Diaz did.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
Another crown with the Lightweight Championship now seemed like a distant dream again and the audience started questioning if McGregor even deserved to keep his well-earned Featherweight title.
The times were dark, McGregor had to make the most important decision of his life; whether he wanted to go back to the 145-pound division or be completely impractical again and compete at a weight division 25 pounds heavier than the one he is the Champion in.
And like a true champion, McGregor didn't even blink an eye to go for the latter. People wondered if his trash talk would be affected since he was essentially owned in the first bout. Instead, he went all in and put all his eggs in this one basket that was UFC 202.
But how could you stop the marketing genius that is McGregor's brain, producing quotable lines at every step?
"You should have killed me when you had the chance," proclaimed Mcgregor with a startling commitment tarnished with a hint of insecurity regarding his abilities, perhaps for the first time in his career.
With a series of entertaining exchanges back and forth in the press conferences, they finally squared off again in a highly anticipated rematch for the ages.
McGregor completely changed his game plan for the fight and outboxed Diaz in a steady five-round battle that had its share of ample domination and momentum shifts. Scoring a number of knockdowns early on, McGregor did well in boxing exchanges but struggled to put up with the high pressure, dirty boxing style of fighting in the clinch.
After almost getting finished in the third round again with a barrage of strikes from Diaz, McGregor did extremely well with maintaining distance later on, also showing off significantly improved takedown defence by even taking Diaz down on more than one occasion.
Ultimately, in a long but extremely entertaining war, McGregor emerged victorious via majority decision, to the relief of his camp and the fans. It is a bleak possibility to imagine watching Conor McGregor lose twice to Nate Diaz. A man who was one of the more underpaid fighters in the UFC.
Fortunately, this leaves the options open for a rubber match. A fight that is almost guaranteed to break all existing PPV records.
#6 TJ Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz
Let's keep the theme of redemption rolling, this time against an injury and not an opponent. When Dominick Cruz suffered a string of injuries that forced him to relinquish a title that he never lost, many believed that this was the end of a very unique fighter.
Since Dominick Cruz's complete game was based on movement, being light on the feet, cutting great angles and constant feints, the knee injuries felt like a nail in the coffin on his entire strategy and approach to the game.
After running over Takeya Mizugaki in a few minutes on his UFC return after more than three years of layoff, it seemed like Cruz was back on track and right in the mix. And then, it happened, again. Cruz blew his other knee out and was forced to stay on the fences for more than a year.
Once again, Cruz had to build himself up. But this time, He got the much-deserved title shot against the then Bantamweight Kingpin TJ Dillashaw.
A lot of people believed that Dillashaw had borrowed Cruz's style and movement to aid in his own growth as a mixed martial artist. Even Cruz allegedly forced his opinion that while he was out due to injuries, the Bantamweight division still had not managed to catch up to the techniques and fighting style that he had assembled for himself.
A very lofty claim to make but backed up by all his success throughout the years over top contenders. After a lot of back and forth trash talk, with Cruz usually coming out on top in the verbal exchanges, the fight finally materialised.
The fight went the distance with Cruz being an unsolvable enigma for the reigning champion TJ Dillashaw, who ended up missing more than 50% of the strikes that he threw. Even the ones that landed barely managed to touch him.
While Dillashaw had a little success with head kicks and outside leg kicks that managed to halt the incessant and unorthodox movement of Cruz, the fight was a largely a one-sided affair.
Cruz also managed to become the first man to ever take Dillashaw down in a fight and did so almost at will.
Dominick's impeccable timing, confusing but graceful movement, deep gas tank and an uncanny amount of confidence even considering his long layoff, helped him pull off a well-deserved but extremely hard-earned split decision victory.
After all the upsets that this year had in for us already, it was refreshing to see an inspiring comeback story.
#5 Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit
At UFC 195, we were fortunate to witness an extremely interesting match up but also one that would turn out to be a collision between two men on their own respective missions.
After defending his Welterweight title by putting up an impressive performance against Rory McDonald in 2015, which was the fight of the year for most fans, Robbie Lawler left no tables unturned in the fight against fellow veteran Carlos Condit as they went to war on the first card of the year in UFC 195.
The natural born killer Carlos Condit is what Georges St. Pierre calls "a stylistic nightmare" for most fighters in the Welterweight division. Having a very well-rounded game with slick jiu-jitsu drastically improved takedown defence and an extreme variety of attacks in the stand-up department, no one has ever made the mistake of imagining just running over a veteran in Carlos Condit.
