Make your pick for the biggest upset of 2018 in Bloody Elbow’s Year-End Awards.
It’s back!
Over the next few days, Bloody Elbow is going to ask for your opinion on some of the best things that have happened in the MMA world over the course of 2018. There will be a total of eight different categories you’ll be asked to vote on. For the sake of simplicity we’re going to stick with high-level and relevant MMA stuff in these posts. While I’m sure there was a ludicrous knockout in an unscheduled MMA event at The Lumberyard strip club in Des Moines, or an insane pancreas lock submission on an obscure ZST! card in Japan, let’s just stick to stuff a lot of us have seen, okay? (If that spiel looked familiar, it’s because I’ve used the same one for eight years in a row. Originality? What originality?)
It’s pretty simple. I’ll post 5-10 options in a category, you vote for what you think was the best. If you think I left something really important off my list, post it in the comments and we can add it to the poll if it’s deemed worthy. I can almost guarantee you won’t like all my suggestions, but narrowing down these lists is tough.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get onto the third poll – the biggest upset of 2018. As usual in MMA, you can never tell who is going to win even if you think you have a good idea. Here are some of the most unlikely outcomes of the year.
Before that though, if you haven’t yet, go back and vote on the first two categories – Best Submission and Biggest Robbery.
Nina Ansaroff beats Claudia Gadelha, UFC 231
Ansaroff had won three in a row coming into this, but former title challenger Gadelha was a huge step up in competition. Ansaroff overcame the +280 odds to win a decision though.
Paul Craig finishes Magomed Ankalaev with one second left, UFC London
This was the biggest upset odds-wise of 2018 (Craig was around +550), and came in the most unlikely of circumstances. With virtually no time left on the clock, Craig scored a hail mary submission in a fight he was about to lose.
Henry Cejudo unseats Demetrious Johnson, UFC 227
Cejudo was a big underdog going into his rematch with Mighty Mouse, but fought a much better fight than the first time around. He ended up winning a split decision and dethroned quite possibly the best UFC champion in history.
Jared Cannonier stops David Branch, UFC 230
Cannonier dropped to middleweight and was supposed to fight a non-ranked opponent on a different event. On two weeks of notice, he stepped up to fight the ranked Branch, and stopped him in the second round as a +300 underdog.
Amanda Nunes smashes Cris Cyborg, UFC 232
It seemed like no one was giving Nunes much of a chance going up in weight against the mighty Cyborg. In less than a minute, Nunes dusted the featherweight titleholder and became a double champ.
Alexander Hernandez stops Beneil Dariush, UFC 222
The unheralded Hernandez entered the his UFC debut on short notice at about +350. He knocked out Dariush in 42 seconds and quickly made a name for himself in the stacked lightweight division.