2011 MMA All-Stars in Every Weight Class

With the MLB All-Star game coming up, we get to see the best of the best compete for home-field advantage in the World Series.

Of course having an MMA All-Star game would be entirely implausible, but that doesn't mean that the All-Stars so far during the year shouldn't be recognized.

This list will go through the main seven weight classes, bantamweight through heavyweight, and will recognize the All-Stars in each division.

There will be first, second, third team and honorable mentions.

As always, the list is very subjective so, if you disagree with any of my choices, let me hear in the comments.

So, without further ado, here are the 2011 MMA All-Stars.

This is not a rankings list. It is a list of the best performers of the first half of 2011.

Bantamweight

1st team - Demetrious Johnson: 10-2 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Demetrious Johnson takes the top spot for the bantamweights. 

So far in 2011, Johnson has won two unanimous decisions over impressive competition.

At UFC 126, he spoiled the UFC debut of Kid Yamamoto; at UFC 130, he defeated the former title holder, Miguel Torres.

Johnson may be next in line for a shot at UFC gold.

2nd team- Brian Bowles: 10-1 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

If it's not Johnson who gets the next title shot, it'll probably be Bowles.

Bowles is also 2-0 this year, and has looked impressive in both fights.

At UFC: Live, he defeated Damacio Page by guillotine choke and then at UFC 132, he won a unanimous decision over Takeya Mizugaki.

Bowles will get another title shot, it's just a matter of when.

3rd team- Dominick Cruz: 18-1 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

And the champion takes home third-team honors.

Cruz has only fought once this year, but he did beat a top fighter in Urijah Faber.

In addition to just putting on a generally impressive performance, he avenged the only loss of his career.

Cruz will hopefully have one more title defense this year.

Honorable Mention- Urijah Faber: 25-5 MMA, 1-1 in 2011

Urijah Faber gets the honorable mention, because to set up the fight with Cruz he defeated Eddie Wineland by unanimous decision.

Not only was the victory significant, but the fight itself was significant, because it was the first co-main event featuring former WEC fighters in UFC history.

And then he was half of the first main event featuring former WEC fighters in UFC history.

Not bad.

Featherweight

1st team- Patricio Freire: 17-1 MMA, 3-0 in 2011

For the casual MMA fan, you probably have no idea who Patricio "Pitbull" Freire is.

Well, he is the Bellator Season 4 featherweight tournament winner.

He gets the first team selection because he won three fights in three months, including two finishes, on his way to the tournament victory.

Pitbull was going to fight Joe Warren for the title, but an injury has put those plans on hold for now.

2nd team- Dustin Poirier: 10-1 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Dustin Poirier may be a surprise to some people, but I think he deserves the spot.

He's 2-0 so far this year, and he started off the year in a big way.

Josh Grispi was originally going to fight Jose Aldo for the title at UFC 125, but one thing led to another, and Poirier fought, and handily defeated, Grispi.

After that, Poirier took on, and defeated, Jason Young by unanimous decision.

3rd team- Mark Hominick: 20-9 MMA, 1-1 in 2011

Mark "I-Want-To-Go-To-A-Sixth-Round-Even-Though-There's-A-Golf-Ball-Coming-Out-Of-My-Head" Hominick gets third-team honors.

Hominick's year started by quickly dispatching George Roop via TKO in only 1:28 in a No. 1 contender match for the featherweight title.

He then went on to fight Jose Aldo at UFC 129, and boy did they put on a show.

It was an outstanding fight, which saw Aldo cause a hematoma on the forehead of Hominick, and Hominick just kept on trucking. They won fight of the night and, with another round, Hominick may have walked out of there as the featherweight champion.

Honorable Mention- Pablo Garza: 11-1 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Pablo Garza gets the honorable mention for one reason only.

He started off the biggest MMA event in North America (UFC 129) with a flying triangle choke, and won submission-of-the-night honors for it.

Tell me he doesn't deserve some recognition for that.

Lightweight

1st team- Clay Guida: 29-11 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Boy, can Greg Jackson train fighters or what?

Clay Guida has now proved he is a gatekeeper no more.

His fight year started as early as it could—at UFC 125, he forced the former Pride lightweight champion to tap out to a guillotine choke in the second round, and he earned submission-of-the-night honors for it.

Guida followed that up by taking on the final WEC lightweight champion in his UFC debut. Many expected Pettis to walk away with the win and keep his No. 1 contender status.

Clay Guida had other plans. Guida used his wrestling to control Pettis, and he showed some great submission defense en route to a unanimous decision victory.

If Guida keeps this up, he may get his title shot sooner rather than later.

2nd team- Melvin Guillard: 29-8-2 [1 NC] MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Melvin Guillard is another product of Jackson's Submission Fighting, and another fighter who has been incredible since moving to Albuquerque.

Melvin is 2-0 this year with two impressive stoppages to strikes.

At UFC Fight for the Troops 2, Guillard took on Evan Dunham in the main event, and he TKO'd him in under three minutes and won knockout-of-the-night honors for that.

Then, at UFC 132, Guillard took on Shane Roller and scored a straight knockout this time, at 2:12 of the opening round. (Side note: I called this fight down to the second, but definitely not bragging.)

Guillard is looking to fight at UFC 136, he was receptive to the idea of a rematch with Dennis Siver, but he also called out Joe Lauzon. We'll see what happens.

3rd team- Dennis Siver: 19-7 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

And with the third-team honors, we've got Dennis Siver.

Siver has won two unanimous decisions this year, including a massive upset of George Sotiropoulos at UFC 127. Siver showed incredible takedown defense, and was able to stand and strike with Sotiropoulos for 15 minutes.

He wasn't as lucky in his fight against Matt Wiman at UFC 132.

While he did show great takedown defense, it wasn't enough, as Wiman was able to take him down several times, and he couldn't do much once that happened.

In the end, in a highly controversial judging decision, Siver won a unanimous decision victory, which prompted Matt Wiman to take off his shirt and hat, leave the Octagon and the arena, through the concourse area.

Honorable Mention- Donald Cerrone: 15-3 [1 NC] MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Honorable mention goes out to the WEC lightweight who has performed the best since coming over, and that would be Donald Cerrone.

Cerrone's UFC debut came with about a month's notice, and he took on Paul Kelly at UFC 126. Cerrone defeated Kelly via rear naked choke, and the two won fight-of-the-night honors for it.

Cerrone's next fight was against Vagner Rocha at UFC 131, and Cerrone won a unanimous decision victory.

Cerrone is a top young lightweight, and should hopefully challenge for a title at some point in the future.

Plus, he dated Brittney Palmer.

And, as you should know by now, every slideshow needs a little Brittney.

Welterweight

1st team- Nick Diaz: 25-7 [1 NC] MMA, 2-0 in 2011

The former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion has been the most impressive welterweight through the first half of 2011.

Diaz's first fight of the year was against Evangelista Santos, and it was quite the fight. After a back-and-forth first round, and a back-and-forth most of the second round, with 34 seconds left in the second round, Cyborg took down Diaz and was tapped out 24 seconds later.

Diaz's second fight of the year was against British brawler Paul Daley. In one of the most entertaining rounds of the year, Diaz TKO'd Daley with only three seconds left in the first round.

The fight saw both of them get rocked, go down and recover, but, as I said, it was Diaz who came out on top.

Diaz fights to his opponents' strengths, and he beats them at it.

2nd team- Georges St-Pierre: 22-2 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Second-team honors go to the UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St-Pierre.

St-Pierre has only fought once this year, but he is also one of the few fighters who can claim to have fought a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter in the past year.

St-Pierre took on Jake Shields at UFC 129, and he defeated him by unanimous decision.

It wasn't the most impressive performance, and he did fight to his opponent's weakness, but he beat a top fighter nonetheless.

3rd team- Carlos Condit: 27-5 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Carlos Condit is another fighter who has fought only once this year, but boy did he look impressive doing it.

At UFC 132, Condit took on undefeated judoka Dong Hyun Kim.

Early on in the fight, Condit was taken down easily by Kim but, once on the ground, Condit reversed Kim and ended up on top in mount.

Once the fight got back to the feet, Condit knocked Kim out with a flying knee at 2:58 of the first round. Condit won knockout-of-the-night honors for it, and boy did he deserve it.

Honorable Mentions- Rick Story: 13-4 MMA, 1-1 in 2011/ Charlie Brenneman: 14-2 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

I'll be giving two fighters the honorable mention at welterweight.

Rick Story took on Thiago Alves at UFC 130 and, in a massive upset, he controlled, smothered and wore out Alves en route to a unanimous decision victory.

After that, when Anthony Johnson had to pull out of his fight against Nate Marquardt at UFC Live, Story was quick to step up and accept the fight and look to put himself in title contention.

Unfortunately, Marquardt was forced out of UFC Live and Story ended up facing Charlie Brenneman.

Brenneman was originally going to fight T.J. Grant, but Grant pulled out and Brenneman was left without an opponent—just hours before the weigh in, these two were matched up in the co-main event.

Brenneman came in and upset Story via unanimous decision, using his wrestling to control Story.

Each of these two pulled off impressive upsets, and they both deserve recognition for that.

Middleweight

1st team- Brian Stann: 11-3 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Brian Stann is a beast.

Stann started his year at UFC 125, when he handed Chris Leben his second stoppage to strikes ever. The other person to do it was Anderson Silva.

Then Stann took a big jump up in competition, and he took on the former Sengoku middleweight champion, Jorge Santiago. He knocked him out at 4:29 of the second round in a fight-of-the-night performance.

Stann is definitely worthy of the first-team honors.

Now Stann is set up to fight against the man who most challenged Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen.

2nd team- Mark Munoz: 11-2 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Munoz started off his year at UFC Live on Versus 3, when he knocked out C.B. Dollaway in only 54 seconds.

As if that wasn't impressive enough, Munoz announced himself as a contender with a unanimous decision victory over one-time title challenger, Demian Maia, at UFC 131.

Maia showed improved stand up in the fight, but it still wasn't enough to come close to stopping Munoz.

He's known as the Filipino Wrecking Machine for a reason.

3rd team- Anderson Silva: 30-4 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Anderson Silva has only had one fight this year, but boy was it finished in impressive fashion.

Against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126, Silva and Belfort spent about 2:30 feeling each other out, and then they started to unload.

A couple strikes, a pretty cool scramble, and then it happened.

Silva landed a front kick to the jaw of Belfort and rocked him BAD.

Silva then landed two punches to Belfort on the ground and the fight was over, in one of the most impressive knockouts of the year.

Silva is fighting Yushin Okami at UFC 134.

Honorable Mention- Hector Lombard: 29-2-1 [1 NC], 2-0 in 2011

Hector Lombard takes home the honorable mention for the middleweight division, and he's worthy of it.

His first fight of the year was against Joe Doerksen, and Lombard defended his CFC title by earning a doctor stoppage at 4:13 of the very first round.

Then Lombard had his first fight of the year for Bellator, and he made the most of it.

In a non-title fight at Bellator 44, Lombard fought Falaniko Vitale and knocked him out with one punch in the third round.

He is now unbeaten in his last 23 fights. That's not bad.

Light Heavyweight

1st team- Jon Jones: 13-1 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

This can't come as a surprise to anyone.

To start off his year, at UFC 126, Jon Jones submitted Ryan Bader with a guillotine choke in the second round.

Then, during his in-cage post-fight interview, Jones was offered a title shot at Mauricio Rua in place of the injured Rashad Evans. Jones accepted, and then six weeks later the fight went down.

Then, at UFC 128, Jon Jones TKO'd Shogun Rua in the third round to become the youngest champion in the history of the UFC.

Two fights, two finishes and a championship, all in six weeks. Jones takes the cake without question.

2nd team- Lyoto Machida: 17-2 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Second-team honors will go to "The Dragon" Lyoto Machida.

Machida had a pretty awful 2010, going 0-2, including the loss of his light heavyweight title.

Then, in his first and only fight so far this year, Machida gave the MMA world one of the best knockouts of the year, if not in history.

At UFC 129, Machida took on the legendary Randy Couture. Couture was flustered by Machida's elusiveness, and he couldn't get a hold on him.

Then, about a minute into the second round, Machida landed a "jumping front kick" that sent Couture crashing to the canvas.

Machida won knockout of the night and, with that, Randy Couture was sent into retirement.

3rd team- Tito Ortiz: 16-8-1 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Tito Ortiz is BACK!

Tito came into his fight with Ryan Bader at UFC 132 with his back to the wall. A loss, and he was done in the UFC.

He came out like a man possessed. Within the first two minutes of the fight, Tito landed a short right hand that dropped Bader.

Bader, who was clearly rocked, started getting back to his feet and Tito slapped on a guillotine choke.

Then, at 1:56 of the first round, Bader tapped out and Tito's career was saved.

1st Honorable Mention- Phil Davis: 9-0 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Phil Davis gets first honorable mention, but could move up this list very quickly towards year's end if all goes well for him.

At UFC Fight Night: Seattle, Davis took on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the main event of the evening.

Through the first round, Davis kept shooting for doubles and Nogueira kept stuffing him.

Then, in the second and third round, Davis switched things up and started going for singles, which Nogueira had no answer for.

Davis went on to take the unanimous decision and is now fighting Rashad Evans at UFC 133.

2nd Honorable Mention- Christian M'Pumbu: 18-3-1 MMA, 3-0 in 2011

The other Bellator Season 4 tournament winner will take the second honorable mention for the light heavyweight division.

Christian M'Pumbu TKO'd his way through all three opponents he faced en route to the tournament victory and winning the inaugural Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship.

The people who M'Pumbu fought were no slouches either. Before they fought him, their combined record was 36-5-1.

Not bad.

Heavyweight

1st team- Junior dos Santos: 13-1 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Junior dos Santos has been the most impressive heavyweight so far this year.

The main reasoning behind that is because he is the only top heavyweight who's beaten another top heavyweight impressively.

At UFC 131, dos Santos headlined the card against Shane Carwin.

Dos Santos nearly finished Carwin in the first round but, he didn't, and he ended up taking the unanimous decision victory in the end.

JDS is now expected to fight for the heavyweight championship against Cain Velasquez at UFC 138 in November.

2nd team- Cheick Kongo: 16-6-2 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Cheick Kongo just blew Scott Smith out of the water.

In the most impressive come-from-behind victory in MMA history (yeah, I said it), Cheick Kongo knocked out Pat Barry at UFC Live on Versus 4.

Kongo was rocked and knocked down three times during the first round of the fight against Barry but, somehow, when he scrambled back to his feet again, he landed a right hand behind the ear of Barry and then a right uppercut that knocked him clean out.

Not only a great comeback, but a great knockout.

3rd team- Antonio Silva: 16-2 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva gets the third team nod for his drubbing of Fedor Emelianenko back in February.

In the quarterfinals of the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix, Silva was able to take Fedor down and apply some intense ground-and-pound, which forced the doctor stoppage after the second round.

The stoppage was warranted, as Fedor's right eye was all but closed and the left was well on its way there.

I really wish it hadn't been stopped, as I'm one of those people who believes Fedor would have pulled another come-from-behind victory out of nowhere.

Nevertheless, Silva will now fight Alistair Overeem at a date to be announced.

Honorable Mention- Matt Mitrione: 5-0 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

This one was hard to pick—it was either going to be "Meathead" or Brendan Schaub, but I went with Mitrione based on his two wins to Schaub's one.

Mitrione's year started at UFC Fight for the Troops 2, where he TKO'd Tim Hague at 2:59 of the first round.

Then, in his second fight so far this year, at UFC Live on Versus 4, "Meathead" TKO'd Christian Morecraft at 4:28 of the second round.

Mitrione has had all five of his pro fights in the UFC, and he gets better every time he steps in the cage.

First Team

Now it's time for the wrap-up. Here's all the first team selections.

Bantamweight- Demetrious Johnson: 10-2 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Featherweight- Patricio Freire: 17-1 MMA, 3-0 in 2011

Lightweight- Clay Guida: 29-11 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Welterweight- Nick Diaz: 25-7 [1 NC] MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Middleweight- Brian Stann: 11-3 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Light Heavyweight- Jon Jones: 13-1 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Heavyweight- Junior dos Santos: 13-1 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Second Team

Bantamweight- Brian Bowles: 10-1 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Featherweight- Dustin Poirier: 10-1 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Lightweight- Melvin Guillard: 29-8-2 [1 NC] MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Welterweight- Georges St-Pierre: 22-2 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Middleweight- Mark Munoz: 11-2 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Light Heavyweight- Lyoto Machida: 17-2 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Heavyweight- Cheick Kongo: 16-6-2 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Third Team

Bantamweight- Dominick Cruz: 18-1 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Featherweight- Mark Hominick: 20-9 MMA, 1-1 in 2011

Lightweight- Dennis Siver: 19-7 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Welterweight- Carlos Condit: 27-5 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Middleweight- Anderson Silva: 30-4 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Light Heavyweight- Tito Ortiz: 16-8-1 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Heavyweight- Antonio Silva: 16-2 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Honorable Mentions

Bantamweight- Urijah Faber: 25-5 MMA, 1-1 in 2011

Featherweight- Pablo Garza: 11-1 MMA, 1-0 in 2011

Lightweight- Donald Cerrone: 15-3 [1 NC] MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Welterweight- Rick Story: 13-4 MMA, 1-1 in 2011/ Charlie Brenneman: 14-2 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Middleweight- Hector Lombard: 29-2-1 [1 NC], 2-0 in 2011

Light Heavyweight- Phil Davis: 9-0 MMA, 1-0 in 2011 & Christian M'Pumbu: 18-3-1 MMA, 3-0 in 2011

Heavyweight- Matt Mitrione: 5-0 MMA, 2-0 in 2011

Thanks for Reading!

Every slideshow needs a little Brittney.

Thanks for reading!