January 2009, an MMA Lover's Dream Come True

"The Best Is Yet To Come." Not only a timeless song by the incomparable Frank Sinatra, but a factual statement about MMA and its future.

With fights like Serra/Hughes and the finals of the UFC heavyweight tournament, to all the rematches we've been dying to see, 2009 is looking like the best year in MMA history.

We start with the less than enticing card of UFC 93. This will be the first UFC card of 2009, and it will take place in Dublin. So far we know that Hendo will face off with Rich Franklin, as well as the formerly much anticipated rematch of Shogun Rua and Mark Coleman.

Hendo and Franklin, what do they have in common. Both fighters have seen success in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions of the UFC. What else? They've both been stopped by Anderson Silva.

Since then, Franklin has tried to hold on to any form of credibility and he did, until he got KO'd again by Silva. Now he's moved up in weight and is looking for a huge win against Dan Henderson.

Shogun will end the ridiculously long wait the MMA fans have had to go through when he takes on veteran Mark Coleman in a "meh" (meh is now an actual word) rematch. We last saw Shogun getting spooned by Forrest back in 2007, a fight that earned Forrest his title shot.

Coleman was supposed to fight Brock Lesnar, but was replaced by Heath Herring due to injury. I honestly never thought I could be so unenthused by a Shogun fight.

These guys fought before over in PRIDE. By the time these guys will have faced off, it will have been almost three years since their meeting. It ended when Rua dislocated his elbow after an awkward landing, and since then Rua has been the only guy I know that has expressed interest in the rematch.

Now let's get away from all the negativity. How about Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Fedor will look to shut up all haters, and take out the third-ranked heavyweight in the world, Andrei Arlovski.

Andrei, on a two-year and five-fight winning streak, will attempt to be the first man to truly BEAT Fedor. Not to mention Josh Barnett, Vitor Belfort, Matt Lindland, Renato Sobral, Chris Horodecki, Jay Hieron, and Vladimir Matyushenko are fighting too. Yea, it's a pretty good card.

We move to WEC 38. Why? No, not because of Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone for the lightweight championship. No, not because it's just one day after Affliction. Because of the newly announced rematch between Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver.

Both of these guys are coming off of first-round losses and need a win to get back in the featherweight title hunt. If you thought their first fight was fight of the year, imagine how good this one will be with both of these men fighting to keep their careers afloat.

Next up we have UFC 94. Hopefully I will be able to handle this three week onslaught of fights. Yes, just one week after Faber/Pulver 2, we get to watch GSP and BJ Penn finally face off for GSP's welterweight title.

This fight will truly be a clash of the titans, and the first time in history that two UFC titleholders face off inside the octagon.

And if that wasn't enough, how about Machida/Silva (Thiago, not Anderson), and the return of Jon Fitch and Karo Parysian. Four MMA cards in just three weeks, truly my dream come true.

All of those fights, and we still have Hughes/Serra as well as the recently announced Couture/Liddell 4 yet to be scheduled. Oh, and UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar still has to fight the winner of Nog/Mir to solidify his standing as the best Heavyweight in the UFC. Gasp, I can't breathe.