Best Fight and Event of 2008 (ONLY Japan) - Poll

Friday 19 December 2008

Well, a huge task is in front of me. 2008 was a big year in Japanese MMA... There is no doubt about it!

I am planning to make it a poll, and I want to see what you guys think too! Any suggestions, add them in the comments fields or the chat box and I will check it out!

2008 was a very eventful year. Pride had to be replaced and DREAM was the new HERO's, trying take the open spot. Competition came from slow starting Sengoku. Looks like momentum has changed a bit though, no doubt it will be interesting to follow in 2009.

Organizations have disappeared too... Smackgirl started 2008 very optimistic, now there are 2 new female organizations fighting for that spot (Valkyrie and Jewels).

For most improved organization, Pancrase takes that honor closely followed by DEEP. Shooto have always maintained an impressive level, whereas Cage Force dropped off a bit due to financial difficulties in 2008.

I will start with what I think is the easier task, best fight of 2008. So what am I looking for? Basically, this is the kind of fight that makes you put down (or in my case spill) your beer. It should have a lot of intensity, skill and occasionally a happy ending.

I feel the choices I have made here are no surprises. But I will be reviewing both Shooto, DEEP and Pancrase carefully for candidates, I know there are some (help is appreciated)!

For now, here are some fights to get things started:
Eddie Alvarez vs. Joachim Hansen (DREAM 3)
Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (DREAM 5)
Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama (DREAM 4)
Caol Uno vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (DREAM 3)
Daiki Tsuchiya vs. Hidenori Nishino (Shooto 2/23/08)

There is no doubt that these 4 fights deserve to be in there! There will be more though.

Best event is harder. You might not think so, but my feeling is that the major events have a lot of fillers, especially since they are both in the initial stages. DEEP and Pancrase ended the year well, and Shooto have been putting up good cards all year!

But I will start with the obvious... Everyone loves tournaments, its a great way to great champions, and this year we have had some good tournaments! The lightweight division is stacked in Japan and it really showed in 2 great tournaments.

So, what was the best event of 2008... It is just really hard... I have had a great time at so many events this year.

It is obvious that DREAM 3 will be a candidate. Sengoku 6 was a solid card and even if non of the fights made it onto my best fight section, it is obvious here. DREAM 5 comes on, the drama and tension in the audience was indescribable.

DREAM 3
Sengoku 6
DREAM 5
DEEP 39
Shooto Tradition 1

Fighters that were discovered/re-discovered in 2008:
-Joachim Hansen (I think people had forgotten how good he really is)
-Eddie Alvarez (He was new for me, not any more)
-King Mo

Fighters forgotten in 2008:
-Bu Kyung Jung (put in an awesome performance against Shinya Aoki in Yarennoka...)

I will continue to work on this until the end of the year!

Just found a problem with the polls... Can't add options after someone has voted. So there is an "other" option.

To get you in the mood, here is a highlight video of 2008, this is global MMA though. Very well done and I watched the whole thing several times (its 30 min.). ENJOY!


1 comments:

Anonymous,  20 December 2008 at 07:14  

2008 was a huge year, both in Japan and the US. Really its been great all around the world. It seems MMA gets bigger and better every year, more fighters from different countries, better fighters from countries previously just breaking onto the scene. Can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us.

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