2011 Mid-Year UFC Awards: Top 5 Rounds of the Year

After a long stretch of major MMA events ended with UFC 132, we are now midway through the calender year. As we wait for the MMA schedule to pick back up, Bleacher Report will be taking a look a several different mid-year awards.

This installment will focus on the UFC Round of the Year, which will be handed out to the fighters who engaged in the most exciting five-minute frame of 2011. Already, there have been plenty of options for the award, but we had to narrow it down to five nominees.

Here are the top five UFC rounds from the first half of 2011.

5. Round 2 of Brian Ebersole vs. Chris Lytle

Making his UFC debut at UFC 127, Brian Ebersole was given little chance to even compete with Chris Lytle. However, Ebersole put on a Fight of the Night performance en route to an upset victory.

In the second round, Ebersole took some big shots from Lytle and kept on ticking. In the second half of the round, Ebersole dropped Lytle with a knee and put an exclamation point on the round with a slam in the final minute.

4. Round 1 of Joey Beltran vs. Aaron Rosa

At UFC 131, Joey Beltran and Aaron Rosa engaged in an all-out slugfest. On multiple occasions in the first round, Beltran disengaged from the clinch and both fighters started throwing haymakers at each other.

Slugging it out with Beltran probably wasn't the best idea for Rosa, though, as he defeated in a third-round technical knockout.

3. Round 1 of Brad Tavares vs. Phil Baroni

Phil Baroni has always been a fighter who has come out firing immediately. At UFC 125, Baroni rocked Brad Tavares with a left hook.

However, Tavares was able to recover and completed a come-from-behind win in the same round. After a head kick staggered Baroni, Tavares finished the fight with a barrage of punches and knees.

2. Round 2 of Dave Herman vs. Jon Olav Einemo

At UFC 131, both Jon Olav Einemo and Dave Herman made their UFC debuts against one another.

After losing the first round, Herman was rocked multiple times in the second frame. However, Herman came back and finished Einemo in one of the more exciting fights of 2011.

1. Round 1 of Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry

As great as the second round between Dave Herman and Jon Olav Einemo was, it is a distant second to the first round between Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry on this list.

After the fight was nearly stopped due to a onslaught from Barry, Kongo landed two miracle strikes that knocked Barry unconscious.

Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. Sean has also had his work featured on UFC.com. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSmithMMA.