The Top 20 Most Memorable Moments of the Year
When you consider all that has happened in the span of 365 days, 2011 just might go down as the most eventful year in MMA history
MMA Beat
By Ariel Helwani
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 10:19 p.m. ET Dec. 27, 2011
When you consider all that has happened in the span of 365 days, 2011 just might go down as the most eventful year in MMA history.
So with that in mind, here's a look at the 20 most memorable moments of the year.
20. Ronda Rousey arrives -- Rousey made her pro debut in March. Since then she's 4-0. She's spent a combined 138 seconds as a pro in the cage this year, which means her fights finish in an average of 34.5 seconds. We may just be calling her the "face of women's MMA" this time next year.
19. Frankie Edgar's comebacks -- MMA's version of "Rocky" produced two of the best comebacks of the year (UFC 125 & 136 against Gray Maynard) and ends the year just as he started it: the reigning and defending lightweight champion.
18. New York -- MMA seemed oh-so-close to getting sanctioned in New York earlier this year, but alas, the bill never made it to the Assembly floor for a vote. Again. Then in November, Zuffa announced they were filing a lawsuit against the state "challenging the constitutionality of the state law banning live professional MMA events and associated activities." It remains to be seen whether this new strategy will help finally legalize the sport in the Empire State.
17. Tito Ortiz keeps his career alive -- "The Huntington Bea ..," er "People's Champion" shocked the MMA world when he submitted Ryan Bader in the first round at UFC 132 in July. The win, Ortiz's first since 2006, kept his career alive. Since then, though, Ortiz has gone 0-2 inside the Octagon.
16. Randy Couture retires -- "The Natural" told everyone that his fight against Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 would be his last. Few believed him at this time, but it appears as though the then-47-year-old Couture was serious after all.
15. The Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix -- Remember around this time last year when Strikeforce announced its eight-man heavyweight grand prix? Remember how cautiously optimistic we all were about it? Well, as you know by now, that thing didn't really go according to plan. Still, it did produce an interesting finals matchup between rising star Daniel Cormier and veteran Josh Barnett, which is scheduled to happen in the first quarter of 2012.
14. Anderson Silva becomes a megastar in Brazil -- It all started with his win over local hero Vitor Belfort in February and then continued with his superstar performance at UFC Rio. In between, Silva signed huge endorsement deals with the likes of Burger King and Nike, and he was recently named GQ Brazil's Sportsman of the Year.
13. Chael Sonnen -- He may have only fought once this year, but "Chael P. Sonnen" certainly kept his name in the news as much as anyone. Of course, no one talked about Sonnen more than Sonnen himself.
12. Twitter -- Dana White loves Twitter -- this much we know is true -- and there's no doubt some good came out of the social media tool this year (ie. the Twitter bonuses). However, a lot of bad came out of it too, highlighted by Miguel Torres losing his job after tweeting about rape earlier this month.
11. The Alistair Overeem saga -- We had to wait until June to see him fight for Strikeforce again, he failed to impress in his win over Fabricio Werdum, and then he was soon cut from the organization in a bizarre turn of events only to be hired by the UFC shortly thereafter. The Lesnar fight, the move to Vegas, the move back to Holland, the NSAC issues ... it's certainly been a roller-coaster year for "The Reem."
10. Nick Diaz -- Need I say more? No one -- not even Sonnen -- captured the attention of the MMA community quite like Diaz this year. The best part? He wasn't even trying.
9. Nate Marquardt's release from the UFC -- I'll never forget June 25, 2011. That's the date we found that not only was Marquardt not going to fight Rick Story at UFC on Versus 4 due to elevated levels of testosterone, but that he was also fired from the UFC, effective immediately. That was definitely the most bizarre weekend of the year.
8. UFC's return to Brazil -- I said it once (or twice) and I'll say it again: UFC 134 was the greatest sporting event I've ever attended. The atmosphere, the chants, the emotion, the outcomes … it will be hard to top that experience.
7. UFC 129 -- The show that produced the biggest crowd and gate in North American MMA history. This one gets the nod over UFC 134 because it was historic. Plus, I thought the UFC did a great job of making Rogers Centre feel as intimate as possible.
6. Showtimes decides to pick up Strikeforce option -- Obviously, this would be an afterthought had Zuffa never purchased Strikeforce. However, considering the fact that the organization was sold and then stripped of many of its integral parts, it's still somewhat surprising that Strikeforce will be around come 2012.
5. Viacom becomes majority owner of Bellator -- Viacom, the parent company of Spike TV, wasted no time in planning for life after the UFC when they announced in October that they had purchased a majority stake in Bellator. As a result, Bellator will move to Spike, the former home of the UFC, in 2013 and work towards being a legitimate threat to the UFC. In the meantime, they have become the de facto No. 2 MMA promotion in North America (if we want to consider UFC and Strikeforce one and the same).
4. The emergence of Jon Jones -- This time last year we were all talk about "the Jon Jones hype train" and whether the UFC was bringing "Bones" along too quickly. Fast forward a calendar year and Jones has cemented himself as the future of the sport after going 4-0 in 2011 and winning the light heavyweight title. No one has ever had a year in the UFC quite like the one Jones did in 2011.
3. Zuffa's health insurance -- This one may not be as sexy some of the others on our list, but ask any Zuffa fighter under contract and he/she will tell you it was the best gift they could possibly receive from their employer.
2. Zuffa purchases Strikeforce -- No piece of news dramatically changed the MMA landscape quite like this one. Nine months later, Viacom's purchase of Bellator has softened the blow for free agents outside of Zuffa, but when you consider the momentum Strikeforce had going into 2012, and how far off the radar this was as a possibility, it's still kind of shocking to think Zuffa owns what used to be it's biggest competitor in North America.
1. UFC signs 7-year deal with FOX -- It's the TV deal Dana White and the Fertitta brothers dreamt about since buying the UFC in 2001. In fact, it's the TV deal any combat sports promoter has been dreaming about since the 1980's. The UFC's debut on FOX peaked at 8.8 million viewers in November, which was a record for North American viewership. If that number grows by the time the deal expires, this sport will be in a much better place. This much we know is true: MMA has never received the kind of promotion and backing from a network like it's going to get from FOX. That can only be deemed a good thing.
Honorable mention: Steven Seagal’s impact on the sport -- Respect the Sensei.
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