2011 wasn’t necessarily a down year for MMA, even though PPV buyrates may show it. In fact, it will be a year that will be looked upon possibly as the year UFC took that next step, or the year that showed that MMA is a sport that has already peaked. The UFC showed that they are going for broke, signing a seven year deal with FOX to showcase MMA to a brand new audience. And to show how big of a year it was for the UFC, buying Strikeforce was the second biggest news of the year.

Ryan Pike, writer for Tough Talk MMA, Stevie J from Angry Marks, Jason Hagholm co-host of FGB Radio, friend of the website JP, and Big D from Superfriends Universe join the rest of the FGB crew with their MMA picks.

Fighter Of The Year

Alan – Jon Jones

4 big wins, including a title win and two defenses. Nobody has ever had a year like that in MMA.

Duan – Junior Dos Santos

This has been a massive year for Dos Santos – two huge wins, his first UFC title, and a successful run on The Ultimate Fighter. He became a real heavyweight superstar this year. With the winner of Lesnar/Overeem lined up for his first defense; that’s another major fight already guaranteed for 2012.

Jason – Jon Jones

Jon Jones lived up to his potential and dominated 4 of the top 205ers in the UFC.

Big D – Jon Jones

No denying this whatsoever. Jonny Bones has racked up not 2, not 3, but FOUR big wins, including one World Title win against a legend in Shogun, and two successful title defenses against two former champions; finishing all four fights in violent, punishing fashion. Never before has there been a young guy pop up and absolutely massacre a division of talented veterans since maybe Mike Tyson. Who can stop this kid!?

Cactus Jim – Jon Jones

Four wins in 2011, finishing all four fights, winning the title in the process and successfully defending twice against high level competition. Jon Jones is the new Georges St. Pierre without all the boring that GSP brings to the cage. My prediction is he’s the most dominate 205’er since Tito could actually win a fight.

Stevie J – Jon Jones

If anybody had a better year than Jon Jones did in 2011 I’d be hard pressed to name it. Admittedly I have a little bias because when Yahoo! Sports interviewed me in 2010 at UFC 124 in Montreal, I predicted that he’d be a world champion the moment he got a title shot, but even I never thought it would come so quickly or that he’d become so dominant. What’s scary is that he’s as good as he is and that young, which means he can only get better, so I absolutely believe Paul Lazenby when he says Jones could be a champion for 8-9 years. He just might be that guy, and if you need any proof, watch all four of his fights in 2011 to see just how good he was.

JP – Jon Jones

Probably the easiest pick in a long time for Fighter of the Year right here. 2011 was an unprecedented twelve months for the young light heavyweight. Started off by blowing fellow blue chip prospect Ryan Bader out of the water, then took on Shogun with just a few weeks preparation and put on a masterpiece performance. Followed it up by deconstructing two legends in Rampage Jackson and Lyoto Machida. Each fight was a finish that revealed a shade of ruthlessness in the style of ‘Bones’ Jones. While he hasn’t become the fan favorite that I thought he would, he has become a must see event for any fight fan.

Ryan – Jon Jones

Jones went 4-0 against some pretty solid competition, including winning three title fights via stoppage.

GG – Jon Jones

Junior Dos Santos comes a close second here. But I’m not sure we’ll ever see a year from a main eventer like we saw from Jones. They just don’t fight as often as he did in 2011.

Show Of The Year

Alan – UFC 139

UFC 139, Shogun vs. Henderson had lots of great stuff on it.

Duan – UFC 139

The best value for money UFC card of 2011. Silva/Le and Rua/Henderson were two of the year’s most dramatic fights, and the undercard was filled with a nice mix of good action and great performances.

Jason – UFC 132

UFC 132 is the show that put Carlos Condit in the big picture, where Tito pulled the upset of the year and showcased a pivotal title fight at 135.

Big D – UFC 136

It was an amazing show capped off by three big fights, an amazing Chael Sonnen promo, and J-Lau taking out Melvin Guillard with ease.

Cactus Jim – UFC 139

Top to bottom this was a thoroughly entertaining show, with only one fight on the entire card that didn’t deliver at the level expected, and even that fight wasn’t bad. This card had fantastic upsets, and high drama in a FOTY candidate main event. Sometimes it all just comes together perfectly and I think that’s what happened at UFC 139.

