Pound for Pound: The Best of 2008

As a new year dawns with the UFC still reigning as undisputed champion, we take a look back. Here’s a look at who (else) scored big during 2008.

Nobody had a better ’08 than Torres. The WEC bantamweight champ became a breakout star and cemented himself as the king of the emergent 135-pound division with three stoppage victories. Most recently, he dispatched highly-regarded challenger Manny Tapia via second-round TKO in the main event of WEC 37 on Dec. 3. On the way, Torres cracked into most major pound-for-pound rankings with his lethal mix of deft jiu jitsu and solid stand-up. He also seems like a genuinely nice guy.

With the WEC’s heavier weight classes being absorbed into the UFC in early 2009, the next calendar year should provide even more opportunities for the lighter fighters to shine in the big blue cage. Here’s hoping the powers that be at Zuffa elect to keep its smaller, more likable organization on cable TV and don’t shift it to PPV, as they’ve hinted might be a possibility.

Honorable mentions: Torres wins it by a nose over Eddie Alvarez. The globetrotting 155-pounder piled up four wins this year, making an excellent showing in the DREAM lightweight grand prix before being forced out with an injury. He was also booked to face Nick Diaz for the EliteXC 160-pound belt before the company suddenly collapsed in October. Look for that fight to take place sometime in 2009 in a different organization. The UFC’s Thiago Alves also had a great 2008, but missing weight for his fight with former welterweight champ Matt Hughes put a damper on things. If he can put those problems behind him for good he’s one to watch during the next 12 months.

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Call it a banner year for the WEC, as the UFC’s kid brother sweeps what are arguably the top two awards. Most observers thought Faber would run through Pulver when the two met in early June, but the older fighter proved more than game. Though Faber won a clear-cut decision victory, Pulver proved he still had some tread on the tires by hanging with the top-ranked featherweight in the world for five action-packed rounds.

Both guys suffered set-backs later in the year when Faber unexpectedly lost his title to Mike Brown and Pulver got KOed by Leonard Garcia on the same card in November. They are now booked for a 2009 rematch, but it seems unlikely to live up to their summertime war.

Honorable mentions: The UFC put on some great title fights this year. Georges St. Pierre’s dominating, yet hard-fought decision win over Jon Fitch at UFC 87 in August sticks out. So does, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson dropping the title to Forrest Griffin the month prior at UFC 86. Alvarez’s scrap with Joachim Hansen during the DREAM lightweight GP deserves a nod as well.

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Story/Disaster of the year: EliteXC goes under.

Though it surprised absolutely no one, it did seem sudden when word broke across Internet in late October that the upstart EliteXC promotion was out of money and would cease operations within a week. Already in the hole some $50 million, the death knell for the company came when replacement fighter Seth Petruzelli knocked out poster boy Kimbo Slice live on CBS earlier in the month. Rumors of fight-fixing followed and an investigation by the state athletic commission was announced, but the organization folded before it can to anything.

Fallout is on-going, as whispers of a possible rebirth on CBS still linger and many fighters previously contracted to the company remain in legal limbo.

Honorable mentions: UFC proved its dominance in winning the legal battle during Randy Couture’s contract hold-out. The IFL officially called it quits, as well.

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Scary. That’s the best way to describe Lesnar’s utter destruction of Herring at UFC 87. The former WWE wrestler silenced the doubters and proved he’s an MMA force by flooring the “Texas Crazy Horse” with a lightning-fast right hand seconds into their fight and then beating him to a pulp on the ground over the next three rounds. Lesnar captured the UFC heavyweight title in his next fight and is poised for a showdown with Frank Mir in early 2009, after Mir’s upset victory over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92.

Honorable mentions: B.J. Penn beat Joe Stevenson bloody at UFC 80,  while Anderson Silva made short work of James Irvin at UFC Fight Night 14.

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What would the UFC do without the likable Florian? The up-and-coming lightweight won three fights over respectable competition in the cage this year and became a solid ambassador for the sport in scoring an on-camera role on ESPN.com’s new “MMA Live” program. Florian didn’t even lose his smile when B.J. Penn announced he was putting the 155-pound title on the shelf in favor of a personal vision quest for a welterweight title shot against Georges St. Pierre in January.

Honorable mention: St. Pierre. The French-Canadian welterweight champ “looks the part” of the next generation of MMA superstars. His January showdown with Penn is the first step to establishing himself as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world during ’09.

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Say what you want to about women’s MMA, but Carano was arguably the sport’s biggest new personality in 2008. After defeating a gauntlet of lesser opponents in EliteXC, she’s now threatening to make Dana White go back on his word that “girls” would never fight in the Octagon. Somehow, it feels right that Carano is still standing while EliteXC slimes like Kimbo and Jared Shaw are sulking in some dark corner.

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Look, Lesnar can’t win all the awards, OK? We give the nod here to Lawal, who notched a pair of high-profile wins in the second half of ’08, his first year of professional MMA competition. His debut for Japan’s World Victory Road organization was a shockingly easy KO win over veteran Travis Wiuff in September. He followed it up with a third-round TKO over Fabio Silva a little more than a month later. This Team Quest fighter could well be the leader of the next wave of great wrestlers to transition to MMA.

Honorable mentions: Lesnar, obviously, and Amir Sadollah. The Xtreme Couture fighter came out of nowhere to win the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Now he needs to prove he belongs in the UFC.

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Evans capped 2008 by winning the UFC light heavyweight championship from Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 but his meteoric rise first hit a high note in early September, when he shocked the world with a vicious KO of Liddell. Maybe it was a sign of Liddell’s skills diminishing with age. Perhaps it was Evans’ ever-improving stand-up game. Or maybe the two came together to create a perfect storm when Evans’ giant overhand right connected with Liddell’s totally unguarded jaw during the second round of their fight at UFC 88. Either way, watching “The Iceman” crumple lifelessly to the canvas was exhilarating as it was kind of sad. It remains to be seen if Evans can hold onto the title in ’09, or if the 205-pound division has lost its luster.

Honorable mentions: Rory Markham kicked Brodie Farber in the face at UFC Fight Night 14. Anthony Johnson did the same to Kevin Burns at the TUF 8 finale. Jackson dropped nemesis Wanderlei Silva with a punch at UFC 92.

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Add Hazelet’s name to the list of guys who ended the year on a roll. After dropping one to Josh Koscheck back in March he rebounded to defeat Burkman and Tamdan McCrory. Both opponents tapped to slick arm bars, but the one that caught Burkman was truly eye-opening. Late in the second round of their clash at the TUF 7 Finale, the fighter called “McLovin” stuffed a Burkman takedown attempt with a whizzer and then immediately slithered over the top to hook up one of the better arm bars you’re ever going to see.

Honorable mentions: Rousimar Palhares’ arm bar on Ivan Salaverry at UFC 84. C.B. Dollaway’s unorthodox Peruvian necktie on Jesse Taylor at Fight Night 14.

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There are a lot of great camps, but Greg Jackson and his Arizona-based crew were truly gunning for the No. 1 spot in ’08. The team currently owns two of the UFC’s five belts with Evans and St. Pierre holding the gold. With a bevy of other stars marching under Jackson’s flag this year, it was hard to ignore their impact. Plus, how could you not like a camp that originated a prefight ritual like the “lucky nipple tweak?”

 
Honorable mentions: Xtreme Couture, obviously. The San Jose-based American Kickboxing Academy also continued to be influential, while Arizona Combat Sports’ Dollaway and Ryan Bader both fared well on “The Ultimate Fighter.”