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Must stress that these performances are my opinion, but as always interested to hear the General sherdog consensus
1) Max Holloway win vs Calvin Kattar by 5 rd DEC. Ironically the first fight of the year, and still IMO, by far and away the greatest performance. I still do not know how Holloway didn't get a double bonus for this win (he received FOTN but not POTN for reference). Many will say its because he did not finish Kattar but other fighters have received POTN bonuses for less dominant decision victories (Vettori vs Costa). Holloway is my favourite fighter of all time for reference, but going into 2021, I was somewhat nervous in wondering where he stood in the 145 division and whether he had the hunger to regain his title. Believe me, all doubts were put to rest in this fight. Here are some stats, 445 strikes landed, 746 thrown, 50-43 and 50-42 on the scorecards, an arguable 10-7 in rd 4. Whats even more impressive is that usually a 10-8 or rarely 10-7 scorecard is warranted extreme dominance on the ground, so the fact that Holloway was able to outbox the "best boxer in the division" to the point where a 10-7 scorecard was considered despite no takedowns speaks volumes to the levels he reached in this fight. Credit to Kattar for being probably the toughest SOB on planet earth but no doubt, this fight has potentially ruined his career (we'll see very soon). I know i maybe bias, but this imo was easily not only the best performance of the year, but easily one the top 10 greatest performances ever in UFC history.
2) Brandon Moreno win vs Deiveison Figueredo via 3rd RD RNC. Arguably the FOTY in 2020, many like me were highly anticipating the rematch between Figueredo vs Moreno. A lot of "experts" predicted that Figgy was gonna run through Moreno and that the only reason that first fight had gone to decision was because of the insane back to back weight cuts Figgy made in a three week period (he has to cut pretty much 40lbs from 165 to 125 and walks into the octagon at 147 for reference). Many also argued on paper, Figgy had better striking, better BJJ (he was a black belt compared to moreno who was a brown belt) and was seen as the destroyer of the 125lb division. Going into the fight, Moreno was a +205 underdog. Yet, from the moment he walked out to the end of his post fight interview, Moreno was pretty much perfect. In the fight, he was always a step ahead of Figueiredo, dropping him in the first rd with a jab, and rag dolling him in the second, before finally finishing in the third with a beautiful RNC to become the new undisputed FLW champ. He also showed tremendous improvement from the first fight in his shot selection and overall fight IQ. For a division that in many peoples eyes was shallow, Morenos win demonstrated how much talent there is at 125, and his performance showed that despite being originally cut from the UFC, it aint about how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Onwards to the trilogy at UFC 270. Viva Mexico.
3) Francis Ngannou win vs Stipe Miocic via 2nd Rd KO. Again, another highly anticipated rematch which leading into it had many questions for fans about Francis. Has he improved his wrestling? Will he fight less recklessly? Is he just a power puncher or can he become what all of us believe and be the scariest dude on the planet? By the end of UFC 260, the answer to all of those was an emphatic yes. From the moment Francis sprawled on Stipes TD attempt, in my eyes the fight was done and was francis's to lose. He was calm throughout, feinted far more to setup his strikes, and even tried outwrestling stipe at one point. The finishing sequence was a thing of beauty with the straight left first dropping Stipe and the counter left switching his lights out for good, to crown the new undisputed champ of the HW division. To quote DC, "calm Francis is the scariest fighter we may have seen ever" and this performance really highlighted the significant improvements he had made from the first fight to the point where he dominated one of the GOAT HWs we have seen across both rounds. the fight with Gane at UFC 270 is intriguing but if Francis can somehow replicate a similar performance to this one in that fight, where he has Gane second guessing himself, the HW champ will retain his crown.
4) Oliveira win vs Chandler via 2nd RD TKO. Unlike the top 3, Oliveira did not dominate his fight vs Chandler. In fact, despite talking Chandlers back in the first half of the first round, (which pretty much is Oliveiras wheel house), he's probably the only fighter on this list to lose a round (and lose it badly via 10-8). From the moment Chandler first dropped him to the moment he went back to his corner, it looked like Oliveira was done for. Certainly had this been the charles from 2017 or before, he may well have quit on his stool. However, despite being a +400 underdog going into the 2nd round, Oliveira dropped Chandler with a beautiful left hook and finished him with strikes within a minute to become the undisputed LW champ. Not only did Charles show insane amounts of heart and determination, but also insane levels of fight IQ to spot that opening and counter effectively despite being badly hurt. He replicated a similar come back performance against Poirier but a) Poirier hurt him less in the first round and b) Oliveira sort of cheated in the fight. Oliveiras comeback career was really exemplified in his performance against Chandler hence the spot on this list.
5) Chimaev win vs Li Jingliang via 1st Rd RNC. I actually had the privilege of watching this fight live, so I can say with the confidence that as scary as Khamzat looks on TV, he's about 10 times scarier when watching him live. The way he manhandled Li, particularly when he carried him across the octagon to Dana White made everyone in the arena gasp in a mixture of wonder and fear. He then landed 58 strikes to 0 before sinking in the RNC to put Li to sleep. Going into the fight, there were a lot of questions on whether the Chimaev hype train was as real as what we thought it was. If he can replicate that performance against the top 5 of the division, no one at WW and maybe MW is safe. Scariest performance ive seen for sure.
Some honourable mentions would be Whittaker vs Gastelum, Prochazka vs Reyes, Aldo vs Font, Volkanovski vs Ortega and Chikadze vs Barboza.
