Friday, June 28, 2013

Second quarter report card: Who had the best upset, knockout, fight and more?

The second quarter of the year is coming to an end, so it's a good time to look back at the last three months. There weren't as many events in the last three months of 2013 as there were the first three, but there were still plenty of memorable performances. Who stood out? See the first quarter awards here.

Biggest upset: In "The Ultimate Fighter" finale, Cat Zingano pulled out a win over former Strikeforce bantamweight champion Miesha Tate. Stipe Miocic's opponent at UFC 161 changed late in the game, but he still came up with the win over Roy Nelson. Speaking of late replacements, James Krause wasn't even in the UFC until weeks before his fight -- and submission win -- Sam Stout at UFC 161. But the biggest upset was definitely in the final of TUF. Uriah Hall destroyed every opponent during his run on "The Ultimate Fighter." However, Kelvin Gastelum was the winner, coming up with a decision win over Hall at the TUF finale.

Best knockout: There were many fine candidates from this quarter for best knockout. You could go with Josh Thomson taking out the previously unknockout-able Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox 7, or from the same card, Yoel Romero's flying knee to Clifford Starks. Just last week, there was Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal's one punch knockout of Seth Petruzell in Bellator. The one that stood out the most, though, was Vitor Belfort's spinning heel hook to Luke Rockhold's face at UFC on FX 8.

Best submission: Glover Teixeira's submission of James Te Huna at UFC 160 was fast and fierce. Pat Curran's technical submission from a guillotine of Shabhulat Shamhalaev at Bellator stood out, too. But nothing was slicker and sweeter than Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza's arm triangle of Chris Camozzi at UFC on FX 8.

Best rising star: Teixeira's win over Te Huna, as well as his earlier win over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, put him near the top of UFC light heavyweights. It's odd to think of someone who has been fighting for eight years as a rising star, but Matt Brown's dismantling of Jordan Mein did wonders for his standing among welterweights. The winner is Sara McMann, the Olympic silver medal winning wrestler has just seven pro bouts under her belt. Still, she made a huge debut in the UFC with a TKO of Sheila Gaff.

Best fight: The result was eventually overturned because of Healy's positive drug test, but that didn't take away the fun of Pat Healy's bout with Jim Miller at UFC 159. Krause and Stout's UFC 161 bout was fantastic before it ended in a submission with mere seconds left. The one that sticks out more than any other, though, is Junior dos Santos and Mark Hunt's bout at UFC 160. They both withstood ridiculously hard hits before JDS used a spinning hook kick to take Hunt out.

Agree? Disagree? Speak up on Facebook or Twitter.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/second-quarter-awards-had-best-upset-knockout-fight-155337405.html

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