When reflecting upon the first half of the 2010 MMA season, one of the unique things about MMA Ratings is that we get a chance to see what criteria voters often use when giving star rankings to top fights. For instance, some voters think of fight quality by itself. Others use importance of fight in terms of overall rankings in a division. Then there’s the crowd that rates fights higher based on a certain style of fighting they like (grappling, wrestling, etc.)
Reviewing MMA Ratings’ list recently of fights ranked from the first half of 2010 that had a star rating of 4 or higher, you’ll be fascinated by this selection of fights. (Each fight takes you to a link to where you can view the star ratings.)
| Rating | Fight | Date |
| 4.40 | Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin (UFC 116) | 7/3/2010 |
| 4.40 | Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy (UFC 111) | 3/27/2010 |
| 4.25 | Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber (WEC 48) | 4/24/2010 |
| 4.25 | Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen (Dream 13) | 3/22/2010 |
| 4.13 | George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson (UFC 110) | 2/20/2010 |
| 4.00 | Urijah Faber vs. Raphael Assuncao (WEC 46) | 1/10/2010 |
| 4.00 | Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek (UFC 111) | 3/27/2010 |
| 4.00 | Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver (UFC Fight Night 21) | 3/31/2010 |
| 4.00 | Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung (WEC 48) | 4/24/2010 |
| 4.00 | Scott Jorgensen vs. Antonio Banuelos (WEC 48) | 4/24/2010 |
| 4.00 | Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin (WEC 49) | 6/20/2010 |
If you look at the way these rankings break down, it’s very clearly that there are two kinds of voters. Those who vote based on how much importance there is going into the fight and those who just vote for fun fights and put zero importance on, well, importance.
If you asked me to pick the Top 5 fights on this list and give you my rankings of importance, I’d pick the following five (top is best, 5th is 5th place):
1. Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin (WEC 49)
While it may have not been an important fight in terms of rankings, it certainly was an important fight for Mark Hominick’s career to continue under the Zuffa banner. He fought an absolute war for nearly two rounds against a guy who threw everything but the kitchen sink at him. It was one of those fast-paced fights where both men showed incredible guts and heart and kept coming back unless Hominick finished him off. Combined with the hot Edmonton crowd and the smaller WEC cage and you ended up with a fight that is going to be very hard to top off in 2010.
The reason this fight probably didn’t get higher marks is because of it’s lack of importance in the grand scheme of things. 4.5 stars.
2. Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber (WEC 48)
For the sheer brutality of what we saw and just how amazing this was by Jose Aldo, there’s no way this isn’t 4.25 stars. You will never see a beating like the one Urijah Faber took and see a man survive five punishing rounds of this. It’s impacted him so much that his fight in August got postponed due to knee surgery. It’s the kind of fight that will forever impact Faber and it was the fight that cemented Aldo in the Top 3 as far as pound-for-pound discussion is concerned.
3. Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin (UFC 116)
This is the highest of the “sloppy fights” in terms of my rankings. I’ll say 4 stars here. It was dramatic because of its importance and the crowd reaction. It was dramatic because we saw what kind of beating Brock Lesnar can take and then rise right back up after a full five minute onslaught and fight like nothing had happened to him. Every Brock fight is a TV/PPV highlight and it was the fight that turned UFC crowds around on him from being the role of ‘the outsider’ to being ‘the champion.’
4. Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung (WEC 48)
This is the most memorable fight outside of the UFC 116 main event. The reason I ranked it fourth (4 stars) is because it was a horrible fight in terms of technique. It was two guys in a bar-room brawl (same criticism as you might have heard about Lesnar’s fight), but it also fit the template that we’ve seen from both men in the past. Do not get me wrong — it was an important fight and one of life’s guilty pleasures. It sold a lot of interest for a WEC PPV in Sacramento that needed all the help it could get. At the end of the day, it was a fight that cemented both men’s careers and it also gave them some job security.
For pure emotion, it was the best bout for 1H of 2010.
5. George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson (UFC 110)
For importance, this fight showed that George was becoming a legitimate contender in the Lightweight division. Stevenson had just come back and was looking to regain his footing in the UFC. He trained with Greg Jackson in New Mexico and he was very confident about his future prospects, so much so that he called out Shin’ya Aoki for a fight. People had bought into the idea of seeing a ‘new’ Joe Stevenson. When the fight happened in Australia, George put on a performance in his home country that helped make UFC relevant in Australia. As for his fight performance, much in the same way that his performance against Kurt Pellegrino established him as a rising contender, George fought about as good of a fight as you could have expected.
It was a fight that had a little bit of everything – promotional importance, career importance, rankings importance.
When we go through these rankings, one of the more interesting aspects about the first half of 2010 is that we have seen a lot of good fights and it’s really hard to pick and choose which fights deserve the highest rankings. I guess it is a good thing someone is keeping track.
What are your Top 5 MMA fights for rankings in the first half of 2010?
