Last night Nate Diaz put his newly earned black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to good use by submitting Jim Miller with a really slick Power Guillotine when Miller shot in for a takedown. It was the first time Miller had been stopped in his professional career. Diaz looked the far superior grappler of the two.

He almost got the tap out using a one armed guillotine but Miller started to slip out so he transitioned into the regular variation. You know I’m a big fan of the Guillotine Choke here, I even dedicated a huge post to detail how to pull off all the different guillotine variations.

I understand why some people hate the Diaz brothers because of their attitudes but they both always turn up to fight.

Just try to watch the sequence below and not be impressed by the BJJ od Nate Diaz it’s absolutely impossible!

Watch The Gracie Brothers breakdown Diaz’s slick guillotine as well as Alan Belcher’s submission defence against feared leg taker Rousimar Palhares. Like they say the choke was so deep it was more like a rear naked choke from the front than an actual guillotine.

I feel that Nate is the more well rounded member of the Diaz brothers. His takedown defence is a lot better than his older brothers plus his Judo seems a lot crisper as well.

The Nate Diaz Story

I really like this video, it’s a good look into when Nate began doing BJJ & MMA and how it came about. It chronicles him going from young intimidated kid to TUF winner. It also shows just how much he looks up to his older brother Nick. I think after the win now is the time that Nate will step out of his brothers shadow and prove he is more than just ‘Nick’s younger brother’.

Quick Note

It was great to see Jim Miller coming out to Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It’s refreshing to see a fighter walkout to something other than Hip-Hop or shitty Nu-Metal.

I have recently realised that most of you reading this may not live near an MMA gym where you can train and get fit. So I’ve decided to devise a FREE Home Conditioning Workout that anyone can do in the comfort of their own living room. The best part is it only takes a little over 15 minutes a day. So you still have enough free time to watch TV, spend time with your girlfriend/boyfriend or play video games (Final Fantasy 7 never gets old). In fact you can even do the workout while watching your favourite TV show. Kill two birds with one stone. Why not?

You don’t even need a lot of space to do this workout in fact it can even be done in your bedroom or a hotel room. You only need enough space to be able to lie down fully without hitting your head on anything.

You have absolutely no reason not to give this workout a try.

No pain No gain

A Word to the Wise

This workout is designed to push you but it isn’t designed to cause injury. If you feel any sharp pains or any discomfort besides fatigue and dull aches from tired muscles end the workout immediately.

If you haven’t done anything resembling exercise for  a while I suggest taking it easy for the first couple of workouts. Try to set a pace that allows you to complete the workout or last as long as you can. Don’t be trying to do 15 circuits on your first go, it just isn’t going to happen.

Warm Up – 4 Minutes

40 Star Jumps (also known as Jumping Jacks)
1 Minute of Jogging on the Spot
1 minute of Side Planks (with a count of 5 then switch sides)
1 minute of Straight Ups (slow sit ups where you point your hands above your head to the ceiling)

Make sure you warm up properly and get the blood flowing round your body to every muscle before you begin the workout.

The MMA Conditioning Workout

Don’t be put off by the apparent simplicity of this workout, it is designed to give you a full body workout that will build lean muscle, and give your heart a good workout. These types of workout also burn more calories that simple cardio. I love to go for a good run but I would rather do what is more time-efficiant and what will give me better results. We are working out all the major muscle groups in our body using just three exercises!

If you recall I reviewed Georges St. Pierre’s RushFit on here a while back (which I fully recommend). But every workout in that DVD set is basically doing exercises that work out the same muscle groups as in this workout. So I am giving you a RushFit alternative for absolutely nothing. That’s the sort of guy I am

Level 1

Time: 15 minutes
20 Squats
15 Press Ups
15 Sit Ups (Reverse Crunches if you are prone to bad backs)
The idea of the workout is to bash out as many circuits of the above exercises as possible in 15 minutes. Of course keeping perfect form throughout, I do not want you getting injured trying to get fit, that would be pointless. If you are lay up in bed for a month with a bad back you will have lost any benfit of excersing in the first place. If you need to rest try and wait until the end of the current circuit but if you really can’t make it to the end just rest where ever you are.