And Robbie Lawler can definitely testify to this. After moving over to American Top Team, Lawler experienced an extreme surge in his game as well and was ready to take on Condit in this highly anticipated bout.
The fight began in a slow fashion with neither fighter showing initiative to be the aggressor, as they were painfully aware of the other's finishing ability. After a round of feinting, data collection and non-eventful strikes, Condit was the first one to start pulling the trigger.
Exhibiting a wide variety of attacks from flying knees, spinning back fists and inside leg kicks to the Jackson-Wink camp's trademark oblique kick to the knee and step-in elbows, Condit had Lawler in trouble at various times in the fight.
In response, Lawler kept calm and answered with relatively orthodox but well-timed shots, many of which sent Condit to the canvas and made him hesitant.
After a mesmerising set of 4 rounds and realising that he may very well be behind on the scorecard, Lawler put on a show, in what could easily be called one of the best rounds in 2016 in the final five minutes. Condit displayed his heart and iron chin in the face of adversity and took Lawler's best shots like a champion.
As the horn blew, signalling the end of the fight, both fighters were so exhausted that they could barely stand and took the support of the cage, in what could be called one of the most iconic moments in MMA in 2016.
#4 Tyrone Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson
It was speculated that after making it through one war after another against the likes of McDonald and Condit, Robbie Lawler would have definitely shown signs of physical and mental deterioration in his camp and training.
The sheer amount of punishment that he absorbed on his way to the belt and while defending it, may have accumulated to a point where it might begin to tip over and affect the way he trains and prepares for a fight.
This speculation was soon to be validated in Lawler's next title defence against fellow American Top Team training partner and number one contender, Tyrone Woodley, who then went on to defeat Lawler at UFC 201 with a blistering one punch knockout, literally laying waste to Lawler's attempt at moving away and maintaining distance.
The speed with which Woodley covered the distance was terrifying, to say the least.
Meanwhile, Stephen Thompson had established himself as the number one contender and next in line, after sporting many beautiful head kick knockout finishes, including a destruction of former Champion Johnny Hendricks.
The two finally met at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden.
The fight began and Thompson started with light jabs and feints, testing and quantifying Woodley's movement and options. Woodley then took him down and unleashed an onslaught of heavy ground and pound.
It took some time for Thompson to get back on track and win another round with a good variety of attacks from the outside.
Suddenly, Woodley caught Thompson with a huge overhand right, akin to the one that finished Robbie Lawler. This rattled Thompson and Woodley then tried to catch his challenger in a guillotine, which Wonderboy went on to escape diligently, all while capturing people's attention to the very last second of the fight.
Woodley ended up silencing his critics on his ability to stand up with Thompson and the latter showed heart and resilience under adversity, which won him the respect of many fans around the world.
In one of the more confusing moments for Bruce Buffer, the fight ended in a draw and a rematch is now underway for this instant classic.
#3 Amanda Nunes vs. Ronda Rousey
Many people believed that after getting dismantled by Holly Holm at UFC 193, Ronda Rousey had lost the mental toughness required to undergo a slump in her MMA career and come back stronger.
Because of the manner in which she lost, her personal and professional life morphed into a simmering soup of negative emotions, constant ridicule and harsh criticism. With critics often questioning her stand up abilities and even her mindset and ethics.
Labelled almost universally as a sour loser and a classless act, Ronda took an extended vacation of 13 months to make a picture-perfect return.
In the UFC's last PPV of the year in UFC 207, Rousey's return was promoted as the biggest attraction on the card and the most anticipated bout in all of MMA as the queen marked her return to the throne in a rather trouble-free fashion.
Almost neglecting Amanda Nunes' prowess, technique and raw power, the promotion focused solely on Ronda Rousey and her struggle, how she overcame her suicidal tendencies to come back even stronger; a promise that was yet to be fulfilled.
But Ronda's true skill that made her a household name was being a product that had the marketers and PR campaign strategists on a roll. #Therouseyrevolution is something you can't go wrong with, the beauty with which Ronda's personality, background and antics inside the Octagon fit with her market appeal was almost impeccable.
Once again with #Fearthereturn, Rousey proceeded to show up to fight Amanda Nunes for the sake of her own legacy. Although, as we were about to witness, nothing much had really changed.
The first jab that Amanda Nunes landed ended up making Rousey give up on her feet a little, the second rattled her and the third made me question how she was able to absorb the punishment. All within the span of the first few seconds of the fight.
