THE 2012 FIGHT OF THE YEAR

To coincide with the MMAFighting.com end of the year articles, I wanna make some end-of-the-year threads. First off, the 2012 fight of the year.

10. Excellent fight for the lightweight championship and it was the main event in the UFC's first Japan show in awhile. Significant meaning, the highest of stakes and a good blend of MMA action. My highlight for this fight was the Edgar guillotine in the 4th round I think and that vicious upkick that Benson, the most powerful one I've ever seen (by anyone not named Gegard Mousasi).

9. Fast-paced fight, this fight put Mike Easton on the map. After this fight, he became one of MMA's biggest prospects, instead of being known as Dominick Cruz's hype man. Jared Papazian's been given a bunch of chances in the UFC just because of this fight. The highlight of this fight was the first 30 seconds where they went Frye/Takayama on our asses, arguably the best slugging exchange of the year.

8. High stakes for Nate Diaz, who ended up earning number one contender status after putting one of the most vicious beatdowns of the year against the number one contender gatekeeper in Jim Miller (he only loses to number one contenders lol). The fight was alright in the first but the second was when **** went down. Front kicks, flying knees, middle fingers and then Nate Diaz nearly ripped Jim Miller's head off in the most vicious guillotine I've ever seen.

7. The most powerful welterweight in the UFC against the most durable. There was no way this fight was going to be bad, two extremely aggressive fighters just went to town on each other. Highlight of this fight was the last minute when Diego Sanchez started mounting a comeback and ended up landing 49 punches on Ellenberger in the last 50 seconds. Ridiculous pace, this fight is the reason why Diego Sanchez will always be a fan favorite.

6. The return of your God...enough said.

Ok seriously though, Jon Fitch was coming off a couple of injuries and a vicious knockout loss to resident badass, Johny Hendricks. This fight was all or nothing for him, losing this fight would mean losing contender status forever. Seen as boring by pretty much all MMA fans (including his boss), before the fight Fitch said that he would deliver an exciting fight for the UFC fans. Going against Erick Silva, who many people were calling the next Lyoto Machida and the future king of the welterweight division, pulling out a win would be rough, let alone doing so with reckless abandon. But Fitch did just that, ending Erick Silva's momentum and turning in the most exciting performance of his career. The highlights in this fight were Erick Silva's rear naked choke in the second round, with Fitch showing once again that he cannot be submitted and the 3rd round asswhipping that Fitch laid on Silva. Fitch bless us.

5. The second ever flyweight fight and the first ever UFC flyweight main event. We were robbed of a 4th round (which could've easly vaulted this fight in the best of the year and one of the greatest fights of all-time, I truly believe that) and Ian McCall was robbed of a victory in one of the worst judging calls of the year but the fight was amazing nonetheless. McCall and Mighty Mouse fought in a frantic pace, it was outstanding. Loved how McCall would flash a huge grin each time he was hit in the face. Highlight of this fight was the 3rd round where McCall was just raining a barrage of punches on Mighty Mouse.

4. This fight would've been higher but the stakes in this fight were incredibly low which explains why it places 4th. Nonstop fighting, an excellent display of striking, jiu-jitsu and wrestling. Lauzon proved to us all that he is still the most exciting fighter in the UFC, once again.

3. Maybe the fight with the highest stakes in UFC history. Returning from a severe injury early, in his hometown of Montreal, GSP was earning a reputation of being boring and he decided to challenge those who claimed that by turning in the most exciting performance of his career, mostly 'cause of Carlos Condit. Seen by many as undeserving of the title shot because he was gifted a decision against Nick Diaz according to many, Condit proved the doubters wrong by going HAM on GSP and giving him the toughest test of his aggressive. The action never stopped in this fight and in the end, with the Octagon painted red from the blood of these two warriors, GSP was declared the victor but it was Condit who arguably won the most out of this fight. The highlights in this fight were GSP's huge double leg takedown a la Matt Hughes, Condit's crazy elbows off of his back and of course, the kick in round three. That combo was beautiful.

2. At first, this was my pick for fight of the year but I realized that number one had higher stakes and displayed a more well rounded MMA game. In short, this fight could be described as two midgets playing real life Rock 'Em Sock 'Em robots. It was Easton/Papazian's first minute but for the whole first round. Gaudinot staged a comeback in the second when he latched onto Lineker's neck and choked him unconscious in an amazing fight that made me a huge fan of both of these guys. The highlight of the fight was when Lineker lifted Gaudinot up and rested him on the cage while Gaudinot had his neck and Gaudinot just stares at camera yelling IT'S OVER, before making Lineker pass out.

1. One of the greatest displays of mixed martial arts ever, this fight had everything. No need to get into details, if you haven't watched in the fight go watch it. By the end of the fight, we all realized that the Korean Zombie was more than just a ridiculously entertaining fighter, he was a ridiculously good one as well.

What are your opinions on fight of the year?

Good read @Anik here is mine.

@Soccer damn, Petz vs Juskevic is a good call that was an absolute war, gonna edit it in my list now...

****s always thumbing down my ****. 

I'm not gonna go back and edit the list, because quite frankly I don't want too. But I would replace Belcher/Palhares with Tate/Kedzie

I'll create a ranking after this year is over...just in case...