If you start to feel any discomfort in your back doing the sit ups switch to Reverse Crunches.

Once you mastered that you can move on to the more advanced workouts

Level 2 (Novice)

Time: 15 minutes
20 Squats
20 Press Ups
20 Sit Ups (Reverse Crunches if you have a bad back)

The extra 5 sit ups and press-ups in the workout are really going to make your arms and core burn after a few circuits.

Level 3 (Advanced)

Time: 15 minutes
25 Squats
25 Press Ups
25 Sit Ups (Reverse Crunches if you have a bad back)

This is where it starts getting really difficult. Now we separate the men from the boys!

Level 4 (Expert)

Time: 20 minutes
25 Squats
25 Press Ups
25 Sit Ups (Reverse Crunches if you have a bad back)

If Level 4 was in a video game it would be the final boss right at the end of the game. It really is that tough!

Level 5 (Aka The Killer!)

Time: 20 minutes
30 Squats
30 Press Ups
30 Sit Ups (Or Reverse Crunches)

This will literally kill you, chances are it will break you mentally half way through and make you want to give up. Only attempt Level 5 if you are in a good level of fitness and have found the below levels too easy. At the time of writing I can’t even do this workout *yet*

The Aftermath

 Getting up may be difficult at the end of the workout

After the workout you should be sweating like a crazy man not to mention tired as hell. It’s tempting to run off for a shower right there and then but make sure you stretch off to prevent any injuries before you go and get cleaned up.

The first couple of times you do this workout you will feel sore the day after but don’t let this put you off. That is just your bodies way of letting you know that it isn’t used to training at this level and intensity. Keep it up, getting in the best shape of your life is going to take some work.

Pick two or three days each week to do this workout
I hope you enjoyed this post and get a lot of value out of it. I use this workout myself and I always feel great after I’ve done it. Try it three times a week for a month and see how much fitter you feel at the end of the month. I guarantee when you’ve lost weight and feel twice as strong as you were before you’ll have the uncontrollable urge to name your first born after me. You don’t have to do that for me, just call it Megatron instead, much cooler.

Don’t over think your workouts. Like Nike says Just do it.

Honestly nothing would make me happier than to get an email in 6 months time telling me you’ve lost x amount of weight using this workout. I only make enough money from this site to cover my hosting costs. I genuinely do this because I enjoy helping people. So if it helps you in any way please let me know.

If you have any questions leave me a comment and I answer them all for you. Thanks for reading. Cheers!

“Learn Something From Everyone” – Robert Drysdale

If you’ve trained MMA or BJJ for more than a month you probably already know how to put on a basic armbar. But Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion and grappling coach for multiple UFC fighters Robert Drysdale demonstrates to Karyn Bryant how to get the armbar from side control with a higher success rate by performing a few small tweaks to how you set it up.

There is a very interesting interview with Robert from 43 seconds onwards before the technique at 06:12 (after a hilarious yet bizarre cameo from Bas Rutten).

Armbar Technique

Robert Drysdale

Little teaks and techniques can make all the difference. You attempt an armbar and your opponent defends it. Then deepen your top hand and go elbow deep and grab your leg with that hand. Cross your feet – now most instructors will tell you not to do this but I have found myself that I finish guys with a higher rate of success when I cross my legs than when I don’t. Always cross the leg that is on the bottom, make an effort to keep his head down using your bottom foot, it will make it harder for your opponent to get up.

If you feel your opponent trying to get up wrap the leg to stop him from stacking you. Always assume the opponent is stronger than yourself (just like what Helio Gracie always said). Relax and play stupid so your opponent will relax and stop defending, when you feel than hit his arm with an open palm slap so his hand slips off his bicep.

Lastly a really cool tweak that I’ve never heard before is is when you sit back pull the arm towards you instead as well as pulling it down, when you fall back try to put the arm behind your head. Doing this will add pressure to the bicep and the shoulder, this will make it a lot harder for him or her to escape. This is a much tighter armbar and if the opponent tries to pull their arm out it will put the submission on more.