Stevie J – UFC 129

Not because it was the best card but because of the size of the venue and the hype leading into it and what the large paid audience means for MMA.

JP – UFC 129

A landmark show for the biggest promotion on the planet, UFC 129 set all sorts of attendance and gate records. Headlined by Canadian superstar Georges St.Pierre, the main card also featured an excellent fight between Featherweight champ Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick and a Knockout of the Year contender when Lyoto Machida crane kicked Randy Couture into retirement. Over 55,000 fans filling the Rogers Centre was a sight to behold and showed the selling power of the modern UFC. In the same way many current fighters talk about seeing UFC 1, I expect down the road we will hear many next generation fighters talk about seeing or being at UFC 129.

Ryan – UFC 136

Four of the five main card bouts were really awesome, and the one that wasn’t awesome (Aldo/Florian) was pretty good. Add in the money promo by Chael Sonnen, and it’s a wash.

GG – UFC 139

The show was in my hometown and I decided to stay and home and watch it with my kids. While it would’ve been great to see live, I thought it was a tremendous show to watch at home because of the main event. Sometimes when you’re live at shows, you miss a lot of smaller things that you can see on TV. I could see Dan Henderson get tired and you knew there was a chance Shogun could get back into it for that reason. From bell to bell, I enjoyed the entire show.

Fight Of The Year

Alan – Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida

I watched this on my laptop in the following manner. Round 1 sitting in a bus station. Round 2 holding my laptop as I stood waiting to get on the bus. Round 3 on the bus cramped beside a dude and his bags. And I still fucking LOVED it. This fight was exciting, absorbing and filled with high level fighting.

Duan – Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar II

By the time I got around to watching this fight, I already knew the winner and had had each round described to me in detail multiple times. I still couldn’t take my eyes off it. Nothing else even came close to it.

Jason – Michael Chandler vs Eddie Alvarez

It was an absolute war where both Alvarez and Chandler were pushed to the brink and a new champion was crowned.

Big D – Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua

Not only was this the best fight of the year, but maybe the best fight of the past 5 years. I couldn’t believe my eyes at this and have almost never seen a fight go one way, then the other, then another. These guys deserve jobs for life without question. Rather than be stupid and book them in other fights, I want a rematch in 2012.

Cactus Jim – Michael Chandler vs Eddie Alvarez

We had some great fights this year and it was difficult to choose between this and other notables like Henderson/Rua, Maynard/Edgar II, and Guida/Henderson. At the end of the day I decided to give this one the nod in hopes that anyone that hasn’t seen it will go out and find it. It’s worth the effort.

Stevie J – Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar II

On a poorly promoted and little bought PPV that seemingly had no interest going in, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard went out to prove something not to the audience buying the show, but to each other inside that Octagon. What happened was unexpectedly brilliant and after a whole year of great MMA fights it still stands out in my mind. Maynard opened their war with one of the biggest 5 minute ass-whippings I’ve ever seen, and nearly had Edgar finished several times, only for Edgar to rebound in the middle portion of the fight and outpoint his opponent, leaving us all hanging on the edges of our seats in the fifth round wondering whether Maynard had indeed gotten a 10-8 in the first and would either win or force a draw, or if Edgar could hang onto his title after being so perilously close to losing it to Maynard’s vastly improved striking. The third fight will be remembered for Edgar proving why he deserves to be champ, but the second fight will stand out to me as fight of the year for being the one that even if only 300K saw they will never ever forget.

JP – Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar II

The popular pick here is going to be Shogun vs. Henderson but while that fight was entertaining it lacked significance to me. It wasn’t a title fight and had it occurred only a few months before when non-title main events were still three rounders, it would have resulted in a clear cut decision win for Henderson and would have been unremarkable. The second matchup between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar however was a title match that was the first of two classics. No one has ever taken a beating like Edgar did in the first and managed to go four more rounds. And the fact that it ended in a draw only ensured yet another rematch that proved just as entertaining. Infinitely re-watchable and every time I do, I’m still surprised Frankie gets out of the first.

Ryan – Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua

Five rounds of insane back and forth action, made even more dramatic by how utterly physical destroyed both guys got during the bout. Clay Guida/Ben Henderson was good, but those guys could’ve gone another three rounds after their fight. Henderson and Shogun went to the hospital.

