UFC Best of 2010 review (DVD) ★★★★

This fight went straight to the ground and looked like it was going to be over within a short minute, as Sherk left his neck exposed and was locked in the tightest of Guillotine chokes, yet he managed to escape. Sherk left himself open on numerous occasions throughout this one and paid the price with his opponent pressing the advantage, but his submission defence is just so incredibly good, that he was somehow able to writhe out of each and every hold, just when it appeared as though he was about to give it up or pass out from the pressure. This was a tense, gruelling battle, the kind that has you chomping at the bit for a decisive victory by knockout or submission, but sadly the battered and bloodied (Dunham especially) warriors went the distance, and even in defeat, Dunham's respect for Sherk just oozed out of him. This is a prime example of what MMA is all about.

UFC 110 – Lightweight Bout: Joe Stevenson vs. George Sotiropoulos
Definitely deserving of its Fight of the Night award, Stevenson and the Aussie Sotiropoulos had the bout with perhaps the loudest reaction of the whole show from the crowd, which was completely amplified when the unanimous decision victory went to their fellow countryman after both men went the distance in a very even, well-balanced contest, going from technical exchanges on the ground, to trading hard fists and round kicks on a vertical base.

UFC 123 – Welterweight Bout: Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn
What a fantastic finish to a long-running rivalry. This was the highly-anticipated rubber match and it did not disappoint. Six years in the making, Penn drove the nail in the coffin of the feud with a scintillating right hand to send the Hall of Famer down hard, before pummelling him until referee Dan Miragliotta stopped it just 21 seconds in. Both fighters had everything to lose in this contest with Hughes riding high atop a wave of momentum and Penn in desperate need of a comeback victory. What a knockout, and the first that Hughes had ever fallen victim to.

UFC 115 – Welterweight Bout: Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald
Rory MacDonald, the youngest fighter in the UFC at the time at just 20 years old, proved himself as a force to be reckoned with when he made his Octagon debut by making Mike Guymon tap out in the first round. Several months later at UFC 115, British Columbia's own MacDonald would step inside the caged walls once again to combat the USA's Carlos Condit, and what a way to kick off the event. With his 10-win undefeated streak on the line, the Canadian would unfortunately come up short to a TKO defeat in the third round in what was a truly valiant effort. If the referee hadn't had stopped the fight in the last few seconds, the judges would have awarded it to MacDonald. He's a tenacious fighter and electric on his feet. He scored three beautiful takedowns in the first round alone and put up some excellent defence against the American in the opening ten minutes, only for his strategy to fade away in the third after being tagged just above his right eye, which instantly began to swell in a big way. This fight set the bar for the rest of the show and put the last few main card openers to shame.

UFC 116 – Middleweight Bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben
What a war. Did these two ever go at it. There is zero shame in Akiyama's loss to “The Crippler” as it was a fiercely valiant effort from both fighters. Going the distance, the fight produced three incredibly physical rounds that went all around the Octagon and ventured into so many different styles of combat. Beginning with a bomb-throwing battle, Akiyama and Leben tore the house down right from the get-go. In the second round, a total slugfest ensued that saw both men standing on jelly legs. I think Joe Rogan said it best when he annotated the state of the two caged warriors by calling them both zombies. It really looked like the only way either man was going to hit the canvas was if their heads were taken clean off their shoulders. A highly deserving recipient of the Fight of the Night award and an epic victory for Leben in the co-main event, who scored his second Octagon victory in only two weeks. What a gladiator.

UFC 117 – Undisputed Middleweight Championship: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
I'm still reeling from the main event of UFC 112: Invincible when Silva successfully defended his title against fellow Brazilian Demian Maia in without a doubt the biggest show of disrespect I've ever seen in MMA. In that fight, just like Silva obviously had none for his opponent, I lost all respect for the man and I don't see that changing any time soon, not when any post-fight niceties of his are probably his way of clawing back into the good books of the UFC fans after Dana White vowed to kick him out of the company if he ever acted like that again during a bout. Despite the fact that I found his actions despicable and most definitely worthy of his contract being cut, he is still very much a tremendous athlete and one of the best in the sport today.