Robert Drysdale Vs Clay Davidson

I always like to try and find some footage of the person demonstrating the technique actually putting it into practice. Robert is one of the only one’s I’ve been able to successfully do this for. In 2010 Drysdale faced Clay Davidson, a King of the Cage veteran who entered the contest riding a six-fight win streak. Drysdale won via armbar in the first round using almost the exact technique he demonstrates in this video.

What did you think of the technique? Do you have a variation that works just as well? I’d love to hear what you have to say, even if it is a criticism (a constructive one). Please leave me a comment and let me hear your opinion.

Thank you for all your support. Cheers!

Heading into the Strikeforce championship bout against Miesha Tate there were some who questioned Ronda Rousey’s MMA credentials. Even though she is an Olympic bronze medallist in Judo detractors argued that it would be no match for a well rounded MMA game which athletes like Tate possess. They argued that she is all hype & a big mouth on a pretty face and that is what got her the title fight after previously only having 4 professional MMA bouts prior to the fight with Miesha Tate.

After 4:27 those doubters were well and truly silenced after Rousey did what everyone including Tate thought she was going to do and slapped on an armbar. A tight armbar that for an excruciatingly long time Tate completely refused to tap to. When Tate finally did tap she was left lying on the floor of the cage having her damaged arm tended to by the cageside physicians.

I think Rousey is great for women’s mixed martial arts. She is a great self promoter, she knows how to get people talking about her. She is also clearly very disciplined, you don’t get to go to the Olympics unless you are working very hard in training, so she is a good role model for girls as well.

Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey

Miesha’s game plan seemed to be putting pressure on the challenger and using her inexperience in MMA to fluster and wilt. From the moment the opening bell sounded Tate came out swinging and continually kept moving forward. As it turned out that plan wasn’t a great idea. As soon as Ronda get hold of her she tosses Miesha to the ground and gets to side control. Rousey quickly passes the guard and almost gets an Armbar in the first minute of the fight.

Tate then scrambled back to her feet, takes Ronda’s back and looks for a rear naked choke. Lots more escapes and scrambles with Miesha continually looking for that rear naked choke, but Rousey escapes. Both girls get back to their feet and Tate immediately looks for a single leg takedown but Ronda turns it into a hip toss lands in side control and works to mount and then goes for her trademark move and unfortunately (for Tate) there was nothing she could do to stop her. Meisha refused to tap so Ronda breaks her arm which makes her finally submit. If you are squeamish you should stop the video 30 seconds before the end. Do not say I didn’t warn you!

Ronda Rousey Armbar

Rener and Ryron Gracie have put together an awesome breakdown of the Tate Vs Rousey main event and how Ronda was able to transition so fluidly into her armbar.

I thought you might find it amusing so I’ll leave you with this image. It sums Ronda Rousey up pretty well.
What did you think of the fight? Do you think Rousey will be the champion for a long time? Let me know in the comments.

As always thank you for taking the time to read this article, and all the best to you!

Alcohol is a curious thing. In some people it makes them happy and affectionate, some talk non stop and others fall asleep in stupid places. But there is that select group of individuals who have some severe psychological or emotional problems deep down in the core of their psyche that makes them turn into assholes that want to fight anyone who even makes eye contact with them. Personally the best way I’ve found to deal with these types is to just be the bigger man and walk away. The satisfaction of putting some drunk idiot in their place isn’t worth the risk of getting arrested, prosecuted and / or ending up with a criminal record. But sometimes you just can’t walk away like if you’re in a restaurant in the middle of eating a meal like Ryan Hall was.

From the video: On December 11th, 2011, Ryan Hall was enjoying dinner in the company of friends after a Grapplers Quest event, when a man approached the table, requesting a lighter. After informing him the table was comprised of non-smokers, the man became enraged, demonstrating violent behavior and directly threatening Ryan Hall. This video displays the occurrence in its entirety, to show exactly how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be used in self-defense as a means to control and subdue an opponent. Without a single punch thrown, the opponent is first controlled, and in a second encounter choked unconscious as a means to end the confrontation once and for all.

Props to Ryan for resisting the urge to knock the guy out with a right hook which is what I would have been tempted to do if he was getting in my face like that. Do not underestimate the effectiveness of a rear naked choke. I think the standing rear naked choke and the standing guillotine should be the first two submissions taught at BJJ academies as a means for ending self defence situations like this.