Amanda Nunes then went on to put on the best performance of her career and finish Ronda Rousey with punches in 48 seconds, topping off the fashion in which she was defeated by Holly Holm, exactly a year ago.
If we follow conventional wisdom and Rousey's state of mind, she is very likely to retire and say good-bye to a division which would not exist in the UFC without her spearheaded leadership.
But those days are long behind her and so are her hopes of ever regaining the crown as the ‘baddest’ woman on the planet. After Mcgregor's loss to Diaz and Rockhold's loss to Bisping, we now had an upset that tops both of them. But not so much to the hardcore fans who never bought in on the hype.
#2 Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi
A nerdy looking Asian kid makes his UFC debut in the Featherweight division and proceeds to knock out his adversary in mere 18 seconds in a very Mcgregor-esque fashion. In his second fight, he stretches it out a little bit more by finishing the fight in one-and-a-half minutes. He adds the next knockout to his resume in a little more than 2 minutes.
After 3 fights in the UFC's featherweight division, Doo Ho Choi still had not even completed a full round in the octagon.
After breaking into the top 15, Choi quickly called out the veteran Cub Swanson for a fight. Cub agreed, the bout agreement was signed for UFC 206, an exhibition for the Featherweights, headlined by Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis for the interim featherweight title.
But many people deemed Swanson vs. Choi the unofficial main event of the evening.
When the bout took place, it became clear why. A battle of epic proportions culminated in a three-round war that seemed to stretch the duration of three rounds into a lifetime. A fight which made the viewers feel tired for the fighters involved and made their hearts pump out of their chests, in a fight that was rightfully a fight of the year candidate.
As a young upcoming prospect for the Featherweight division, Choi dominated Swanson until the cards were flipped and now Choi found himself sinking and swimming in deep waters.
Superman punches, flashy Capoeira kicks with one hand on the ground, looping haymakers, spinning back fists, body shots that would send anyone gasping for breath and on the ground, hardly fazed Choi as he went on to take more punishment than a heavy bag does.
Even then, he managed to shift the momentum on his side momentarily and landed hard shots while he could. With a sudden rise in the level of competition, Choi did better than most people expected him to and then some.
After giving us one of the best fights of 2016, it makes me extremely excited to think about the plethora of interesting match ups that Choi can be linked up with in 2017.
And it is just the beginning.
#1 Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt
If there is one fight that made me tear up, it had to be the battle between my favourite fighter Dominick Cruz and the up-and-coming knockout artist and Team Alpha Male protégé Cody Garbrandt.
This was a fight that many Cruz fans took a little too lightly, as the style he possesses is almost custom made to defeat a conventional wrestler-boxer MMA fighter. To Cruz, these fighters are cliché, textbook, predictable and without many options in their arsenal.
Stephen Thompson and Tyrone Woodley had a similar stylistic match-up, in terms of one party being exceptional at movement and the other being a heavy handed wrestler with boxing background. And we all saw how that went down.
No matter how tricky a style the fighter that employs movement possesses, there is always the unwelcoming aspect of being knocked out in a split second with the first punch that lands square on the jaw.
While the guy who is more fluid and creative in the Octagon may find more angles and striking possibilities, sometimes brute knockout power presents more problems than we expect it to.
However, this was not the case in this fight as Cody ended up controlling the range much better than Cruz; finding more openings and managing to capitalise handsomely on them.
It was almost painful to watch Cruz fail to establish his rhythm early on in the fight as he usually does, and try and run after Cody, as he typically finds his rivals doing to him.
Cody’s slick head movement, orthodox yet fundamentally sound along with crisp and accurate boxing managed to help Cody find Cruz's chin on more than one ocassion. Dropping him many times throughout the fight and almost finishing him on several instances and establishing respect for his punching power in Cruz’s mind throughout the fight.
It was extremely uncharacteristic to see Cruz being hesitant, unable to implement a solid game plan and being outclassed in nearly every exchange in the pocket, except for a few notable exceptions.
Although it must be pointed out that Cruz was still remarkably level headed after the loss and vowed to return with vengeance on his mind. One of the best pound for pound fighters for the better part of the decade, Cruz took the loss like a true Champion and did not shy away from excuses.
I look forward to Cruz's return in the future as he has proved, time and time again, to be his most dangerous self in the light of a return. Overcoming adversity is now second nature to Cruz.
Something Ronda Rousey needs to desperately begin to implement in her own life.
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