What do you think Sherbros, what was the best performance of 2021 in your mind?
1) Max Holloway win vs Calvin Kattar by 5 rd DEC. Ironically the first fight of the year, and still IMO, by far and away the greatest performance. I still do not know how Holloway didn't get a double bonus for this win (he received FOTN but not POTN for reference). Many will say its because he did not finish Kattar but other fighters have received POTN bonuses for less dominant decision victories (Vettori vs Costa). Holloway is my favourite fighter of all time for reference, but going into 2021, I was somewhat nervous in wondering where he stood in the 145 division and whether he had the hunger to regain his title. Believe me, all doubts were put to rest in this fight. Here are some stats, 445 strikes landed, 746 thrown, 50-43 and 50-42 on the scorecards, an arguable 10-7 in rd 4. Whats even more impressive is that usually a 10-8 or rarely 10-7 scorecard is warranted extreme dominance on the ground, so the fact that Holloway was able to outbox the "best boxer in the division" to the point where a 10-7 scorecard was considered despite no takedowns speaks volumes to the levels he reached in this fight. Credit to Kattar for being probably the toughest SOB on planet earth but no doubt, this fight has potentially ruined his career (we'll see very soon). I know i maybe bias, but this imo was easily not only the best performance of the year, but easily one the top 10 greatest performances ever in UFC history.
2) Brandon Moreno win vs Deiveison Figueredo via 3rd RD RNC. Arguably the FOTY in 2020, many like me were highly anticipating the rematch between Figueredo vs Moreno. A lot of "experts" predicted that Figgy was gonna run through Moreno and that the only reason that first fight had gone to decision was because of the insane back to back weight cuts Figgy made in a three week period (he has to cut pretty much 40lbs from 165 to 125 and walks into the octagon at 147 for reference). Many also argued on paper, Figgy had better striking, better BJJ (he was a black belt compared to moreno who was a brown belt) and was seen as the destroyer of the 125lb division. Going into the fight, Moreno was a +205 underdog. Yet, from the moment he walked out to the end of his post fight interview, Moreno was pretty much perfect. In the fight, he was always a step ahead of Figueiredo, dropping him in the first rd with a jab, and rag dolling him in the second, before finally finishing in the third with a beautiful RNC to become the new undisputed FLW champ. He also showed tremendous improvement from the first fight in his shot selection and overall fight IQ. For a division that in many peoples eyes was shallow, Morenos win demonstrated how much talent there is at 125, and his performance showed that despite being originally cut from the UFC, it aint about how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Onwards to the trilogy at UFC 270. Viva Mexico.
3) Francis Ngannou win vs Stipe Miocic via 2nd Rd KO. Again, another highly anticipated rematch which leading into it had many questions for fans about Francis. Has he improved his wrestling? Will he fight less recklessly? Is he just a power puncher or can he become what all of us believe and be the scariest dude on the planet? By the end of UFC 260, the answer to all of those was an emphatic yes. From the moment Francis sprawled on Stipes TD attempt, in my eyes the fight was done and was francis's to lose. He was calm throughout, feinted far more to setup his strikes, and even tried outwrestling stipe at one point. The finishing sequence was a thing of beauty with the straight left first dropping Stipe and the counter left switching his lights out for good, to crown the new undisputed champ of the HW division. To quote DC, "calm Francis is the scariest fighter we may have seen ever" and this performance really highlighted the significant improvements he had made from the first fight to the point where he dominated one of the GOAT HWs we have seen across both rounds. the fight with Gane at UFC 270 is intriguing but if Francis can somehow replicate a similar performance to this one in that fight, where he has Gane second guessing himself, the HW champ will retain his crown.
4) Oliveira win vs Chandler via 2nd RD TKO. Unlike the top 3, Oliveira did not dominate his fight vs Chandler. In fact, despite talking Chandlers back in the first half of the first round, (which pretty much is Oliveiras wheel house), he's probably the only fighter on this list to lose a round (and lose it badly via 10-8). From the moment Chandler first dropped him to the moment he went back to his corner, it looked like Oliveira was done for. Certainly had this been the charles from 2017 or before, he may well have quit on his stool. However, despite being a +400 underdog going into the 2nd round, Oliveira dropped Chandler with a beautiful left hook and finished him with strikes within a minute to become the undisputed LW champ. Not only did Charles show insane amounts of heart and determination, but also insane levels of fight IQ to spot that opening and counter effectively despite being badly hurt. He replicated a similar come back performance against Poirier but a) Poirier hurt him less in the first round and b) Oliveira sort of cheated in the fight. Oliveiras comeback career was really exemplified in his performance against Chandler hence the spot on this list.
5) Chimaev win vs Li Jingliang via 1st Rd RNC. I actually had the privilege of watching this fight live, so I can say with the confidence that as scary as Khamzat looks on TV, he's about 10 times scarier when watching him live. The way he manhandled Li, particularly when he carried him across the octagon to Dana White made everyone in the arena gasp in a mixture of wonder and fear. He then landed 58 strikes to 0 before sinking in the RNC to put Li to sleep. Going into the fight, there were a lot of questions on whether the Chimaev hype train was as real as what we thought it was. If he can replicate that performance against the top 5 of the division, no one at WW and maybe MW is safe. Scariest performance ive seen for sure.
Some honourable mentions would be Whittaker vs Gastelum, Prochazka vs Reyes, Aldo vs Font, Volkanovski vs Ortega and Chikadze vs Barboza.
What do you think Sherbros, what was the best performance of 2021 in your mind?