Have you ever needed to use your BJJ or other Martial Arts skills in a situation like this? If so what happened? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

Note: This is my no BS review of the UFC Ultimate Royce Gracie DVD released by the UFC. If you have any questions about the DVD leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer them.

Royce Gracie is the man that put Mixed Martial Arts on the map back in 1993. He has influenced more fighters than anyone in history with the exception of Bruce Lee and his name is synonymous with The Ultimate Fighting Championship. Dana White and Joe Rogan hail him as the godfather of MMA. I would personally go as far as saying that without Royce Gracie the UFC would have probably died out after UFC 5 and Mixed Martial Arts wouldn’t be as big as it is today.

The DVD set comes with a 12 page booklet that includes images  from Royce Gracie’s MMA career as well as a full biography. I think it’s a nice touch to what is already a really cool two disc DVD set.

Disc 1 begins with the full 90 minute Ultimate Gracie documentary that aired on Spike TV focusing on how Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts (specifically The UFC) are interlinked. It starts with it’s roots in Brazil to it being moved to the US thanks to Rorian Gracie and it’s worldwide explosion thanks for Royce winning the first ever UFC event.

UFC: Ultimate Royce Gracie

What begins with the origins of BJJ / Gracie Jiu-Jitsu quickly transitions to the origins of the UFC as we hear behind the scenes info about how the first about as well a stories of the battles from UFC 1 – 5.

Participants in the documentary include Royce himself, Art Davie (the original owner of The UFC), Joe Rogan, MMA Fighters such as Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, and Matt Serra. Plus fighters from the first five events like Dan Severn and Art Jimmerson.

Also included in the set are all of Royce’s UFC bouts, including his fight against Matt Hughes. We also get three of his other fights for Pride Fighting Championship including his 90 minute+ fight against Kazushi Sakuraba. It is honestly worth the price of DVD for his UFc fights.

Whether you like it or not Royce Gracie revolutionized the world of martial arts by demonstrating in the first four UFC’s to be a complete martial artist you need to have a ground game as well as a striking game because 80% of fights end up on the ground and you had better know what to do if you end up down there on the bottom. Nowadays every MMA fighter (even kickboxers) have a ground game in their arsenal to complement their striking, even if it is only the ability to use sweeps to get back to standing. If you ever wanted to know how a BJJ guy would fare in a 1-on-1 fight watch the bonus fights from UFC 1.

Pros

- Great value for money.
- All of Royce’s best fights in UFC and Pride.
- It’s worth the price or purchase just for his UFC 1-4 fights.

Cons

- You can’t pull the booklet out of the case to read it.
- I’m a BJJ guy so I love the Gracies but even I think the documentary was slightly too pro-Gracie and not objective enough. But Dana White and The UFC aren’t exactly known for being objective.

Extras

In addition to his UFC Hall of Fame induction, UFC Ultimate Royce Gracie DVD features the following bonus fights, which include every single one of his battles inside the Octagon, plus a 12-page collector’s booklet:

• UFC 1: vs. Art Jimmerson
• UFC 1: vs. Ken Shamrock
• UFC 1: vs. Gerard Gordeau
• UFC 2: vs. Minoki Ichihara
• UFC 2: vs. Jason Delucia
• UFC 2: vs. Remco Pardoel
• UFC 2: vs. Patrick Smith
• UFC 3: vs. Kimo Leopoldo
• UFC 4: vs. Ron van Clief
• UFC 4: vs. Keith Hackney
• UFC 4: vs. Dan Severn
• UFC 5: vs. Ken Shamrock
• PRIDE Grand Prix 2000: vs. Nobuhiko Takada
• PRIDE Grand Prix 2000: vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (officially the longest MMA fight in history clocking in at over 90 minutes)
• PRIDE Shockwave 2003: vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
• UFC 60: vs. Matt Hughes

Conclusion

Personal opinions aside the UFC really did Royce right with this DVD set. Not only is it informative, it is also really well produced, clearly a lot of time and care has gone into making sure this is a top quality DVD presentation. If you watched the Spike special you will know what to expect, if not I highly recommend picking it up for your MMA collection. I’m sure you will not be disappointed.

