MMA fighter of the year

[Poacher]

It's Josh Barnett!

6 fights, 5 wins. Nakamura, Hunt, Nog, Nastula (roids)and Aleks E. His one loss coming at the hands of CC.

Anyone else have six fights against that level of competition? Nope. He is easily the fighter of the year.

It was interesting seeing him in Monson's corner at UFC 65. He must have been thinking "Man I could come back here and get a belt anytime I feel like it!"

 

[White_Savage]

As much as I like Hughes, it has to be GSP. One cannot overestimate what beating Hughes means.

 

[jcolec02]

its FEDOR u sillies!!!

 

[White Shogun]

Fedor was injured most of 2006. He didn't fight enough to win Fighter of the Year honors, IMO. I haven't put a lot of thought into or done any research, but Poacher makes a great case for Barnett. Six fights against that level of competition, winning five, is quite an accomplishment.

 

[dkr77]

I think a strong case could be made for Chuck Liddell. Not only was his competition tough Couture, Babalu, Tito etc. but he knocked ALL of them out. That's an impressive year.

 

[White Shogun]

I think a strong case could be made for Chuck Liddell. Not only was his competition tough Couture, Babalu, Tito etc. but he knocked ALL of them out. That's an impressive year.

I think the level of Barnett's competition is way better than Chuck's, having fought Nog, Hunt, etc.

 

[dkr77]

White Shogun, I'll agree with Nog, Aleks E. and Hunt being high on the food chain but I'm not so sure about Nakamura and Nastula. However, at 205 I would definitely say Couture, Tito and Babalu are top 10 material and Liddell took them out in dramatic fashion within three rounds or less. Anyway, That's my reasoning, and to be truthful I have gotten to the point where I prefer the UFC shows to Pride. Too many circus acts like Giant Silva / Sapp etc. Just one man's humble opinion

 

[White Shogun]

I'm beginning to prefer the UFC to Pride, too. Never thought I'd say that, but.. the UFC is marketing their fighters better, they're on TV more often... it's inevitable.

I'm not sold on Tito being top 10 though. Is Chuck just that good that he makes Tito and Babalu look like amateurs?

 

[Ground Fighter]

I think a strong case could be made for Chuck Liddell. Not only was his competition tough Couture, Babalu, Tito etc. but he knocked ALL of them out. That's an impressive year.

Agreed. But, in regards to Liddell's K.O. of Randy Couture, the man was 42 years old at the time, and about to walk away from the sport for good. Had that fight taken place five years ago, it would have been anybody's fight. And although he lost the last fight of his career to Chuck, Couture displayed nothing but total class on his way out. Its a shame he's gone from the sport, as he was the kind of guy you wanted to see win.

 

[White Shogun]

Couture displayed nothing but total class on his way out. Its a shame he's gone from the sport, as he was the kind of guy you wanted to see win.

Ground Fighter, I guess you haven't been keeping up with the latest news in MMA. Couture is fighting Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 68.

He already came out of retirement to participate in a grappling only match, where he fought BJJ specialist Jacare to a draw.

As a matter of fact, I'd say he is a long way from retirement - Couture has signed a four fight contract with the UFC. The Sylvia fight is his first fight of the four.

 

[Ground Fighter]

Couture displayed nothing but total class on his way out. Its a shame he's gone from the sport, as he was the kind of guy you wanted to see win.

Ground Fighter, I guess you haven't been keeping up with the latest news in MMA. Couture is fighting Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 68.

He already came out of retirement to participate in a grappling only match, where he fought BJJ specialist Jacare to a draw.

As a matter of fact, I'd say he is a long way from retirement - Couture has signed a four fight contract with the UFC. The Sylvia fight is his first fight of the four.

Really? Damn, how the hell did I miss that? You're right though, I haven't been paying as close attention to it as I used to. I miss out on a lot of info, because I refuse to order the fights on Pay-Per-View. I just wait to see fight-results/videos posted on the internet. Also, I have a full-time semi-corporate job now, so I can't stay up all night watching fight re-runs on Spike TV. I need sleep.

 

[dkr77]

"I'm not sold on Tito being top 10 though. Is Chuck just that good that he makes Tito and Babalu look like amateurs?"

White Shogun, I believe so. I'm not a Tito fan but he does have a win over Wandalai Silva (spelling?). I know it's been a few years ago and Silva has improved since then but so has Tito. Babalu used to fight at heavyweight and was considered pretty good even back then. He absolutely schooled the highly regarded mulatto wrestler Van Arsdale. I also forgot to mention Liddells knock out of my personal favorite, Jeremy Horn, who had never been stopped before in over 100 fights. Personally I prefer Couture's personality over Liddel's bad haircut but you have to give Chuck credit for not ducking anyone and decisively beating some tough competition. Each and every time out Chuck Liddell tries his level best to keep the judges out of the fight.

 

[White Shogun]

You don't have to talk me into liking Chuck Liddell, bad haircut aside. The guy likes to fight, is confident he can knockout anyone, and fights like it.

I also like the way everyone talks about Chuck's belly, like it's fat instead of rock-hard muscle. People don't often realize that if you work your abs religiously, your gut is going to stick out because of added muscle, not because it's fat.

I don't know if we mentioned it on the other thread, but did you notice that Chuck just looked pissed off when Tito hit him with a good right in the third, just before Chuck KO'd him? Tito hit him flush and it just made Chuck mad - hence the TKO five seconds later.

 

[jcolec02]

OK, all of you make good points...and FEDOR might not be the fighter of the year because of injury...but watch the first 10 seconds of this video and just look at the man's face

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bcRHv77yAlc

I mean...this guy get slammed on his neck and looked to have broken it...and then a few seconds later he pins the guy??? He has beaten Mark Coleman, Cro Cop, Mark Hunt, Nog, Gale Goodrich, (out struck the striker) Ogawa, I mean he has destroyed the competiion, and basically has an undefeated record. Yeah I know you all know this, but over the last 6 months I have become a huge fan of his, and he is now prolly my favorite athlete, (It was Brady Quinn

) anyways I'm rambling on now, and its early as hell so ill leave yall with those thoughts

 

[dkr77]

I agree that Fedor is an elite fighter. However, he was not impressive in his most recent outing against Hunt. I realize that Hunt is much larger and everyone has an off day but I imagine that bout may have cost him "fighter of the year" consideration. Fedor is probably the closest thing to unstoppable in MMA today though.