2008 Awards: Fight of the Year

Today we give out the Fight of the Year award recognizing the best fight of 2008.

1. Donald Cerrone vs Rob McCullough - It was an extremely tough decision, but I’m giving the WEC 36 fight between Donald Cerrone and Rob McCullough the award for fight of the year. No matter what type of MMA you prefer, this fight had plenty of everything. Both fighters were knocked to the mat in the first round and the fight just progressed from there. Between multiple knockdowns from heavy punches to multiple submission attempts, this matchup was a treat to watch from start to finish.
2. Eddie Alvarez vs Joachim Hansen - Eddie Alvarez has already been mentioned as a nominee in several categories for 2008 MMA Awards and he had several fights in 2008 that were Fight of the Year candidates. Alvarez’s matchup against fellow top 10 lightweight Joachim Hansen at DREAM.3 was one of the best fights of 2008. Both fighters were rocked and battled back in the first 10-minute round. Hansen continually tried to land submissions from the bottom while Alvarez’s was able to avoid those attempts and land some excellent strikes from while on the feet. The second round brought more of the same with Alvarez winning the battle via decision.
3. Paul Taylor vs Chris Lytle - Paul Taylor and Chris Lytle put on quite a show at UFC 89 and earn our last spot in the fight of the year rankings. Taylor and Lytle threw heavy barrages of punches at each other for three straight rounds and it appeared that either fighter might get KO’d at any given moment. A lot of fans, including the local British crowd thought Taylor should have won the fight but all fans have to agree that both fighters put together one of the best fights of the year.

Fight of the Year is another one of those extrememly tough categories to pick a winner and I would be remiss if I didn’t list a few other fights that were high on the list and deserve “honorable mentions”: Quinton Jackson vs Forrest Griffin, Sean Sherk vs Tyson Griffin, Robbie Lawlor vs Scott Smith, Jens Pulver vs Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres vs Yoshiro Maeda, Eddie Alvarez vs Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Cung Le vs Frank Shamrock just to name a few.

Join us tomorrow as we give out the final 2008 MMA Award for Fighter of the Year.