As I said at the beginning of the post if you have any question about the set let me know in the replies. Likewise if you have the DVD let me know what you thought of it.

Thanks for reading, cheers.

I’m so glad ONE FC has started up and filled the void left when Zuffa shut Pride FC down. One particular type of fight that Pride was famous for was the freak show fight. These matches blurred the line between combat sport and spectacle. Well now ONE FC is here to give us some much needed old school pride action.

Like Pride knees to the head and soccer kicks to downed opponents are allowed.

The 350lb Bob “The Beast” Sapp took on Former UFC fighter and third degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Rolles Gracie in a super-heavyweight fight.

Here are the pre-fight interviews with both fighters.

And now the actual fight itself. I feel quite sure Bob may have over promised what he was going to deliver.

Rolles Gracie vs Bob Sapp

This was a classic striker vs grappler matchup. It was a nice single leg that Gracie took Sapp down with, though he should have thrown a jab to disguise it. He almost got kneed full on in the face.

I was really surprised Gracie went for some ground and pound instead of trying an armbar. Looks like he has decided to start rounding himself out as a fighter. Was this the first time a Gracie has knocked out an opponent since Renzo Gracie upkicked Oleg Taktarov? Let me know in the comments. Note I am aware Sapp tapped out but the ref was about to pull Gracie off him anyway so I am counting it as a TKO victory.

And finally my god how hot are the ONE FC ring girls compared the The UFC (except Brittany Palmer of course).

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have any suggestions about how I can improve these articles let me know in the comments.

Thank you for reading. Cheers!

This was a post that I wrote way back at the beginning of October but I have been holding off posting it waiting for Carlos Condit to fight again. He is due to fight this weekend so here it is I hope you enjoy it.

I’m a big fan of Condit because he always turns up ready to fight, not to lay and pray for a decision.

Carlos Condit ended Dong Hyun Kim’s unbeaten MMA record in spectacular fashion at UFC 132. He delivered a superb flying knee which felled Kim before getting the stoppage with strikes on the ground.

The Greg Jackson fighter is very popular with fans due to the fact that so far he seems to be immune to boring fights. Condit used to be know for submitting his opponents in WEC. It now seems like he wants to change the perception of fans that he isn’t just a great BJJ guy and show everyone he is a well rounded MMA fighter by showing off his crisp Thai Boxing skills.

The beginning of the fight saw Hyun Kim take Condit down before he was able to reverse the position and spring back to his feet. Condit threw a right high kick that missed before following up with a brilliantly timed flying knee, this landed flush on Kim’s jaw dropping him to the mat. The additional punches on the ground didn’t seem necessary as the way he fell to the matt leads me to believe he was already out.

Carlos has said that he loves flying knees and will throw them at reckless abandon if he sees an opportunity to throw one.

“That’s something that I’ve been practising,” he said. “I love throwing flying knees and I just saw the opportunity and I took it. It caught him flush, dropped him and I finished with punches.”

Check out the below gif to see Condit’s Muay Thai Flying Knee against Dong Hyun Kim. Ouch

How To Perform Carlos Condit’s Flying Knee

A flying knee, known as hanuman thayarn in Muay Thai and sometimes called a jumping knee is similar to a front knee but it differs because it is performed while jumping usually set up by rushing towards the opponent to gather momentum. If you are skilful and quick a follow up knee can also be applied while still in the air like Jose Aldo used to knock out Cub Swanson 8 seconds into the fight at WEC 41. The best way to use this form of attack is when the opponent is off balance of after a particularly devastating strike.

Below is a step-by-step video for how to perform a Muay Thai flying knee. The flying knee is an advanced Muay Thai technique that you can use to finish an opponent after they have already been dazed by another strike or before if you want to be a crazy motherf**ker like Condit. Learn how to do the Flying Knee to the head and knockout your opponent.

I sincerely hope you found this article interesting and useful. I would love to hear if you have tried throwing a flying knee on an opponent in MMA or Mauy Thai (even if you couldn’t quite get it to work correctly).

I would also love to hear if you have any ideas how I can improve these articles so please leave me a comment if you have any tips or suggestions.

As always thank you for your support cheers!

