After last year’s injury-ridden and unpredictable schedule, the UFC needed to bounce back in a big way in 2013. And boy did they ever.
With more events than the organization had ever put on before, this year’s campaign was non-stop action from every corner of the roster. Divisional title races heated up in nearly every weight class and a handful of the UFC’s biggest stars put on some of the most exciting—and in one instance shocking—performances of their careers.
The story lines were heavy as 2013 hit full swing. Previously dominant champions like Jon Jones and Georges St-Pierre were taken to the wire by title-hungry challengers only to snatch victory by a razor-thin margin. The 26-year-old light heavyweight phenom gritted out a win over Swedish striker Alexander Gustafasson at UFC 165 in September, while “GSP” took a controversial split-decision victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 last month in Las Vegas.
Young Brazilian phenom and featherweight king Jose Aldo engaged in the first true “super fight” to materialize under the UFC banner in over five years as he turned back former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar as UFC 156 in February. While “The Answer” used to rule over the 155 pound division, things carried on without him, as the lightweight collective boasted some of the year’s best battles.
A former and current champion collided at UFC on Fox 7 back in April when UFC strap holder Benson Henderson threw down with long-reigning Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez in San Jose. “Smooth” out pointed the “Skrap Pack” leader by a narrow margin to exit with the gold, but the performance was certainly strong enough to mark “El Nino’s” arrival to an ultra-competitive lightweight upper-tier.
Where those fights dominated headlines in both the build up and the aftermath, there was no one bout more polarizing than the showdown between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman at UFC 162. The fight took place during the UFC’s annual 4th of July weekend card and was billed as the “greatest fighter of all-time” versus the undefeated upstart. While “The Spider” was the betting favorite going in, Weidman had a solid backing from the fight community as a large wave of fighters from all across the MMA landscape deemed him to be the one to dethrone Silva.
When the cage door closed at the MGM Grand that Saturday night, the fighting world was turned on its ear as the Ray Longo-trained fighter knocked out the pound-for-pound great in the second round. In the immediate aftermath it appeared to be a changing of the guard as Silva’s future seemed uncertain, but a handful of days later, the ink was dry on the contracts and the rematch was set for UFC 168.
The bout is easily the most anticipated fight of what has been an insane year of action inside the Octagon. The good folks at The Ultimate Show put this clip together for your enjoyment and definitely let us know which fight you believe deserves “Fight of the Year” honors.
That said, with so much action on the docket this year, not every fight could be included in the montage, and this is your opportunity to let us know if there was one scrap you feel surpassed all others. Was it Diego Sanchez vs. Gilbert Melendez at UFC 166 or Dennis Bermudez vs. Matt Grice at UFC 157 in February.
Let us know and here is to some great face-punching and triangle chokes in 2014.
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