WWSD?

Ivan Menjivar, UFC on Fuel TV 1

What would Sakuraba do? That’s the question Ivan Menjivar says he asked himself while his UFC on Fuel TV 1 opponent John Albert was seconds from pounding away a first-round TKO win over the ‘Pride of El Salvador.’ Menjivar, of course, means Japanese fighting legend Kazushi Sakuraba who made a career out of taking and coming back from hellacious beatings. The thought encouraged the Canada-based bantamweight to shoot for a double-leg and ultimately snag a rear naked choke for a perfect come-from-behind ‘W.’ What would Sakuraba do indeed.

JUDO CHOP!

Yoshihiro Akiyama, UFC 144

There are no chops in judo – shame on you, Mr Austin Powers. But what judo does have is freaking fantastic throws and trips. And rarely have they been better, or more frequently showcased, than by Yoshihiro Akiyama against Jake Shields at UFC 144 in Japan. If the scoring criteria had been readjusted to heavily emphasize the magnificence of a bout’s throws (and we suggest it is in all future Akiyama bouts) ‘Sexyama’ would have trotted away with an unquestionable three-round victory against Jake Shields instead of the decision loss he actually received. After about ‘200’ spectacular slams thanks to the osoto gari maneuver it’s a wonder Jake Shields didn’t go straight through the Octagon floor.

MUSIC FIGHT

Ryan Bader and ‘Rampage’ Jackson, UFC 144

Both ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader might have entered to their stunning UFC 144 tracks before (respectively the dramatic classical Pride FC theme, and a metal remix of Star Wars’ Imperial March), but combined back to back the tunes created a vortex of brilliance. Whereas Jackson entering to the stabbing strings of the defunct Japanese promotion back at UFC 123 against Lyoto Machida in Michigan gained a lukewarm reception, the Tokyo crowd welcomed it with perhaps the loudest pop of the night. Proving that, to the Japanese fans, Pride might be gone, but it’s certainly not forgotten.

SHOOT TO THRILL

Vaughan Lee, UFC 144

British bantamweight Vaughan Lee doesn’t play games on the mat. If the Bruce Lee-obsessed all-rounder is on the ground he’s going for a spectacular finish – just as he did against ‘Kid’ Yamamoto in February. The Japanese crowd at UFC 144 wasn’t too pleased to see their hometown hero drop his third bout in a row, but true to form they were markedly impressed with Lee chaining a triangle into an armbar to make Yamamoto tap out for the first time in the 34-year-old’s 11-year career.

HALF MAN, HALF BEAST

Dave Herman, UFC on Fuel TV 1

Is it a sweater? Is it a translucent black shawl? No, it’s an astonishingly dense forest of body hair. One that belongs to UFC heavyweight Dave Herman. Unfortunately this beautiful body rug didn’t help secure Herman the win against six-foot-eleven Stefan Struve at UFC on Fuel TV 1 (he was TKO’d toward the end of round two) but he scored man points. Many, many man points. Step aside former title contender Gabriel Gonzaga, your reign as the UFC’s hairiest individual is over. All hail the Herman.

BEST KNOCKOUT

Issei Tamura, UFC 144

Thanks to a freight train right hand from UFC debutant Issei Tamura, ‘The Mongolian Wolf’ Tiequan Zhang hit the deck like a ton of bricks at UFC 144 in February. After a back-and-forth first round the Chinese featherweight crumpled and took a couple extra shots at 33 seconds of the second. However, it’s hard to discern which is a more interesting stat: that it was the first time Zhang has been knocked unconscious in 18 career bouts, or that it was only Tamura’s second-ever KO victory.

COOLEST INTERVIEWEE

Mark Hunt, UFC 144

‘What? I just knocked out a guy in front of 20,000 adoring Japanese fans? No big deal. Do it all the time. Can I go now?’ Mark Hunt couldn’t have been more casual in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan after calmly KO’ing Cheick Kongo in the first round at UFC 144. Monosyllabic answers coming from anyone else would have been pushing it, but the ‘Super Samoan’ can get away with it. Besides, given the option between Hunt’s silent appraisal of his handy work while watching it on the big screen, or Tank Abbott telling early UFC mainstay Jeff Blatnik that viewing the replays of his UFC 6 knockout of John Matua were getting him aroused, we know which we’d prefer.

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