This is a feature I hope to start doing once a year. I watch quite a lot of Mixed Martial Arts so I thought I may as well talk about it sometimes as well. I know my site is supposed to be a MMA Training website but I figure a small amount of journalism dedicated to professional MMA wouldn’t hurt. It might even help improve the site.

To clarify I don’t buy into that “If they don’t fight in the UFC they aren’t worth ranking alongside UFC fighters bullshit a lot of other MMA websites peddle around”. It should be mentioned that a fair chunk of the aforementioned websites get paid by the UFC to write press about them. That is why a lot of websites seem to always take a pro-UFC stance. I’m happy to put any professional fighter from any promotion on my list.

10. Donald Corrone

Cowboy has had an amazing year so far (up until the end of it anyway). He started it off by beating British fighter Paul Kelly. He followed that up by beating Vagner Rocha, tapping out Charles Oliveira and finally besting Dennis Siver. It was only Nate Diaz that managed to derail his whirlwind year. Nevertheless Donald Corrone had a fantastic year in 2011 with 4 out of 5 wins. If he keeps winning he’ll surely be given a title shot in 2012.

09. Shinya Aoki

Shinya Aoki bounced back from an extremely disappointing 2010. Despite beating Tatsuya Kawajiri, Marcus Aurelio and Yokthai Sithoar, he dropped a decision to Gilbert Melendez and got knocked out by Yuichiro Nagashima in a DREAM/K-1 Special Rules bout. But in 2011 he has managed to submit Lyle Beerbohm, Rich Clementi and Rob McCullough using the exact same submission move which is a hybrid face bar and neck crank. Rob McCullough must have suspected what Aoki was going to do yet he couldn’t stop the BJJ phenom from doing what he wanted once the fight hit the ground. He topped off the year by beating Satoru Kitaoka by decision in DREAM’s new years eve show.

08. Dan Henderson

It’s been an eventful year for Hendo. First winning the Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight championship from Rafael Cavalcante. He followed that up by going up to heavyweight and knocking out Fedor Emelianenko in the first round. Something no one else has ever managed to do up until now. Dan Henderson then re-signed with the UFC and made his debut (is it classed as a debut if you have fought for them on two separate occasions previously?) against Shogun Rua, in what was one of the greatest MMA fights I’ve ever seen.

07. Edson Barboza

Probably the least known (along with Aoki) in my top 10 outside of the die hard MMA fans. Edson Barboza is a fearson Brazilian Muay Thai fighter with 6 of his current 9 wins coming via knock out. Did I also mention he’s had 25 wins as a professional Muay Thai fighter with 22 of them being Ko’s. He’s also a purple belt in BJJ so he’s rounding himself out well as a MMA fighter. His wins against Anthony Njokuani and Ross Pearson both earned him a fight of the night award. Expect big things from this guy in the future.

06. Anderson Silva

I’m sure anyone with a brain would have known I would include Anderson Silva on here somewhere. His Karate Kid-esq crane kick of Vitor Belfort could be a contender for knock out of the year. But his dominating performance and knock out of Yushin Okami, who was the last person to beat him showed that he will be champion for a long time unless Chael Sonnen manages to unseat him in a rematch of their 2010 slobberknocker.

05. Jake Ellenburger

I think no one would argue with Jake Ellenberger being included on this list with his two Ko’s and one decision in 2011. One of those included number one contender Jake Shields though Shields had just lost his father 3 weeks before so his head probably wasn’t 100% there for that fight. Though nothing should be taken away from Ellenberger who has had a fantastic year and must be only one or two wins from a welterweight title shot.

04. Carlos Condit

Carlos Condit hasn’t fought as much in 2011 as the other candidates on the list (especially Corrone) but his highlight reel knockout of Dong Hyun Kim is a legitimate contender for knockout of the year. He was supposed to face Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137 but an injury to GSP put that fight on ice. Now we hear that him and Nick Diaz will fight for the intrim welterweight champion. Condit is an extremely talented fighter and I believe he is more than a match for Nick Diaz. Mark my words it will be an entertaining fight!

