When you get into these retrospectives, the inclination is always to start with “what an amazing year it was” and “this one will live in our memories forever,” and so on. Then you put it on a shelf and turn back to the present, which will in time become The Most Amazing Year Ever. It’s just the way it goes these days.
But I do actually think 2011 was a banner year for mixed martial arts. New frontiers were opened and settled. The sport changed in ways expected and unexpected. Good fighters became great. Great fighters became champions. Champions became stars. Stars faded, and said goodbye.
And there were some pretty good fights in there, too.
Now that we’ve had a few weeks to digest it all, submitted here for your consideration are the 50 biggest stories and lessons the sport and its principals taught the MMA public in 2011.