GG – Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar II

This may have been the best fight I’ve ever seen. Both guys were in terrific shape. They had to be because of the pace they fought at and to take the kind of punishment each took and come back to keep going. Inspirational performances to say the least and it wasn’t hurt one bit by it being a draw.

Big Things In ’12

Alan – Ben Henderson

Gonna repeat my pick from last year, Ben Henderson. I think he beats Edgar and then has two more defenses.

Duan – Nick Diaz

With St. Pierre out of the picture, the opportunity is there for Diaz to become one of the major names in UFC. He will take the interim title, defend it, and then when Georges recovers, we will have a proper super fight on our hands.

Jason – UFC vs. Spike

Will be interesting to see how the battle is going to be with networks and fans. With so much MMA on TV in 2012, what is the reaction going to be?

Big D – Jon Jones

As he proved in 2011, who can even stop this guy? Probably no one.

Cactus Jim – Rory MacDonald

I think 2012 sees MacDonald put together a couple good wins and make a move up the rankings, possibly earning a title shot toward the end of the year. Whether or not he’ll be capable of winning it at that time is a big question given the strength of the division, but I’m expecting big things from him this year. I say after another fight or two, put him in there with Jon Fitch and see how he fares.

Stevie J – UFC on Fox

UFC signing with Fox is clearly the #1 big thing to look forward to in 2012, as well as being the #1 story of 2011 (closely followed by the Strikeforce purchase).

JP – The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil

Nothing excites me more than the concept of running several simultaneous The Ultimate Fighter’s and having the winners square off to declare a global tournament winner. The first edition of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil will be the first step towards seeing that concept realized. A staple of the UFC for years now, TUF has been lagging in excitement and interest for the last several years. Zuffa decided to shake it up by switching the show to a live fight format and announcing plans to hold TUF’s in England, Canada, Australia, the Philippines and Brazil. As the second biggest feeder of UFC talent, its natural that Brazil becomes the first foreign edition of the show. While the reality angle of the show doesn’t interest me at all, the fights should be intense. Hopefully Dana and co. set the precedent and have the first Brazilian winner and the next American winner square off, as both shows will feature lightweight fighters. I look forward to the day when we get a global winner once a year, and an instant superstar. TUF Brazil is the first step towards something big.

Ryan – Rory MacDonald

Gotta represent Canada here and young Rory has been lights-out since joining the UFC, save for a bad third round against Carlos Condit. If he can stay healthy, there’s no ceiling to how good Rory can be.

GG – Nate Diaz

He has enough charisma to really be the face of the 155 pound division if he can put on a little bit of strength to keep some of those great wrestlers from pushing him around. His boxing has become some of the best of the division. He deserves a title shot and soon.

Moment Of The Year

Alan – Junior beating Cain. It was Just a big shocking moment that meant a lot.

Duan – UFC knew the risk of booking just one fight for the Fox debut and they did it anyway. For better or worse, the one minute destruction remains etched in everyone’s mind.

Jason – UFC running in Ontario/UFC gets on FOX. UFC ran their first stadium show in a province that for a long period of time didn’t want MMA and UFC proved it was a success. The sport also went mainstream getting on FOX and proving its popularity.

Big D – Frank Mir breaks Noguiera’s arm.

Cactus Jim – Dude, there were some great moments this year, but the one that immediately came to mind was a nearly unconscious Cheick Kongo landing a smashing blow to Pat Barry and planting him firmly on the canvas. That will be a highlight reel clip for years to come.

Stevie J – Fedor being dominated by Dan Henderson.

JP – What has to be the defining moment of the year, the early August announcement that the UFC and FOX network had reached a television deal ushered in a new era in the promotion’s history. The UFC essentially started a new chapter of its existence. To this point it went 1) Pre-Zuffa Era, 2) Zuffa Era, 3) TUF Era, and now we enter 4) FOX era. President Dana White showed his commitment to the deal by starting the partnership off with a heavyweight title fight that reached a record audience. If cultivated properly, this seven year deal should bring to the sport new audiences, higher pay for fighters and better athletes to participate.

Ryan – Joe Rogan offering Jon Jones a Light Heavyweight Title shot after he beat Ryan Bader at UFC 126.

GG – Brock Lesnar’s retirement. People are going to miss Brock Lesnar. He’s the greatest PPV draw in the history of the sport. He beat guys he wasn’t supposed to beat based on his skill level. And he main evented the UFC’s biggest show of all time.

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