03. Nick Diaz

What can I say about Nick Diaz that I haven’t said in the past. On one hand he is one of the most talented fighters in the welterweight division. On the other he is his own worst enemy. If we forget how he beat BJ Penn, he still had two incredibly memorable fights with Paul Daley and Cyborg Santos, who are both good competitors in their own right this year before the Penn fight. He was able to beat all three. That is why Diaz gets my number three position.

02. Jon Jones

Jon Jones has had quite a year. First he knocked out Ryan Bader, then won the UFC light heavyweight championship from Maurício Shogun Rua, and then successfully defended it against Quinton Rampage Jackson. The year wasn’t over yet though as Jones defended his championship again against Lyoto Machida. He submitted Machida in spectacular fashion with a modified guillotine choke to retain the belt. So to recap in the space of 12 months Jones has beaten 1 number one contender (Bader), won a championship belt and defeated three former champions (Rua, Jackson and Machida). In my opinion he now has a legitimate argument for being the number one pound-for-pound fighter in all of MMA. But I’ve only ranked him at number 2, so who will be number 1?

01. Frankie Edgar

Are you really surprised that this guy is my number one? He survived not one but two first round beatdowns at the hands of Gray Maynard, who is a much, much bigger fighter and even came back to knock out Maynard in the fourth round of their second fight. How much heart do you have to have to come back twice from getting destroyed in the first round of two fights in a row? A lot that’s how much. Jones might be the most naturally gifted fighter on the list but Edgar beats him hands down in heart and the desire to win. You can’t learn that in gym. That is why Frankie Edgar is my number one fighter for 2011.

Honourable Mentions

Roger Gracie – After beating Trevor Prangley so convincingly he would have been a shoo-in for my top ten if he hadn’t been knocked out by King Mo in September. He was pushed into a fight with Lawal far too quickly in my opinion after only having 4 professional MMA bouts. It was a case of Strikeforce needing some big name fights after fighters started jumping ship to UFC. Couple this with him being a world grappling champion and Lawal being a former light-heavyweight champion and it was a no-brainer for Strikeforce but a very bad move for Gracie.
Gilbert Melendez – The way he came back from injury and dominated Tatsuya Kawajiri was quite a stunning victory. Unfortunately he only fought once at the time of writing. He didn’t quite impressive me enough this year to be included on my list. But there is always next year.

Needs To Try Harder In 2012
Charles Oliveira – It was a pretty bad 12 months for this young fighter. Billed by everyone as a future UFC lightweight champion by most who have seen him fight. 2011 saw him drop one fight and have one fight ruled a no contest by kneeing Nik Lentz in the head while Lentz had all four limbs on the ground. His performance was so dominating up until that point he looked like he would have easily been a top 5 on this list.

Who are your 10 favourite fighters of 2011? Do you disagree with any of mine? Is Frankie Edgar not deserving enough of the no 1 spot? Let me know what you think in the replies.

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Happy New Year! I will soon be getting back to regular posts here on My MMA Training but we still have a few best of 2011 posts left, up next is Comeback of the Year. Comebacks are what makes the sport of Mixed Martial Arts so fantastic. Watching a fighter snatch victory from the jaws of defeat creates an excitement in fans that is unrivalled in other forms of entertainment.

My comeback of the year award goes to Diego Brandao for his The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale match against Dennis Bermudez. Featherweights really know how to put on an exciting fights and this match was no exception.

Diego Brandao was in control of the fight until Bermudez landed a short right hand that changed proceedings completely. In the blink of an eye Brandao was dazed, flat on his back and desperately trying to survive. Suddenly just when it looked like Bermudez had taken the round and quite possible the fight the Brazilian slapped on a fantastic armbar from guard that won him the fight.

Bermudez left his left arm open and extended, Brandao grabbed on and the rest is history as they say. At 4:51 of the first round, Brandao submitted Bermudez with an armbar to become the Season 14 featherweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter – in arguably the greatest single round in TUF Finale history.

Brandao reportedly wanted to win The Ultimate Fighter to provide a better life for his family in Brazil. The $80,000 in bonus money alone should give him a great head start (not to mention the legions of new fans he will now have after demonstrating how much heart he has).

Who got your pick for comeback of the year? Leave me a comment and let me know in the replies. As always thanks for reading.