That being said, he was utterly taken to school by Sonnen in the main event of UFC 117 and retained his gold by a whisker. Having been pummeled into near oblivion for four rounds, a very lucky Triangle choke in the last two minutes of the concluding five secured his victory. It was certainly the most offence he's ever taken in his career and, as the judges later said, they were each going to award the fight to the challenger in the event that the time limit expired. Of course, Sonnen was later banned from competing for six months after it was discovered that he had been taking prohibited drugs to elevate his testosterone, and all because of a medical condition that he had kept quiet. A silly move and one that would probably have nullified his victory had the fight gone the distance. Still, I don't see how battling with regular testosterone levels could have been different as the champion was quite frankly out-classed in this one. The superior wrestling technique of Sonnen absolutely blew Silva out of the water.

UFC 113 – Light Heavyweight Championship: Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua
A rematch from their title war at UFC 104 back in October 2009 where Lyoto was awarded the victory by the judges in controversial fashion, Rua vs. Machida 2 was the main event of UFC 113 and an eagerly awaited second battle. Both Brazilian warriors entered the Octagon with a definitive victory in their sights, but only Shogun Rua came out on top top. Many believed him to be the uncrowned champ after the original outing inside the cage, but at this event he sure as hell made a statement, knocking Machida out in the first round and taking home the ultimate prize of his weight division, sending the fans home happy and putting a sweet end to UFC 113, a welcome change from the prior pay-per-view event in Abu Dhabi.

UFC 114 – Light Heavyweight Bout: Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans
Grudge match or not, I think most UFC fans are blind as to how much of the sport is actually genuine outside of the Octagon. The feud that was built for months and months for this fight was unbelievably theatrical and you could tell that the guys behind the scenes had the sole intention of milking Rampage's run in Hollywood. I think many fans need to wake up to the fact that the vast majority of the trash talking in the video packages are scripted. Perhaps they don't have a good eye for bad acting. Anyhow, pre-fight shenanigans aside, the hotly-anticipated title main event of UFC 114 was a so-so encounter for the bragging rights that saw Sugar Rashad blast through a 30-pounds-leaner Rampage with his speed advantage. Perhaps ring rust was a factor in Jackson's underwhelming performance, but I never could have anticipated just how fast Evan was on his feet in comparison. There was none of the explosive, exciting Rampage that we've all come to know and so this grudge match felt disappointing.

UFC: Vera vs. Jones – Light Heavyweight Bout: Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones

UFC: Jones vs. Matyushenko – Light Heavyweight Bout: Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko

UFC 110 – Heavyweight Bout: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez
This main event proved to be disappointing. There's nothing much to say about UFC 110's final fight except that it was almost over before it began. Nogueira was beaten to the punch every time and Velasquez just continually worked his offence first, dominating the quick contest and ending it only halfway through the first round.

UFC 116 – Undisputed Heavyweight Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin
The biggest fight in UFC history was finally upon us at UFC 116. A year in the making ever since Brock Lesnar had to bow out from the sport due to his gastric illness, which paved the road to Shane Carwin capturing the gold as Interim Heavyweight Champion, the fight was very much a clash of the titans. With the Undisputed Title on the line, these two collided with vicious intensity. Carwin took it to Lesnar at the start of the first round and looked to end it with a series of punches, but he was soon exhausted, exposing himself to the predator known as Brock Lesnar as the second round kicked off. It was already the longest fight of Carwin's career, but the end was signaled when he was locked in a tightly-applied arm Triangle choke and forced to tap out for his very first career loss. It really could have gone either way. How many critics did Lesnar prove on the night? Too many to count, I'm sure.

UFC 108 – Lightweight Bout: Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon
UFC 114 – Lightweight Bout: Melvin Guillard vs. Waylon Lowe
UFC 120 – Welterweight Bout: Dan Hardy vs. Carlos Condit
UFC 122 – Lightweight Bout: Dennis Siver vs. Andre Winner
UFC 123 – Lightweight Bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Lauzon
UFC 124 – Lightweight Bout: Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira

In addition, the second disc contains a further four bouts from a variety of weight classes: