MMA's Best Career Rebounds of 2009

2009 was a year of redemption for a lot of fighters.

Sometimes when a fighter loses, that one single loss seems to be a catalyst that brings about the decline of a career.

After a loss, a fighter might never have the same chin, the same desire, the same fire burning from within.  Andrei Arlovski, Marcus Davis, and Chuck Liddell are a few high-profile fighters who haven't been able to respond following a loss, but MMA record books are littered with the careers of fighters who fell off quickly following a single defeat.

Other fighters use the pain of a loss to reach even greater heights.

Here are the best rebounds of 2009.

10. Anderson Silva: Anderson Silva has never lost in the UFC, but he lost a lot of fans following a lacklustre victory over Thales Leites.

Although I defended Silva's effort in that fight, many fans were hopping off the Silva bandwagon.

Silva got them all back on by absolutely embarrassing and knocking out Forrest Griffin at UFC 101.

9. Kenny Florian: Kenny needed a big win after being tarred and feathered by BJ Penn.

The rebound win against Clay Guida couldn't have been much more decisive.

8. Jon Fitch: After suffering one of the worst beatings of 2008, Jon Fitch responded by knocking off three sturdy opponents in 2009.

He may not be the flashiest fighter in the world, and he might never beat Georges St. Pierre, but Jon Fitch proved once again that he belongs right there near the top of the welterweight division.

7. Michael Bisping: Michael Bisping had never been knocked out until he was positively starched by Dan Henderson.

His comeback began during the second round of his fight against Denis Kang, where he broke the will of the talented but unreliable Canadian.

6. Shinya Aoki: His knockout loss to Hayato "Mach" Sakurai couldn't have been any more brutal.

Aoki responded by beating Vitor Ribiero, and his former nemesis, Joachim Hansen to capture the Dream lightweight title.

5. Stefan Struve: Already coming off a quick knockout loss to Junior Dos Santos, Struve's UFC days appeared to be numbered when Denis Stojnic started laying a beating down upon the fallen Skyscraper.

Stojnic opened up a huge gash early in the fight, and was beating Struve pretty badly, but rather than accepting defeat, Struve rallied and forced the submission.

This picture says it all.

Struve still has a lot of holes in his game, but by gutting out a tough win, and following it up with two more, Struve has given himself a few more fights in the UFC, and proved that he's got as much heart as he has size and talent.

4. Frank Mir: Frank Mir didn't look like Frank Mir after Brock Lesnar was done with him.  The defeat was so crushing that it practically wiped out any potential for a rubber match.

In order to earn a rubber match with Lesnar, Mir knew that he would need to convince fans that he'd improved enough to overcome Lesnar's massive power advantage.

Mir came into his fight against Kongo with a new Brock-sized body, and a Brock sized attitude.  He backed it up by flooring Kongo and choking him out in just over a minute.

He couldn't have made a more convincing comeback performance.

3. Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira: Nogueira didn't just lose to Frank Mir; he was stopped for the first time in his career, and never really looked like he was in the fight.

After watching that fight, I wasn't sure if Nogueira would ever win another fight in the UFC.

Even revelations of knee injuries and a staph infection did little to convince people that Nogueira's best days weren't behind him.

Nogueira went into his fight against Couture as a fairly large underdog, but left the fight with a convincing win.

Nogueira might not ever win a world title again, but in my mind, that win gave us a very good indication of how a fight between Nogueira and Couture would have gone had they fought earlier in their careers.

For those who saw Nogueira's fights in Pride, this fight was vintage. For everyone else, this fight gave us a glimpse of the incredible talent that is Nogueira, who should go down as the second best heavyweight fighter of the decade.

2. BJ Penn: BJ was crushed like so many soda cans in his fight against GSP. Rumors about a possible retirement, and bitter accusations followed, making some people wonder if BJ would be able to recover mentally from such a devastating loss in the biggest fight of his career.

BJ responded by making an example out of two of the best lightweights in the world.

1. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: Shogun was one of the biggest stars in Pride, but a string of injuries and poor performances had people questioning Shogun's ability to even stay in the UFC.

Shogun's win over Mark Coleman may as well have been a loss in terms of convincing the fans. It is my opinion that Dana White made the fight with Chuck Liddell because he thought that Shogun would be a fairly beatable opponent for the aging superstar.

If that is the case, the plan backfired badly, as Shogun looked good against Liddell, knocking him out in the first round.

Even then, fans weren't convinced up until he gave Lyoto Machida the toughest fight of his career, winning the fight in the minds of the majority of fans.

This performance is just as good as a win for Shogun, as it resurrects a career that was in serious jeopardy. A loss would probably have put Shogun on the brink of being cut. Instead, Shogun has more marketable matchups to look forward to than anybody in the UFC.

Honorable Mention: Chael Sonnen, Josh Koscheck, TJ Grant, Thiago Silva, Joe Stevenson

So... Who's going to make that big comeback in 2010?