The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Knockouts of 2010, Part 1

As we pass the mid-point of 2010, there have been some very interesting knockouts.

Some of them were for the good and making things clear to the community who is the best.

Some of them have been bad and slowed or even ended careers.

While the others…well they have just been down right ugly. In this slide show I’m going to touch on several of the knockouts from January to July of 2010. Comments and suggestions are welcomed as this article is just for fun to strike some conversation. Thanks for the read.

The Good: Shogun Rua KO's Machida

Many fans were in a heavy debate at the ending of UFC 104. The LHW title fight between Mauricio Rua and Lyoto Machida went the 5-round distance ending with Machida’s hand in the air. The majority, including Dana White, thought Shogun had won at least 3 of the 5 rounds to declare him the winner. The judges thought otherwise.

Dana White and Joe Silva scheduled an immediate rematch for UFC 113. This fight ended with a first round KO by Mauricio Shogun Rua.

This fight ended any debate between fans.

Bottom-line: this KO was Good because it answered any questions on who is the LHW champ.

The Good: Velasquez KOs Big Nog

At UFC 110 many questions were answered. Rising star, Cain Velasquez, was set to fight legend, Antonio Nogueira. This was Velasquez first major test to see if he was going to be as good as everyone was predicting. With a first round knockout, he proved to the world that he was ready for a title shot.

The reason this fight is a “Good” knockout, is because the positives for Cain out weighed the negatives for Big Nog. If Nog would have won this fight, he may have still not of been the number one contender because everyone would have just said Cain isn’t as good as we thought. But now that Cain has beat a legend, it has sky-rocketed his legitimacy and put him in a title fight.

Bottom-line: this KO was good because it sky-rocketed an up and coming fighter into a championship title fight.

The Good: Carwin Wins HW Interim Belt

Coming into UFC 111, Shane Carwin had 11 first round finishes with no defeats.

Frank Mir was the previous HW champion fighting his way back to the top to seek revenge on Brock Lesnar.

Nobody questioned Shane Carwin's ability to win, but might have questioned the competition of his past opponents. This was the first major fight for Shane Carwin. Well you guessed right, it ended with another first round finish (technically it was a TKO, but I couldn’t leave this off the list).

Unfortunately Carwin went on to lose to Lesnar, but at the time this was a great knock out for Shane Carwin.

Bottom-line: Shane Carwin proved his legitimacy and earned him self a long awaited title shot.

The Bad: Iceman Liddell gets KOed by Rich Franklin

First of all, this was a great win for Rich Franklin. Not only did he knockout one of the best light heavy weights of all time, but he did it with a broken arm.

Unfortunately, the negatives strongly out-weigh the positives for this fight. After this loss, Chuck Liddell has lost 5 out of his 6 fights with 4 of the losses being knockouts. He came out of retirement for this fight but might find himself back into retirement. If Chuck Liddell continues to fight he could damage his legacy, which as of now could be the best legacy in the sport of MMA.

Bottom-line: this is a Bad knockout because it looks like it might end the career to one of the best fighters ever.

The Bad: Bader KO's Jardine

I have a feeling people may disagree with me on this one, but I feel like this was a bad knockout ONLY because its the start of the end to Keith Jardine in the UFC.

Ryan Bader is a great fighter and I really hope one day he makes it to the top, but as of now, him beating Keith Jardine doens't help him all THAT much.

Keith Jardine is a guy that I like but most people hate. I think it's his apperance but who knows. He is out of the UFC now and this fight probably did not help at all.

Bottom-line: even though people may think otherwise, I feel this is a Bad knockout because it's the start of the end for Keith Jardine.

The Ugly: Todd Duffee Falls to Mike Russow

Knockout of the Night honors go to…Mike Russow.

This is what Dana White claimed after a ridiculous knock out at UFC 114. Todd Duffee was coming off the fastest knockout in UFC history in his previous fight and was a fan favorite.

Todd Duffee is a guy in top shape with nothing but muscle covering his body. On the other hand, Mike Russow looks like an offensive lineman for a football team. For 2 and half rounds Todd Duffee out boxed and picked apart Russow. It was a long and drawn out fight that was completely one sided. Every fan watching was just waiting for Todd Duffee to land that punch that was going to finally finish the fight.

Out of nowhere Mike Russow counters a punch and knocks Todd Duffee out cold. I’m sure I am wrong on this, but it’s the only punch I can remember Russow even landing. Joe Rogan claimed it to be the craziest knockout he had ever seen.

Bottom-line: this is an Ugly knockout cause no one ever saw it coming and it really slowed Todd Duffee’s career.

The Good, Maybe Bad?...Nelson KO's Struve

Well, I’m going to leave this knockout up to you to decide if it was good or bad.

It’s good for Roy Nelson because it shot him up the ranks to a fight against JDS for the next number one contender spot.

But then again it’s bad because Stefan Struve was considered the next big thing for Heavyweights.

I personally can’t decide if this outcome is better or if Struve winning would have had a better outcome. I guess Struve had already lost to Dos Santos so maybe its better that Nelson is getting a shot at him now. But then again

Struve is only 22 and maybe it would have been better for him to win to get some young and upcoming talent more into the mix.

Bottom-line: you can decide if this was a Good or Bad knockout.

Part 2

This is only Part 1 and hopefully part 2 will come at the end of the year with some even better knockouts. Thanks for reading this article...please leave your comments, suggestions, rants, and raves. Thanks