In the waning months of a relatively disappointing fight year, it’s tough not to gaze prematurely at the horizon and dwell on the greener pastures promised for 2015.
Before getting to the meat and potatoes of what makes 2015 so great, we won’t be so naive as to completely dismiss 2014 as a failed year.
Fans were rewarded with one of the biggest upsets in UFC history when T.J. Dillashaw defeated Renan Barao for the bantamweight title. Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler exchanged haymakers in one of the most exciting welterweight title bouts in recent memory.
“The Notorious” Conor McGregor rose to superstardom after headlining arguably the craziest UFC event ever, which took place in Dublin, Ireland. Former Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker saved Bellator Fighting Championships from the shaky hands of Bjorn Rebney.
For MMA in 2014, there was certainly plenty to be proud of considering the sport was without its two biggest stars, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva. But overall, a good word to sum up the entire year would be “meh.”
The absence of St-Pierre and Silva, along with a multitude of key injuries, really hurt the UFC’s ability to put on marquee fights. Heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez and lightweight champ Anthony Pettis have yet to compete this year due to injuries.
UFC 176, a pay-per-view card scheduled for August 2, was completely canceled after an injury forced Jose Aldo to withdraw from his main event title bout with Chad Mendes. UFC 177 nearly suffered the same fate when top contender Barao was pulled from the main event on the day of the weigh-ins after he fainted in an attempt to cut weight.
Perhaps the most disappointing injuries occurred in the light heavyweight division. If the UFC depended on one blockbuster fight all year long, it was the highly anticipated rematch between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, which was scheduled for September 27 at UFC 178.
Fate once again dealt the UFC a bad hand as Gustafsson tore his meniscus in training and was forced to pull out of the fight. Thankfully, undefeated Olympian Daniel Cormier agreed to step in against Jones as a late replacement. The historic beef between the two fighters and a shocking brawl at a UFC 178 media event quickly turned a good fight into the must-see bout of 2014.
But lightning struck once again, as Jones was forced to pull out of the fight due to a torn meniscus.
It is often said that there can be no good luck without bad luck. If this is the case, there is no reason to think that the arrow isn’t pointing up for MMA in the new year. Here are five reasons why MMA in 2015 guarantees to make up for a lackluster 2014.