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Islam Makhachev finishing the most decorated grappler in UFC history secured him lightweight gold and MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Year for 2022.
With another action-packed year of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie takes a look at the best submissions from January to December 2022.
As voted on by our entire staff, here are the top 10 and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Year.
“Pound-for-pound. Headshot. Dead.” Leon Edwards’ stunning finish of Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 is MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Year for 2022.
With another action-packed year of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie takes a look at the best knockouts from January to December 2022.
As voted on by our entire staff, here are the top 10 and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Year.
The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 events down to a shortlist of four, including events in London, Paris and New York.
The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 events down to a shortlist of four.
The promotion this past week unveiled the four finalists on its list for Event of the Year. Fans can vote for their favorite of the four through the UFC’s YouTube channel or social media platforms.
Two international cities, including one the UFC visited for the first time, are on the list, as is another of the most famous cities and venues in the world.
Check out the four finalists on the UFC’s list below, as well as looks back at their aftermaths. In addition, you can see a recap of all four highlight-reel finishes in the video above.
There was a slew of events that stood out across the increasingly wide MMA landscape in 2022, but one stood out from the pack.
There was a slew of events that stood out across the increasingly wide MMA landscape in 2022.
Bellator returned to Honolulu for back-to-back events, the first of which was strictly for military members and first responders. ONE Championship started a new era with a broadcast partnership with Amazon Prime. The PFL crowned six first-time $1 million winners in a single night.
The UFC touched down in Paris for the first time with a memorable show, and its return to Madison Square Garden in November for UFC 281 featured a record-tying 11 finishes in 14 fights – seven of which came in the first round, which also tied a record. Or how ’bout UFC on ESPN 40 in August, which had a 100 percent finish rate to tie a longstanding record?
But while those and others were cards worthy of discussion, another was just ahead of the pack.
UFC Fight Night 204, which took place March 19 at The O2 in London, is MMA Junkie’s Event of the Year for 2022.
The anticipation for the UFC’s return to London was at a level seldom seen, largely thanks to the time that had built up since the promotion’s previous show in the city. A March 2020 card was scheduled, but scrapped due to the pandemic. And a planned return in September 2021 was moved to Las Vegas. It had been three years since London fans had a UFC show to look forward to.
It would have been hard for UFC London to start out better than it did. Flyweight Muhammad Mokaev was born in Russia, but moved to England as a child and wrestled for England’s national team. It took him just 58 seconds to stay unbeaten in his promotional debut – a submission of Cody Durden to set the pace.
If the expectations for the rest of the night were tempered in The O2 after decision wins in the next two fights, it would be understandable. But after those first three bouts, things got positively nuts.
The rest of the way, eight of the final nine fights on the card ended with stoppages, including six in the first round. With nine finishes in a dozen fights, UFC president Dana White was so overwhelmed by the choices for post-fight bonus awards that he had little choice but to open up the coffers a little bit. Every one of the nine fighters who got a finish went home with an extra $50,000 Performance of the Night check.
Those bonus winners were happy with their extra pay, no doubt. But they also made the British fans plenty happy most of the time, too.
In the main event, England’s own Tom Aspinall submitted former Bellator heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov with a first-round armbar. Just before that, fan favorite and featherweight contender Arnold Allen kept his unbeaten UFC record intact with a TKO of Dan Hooker.
But perhaps the most memorable finishes came from Liverpool-based teammates Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann. In a women’s flyweight bout on the main card, McCann landed a Knockout of the Year candidate when she drilled Luana Carolina with a spinning back elbow in the third round and put her out cold. Not long after that, she was cageside to watch Pimblett take out Kazula Vargas with a first-round rear-naked choke.
McCann and Pimblett crossed over to officially become fan darlings with those wins and their post-fight speeches, and in the process they became the faces of an event that set the bar for the rest of the pack in the first quarter of the year.
But, the argument will go, other events had a ton of finishes, too. What about UFC 281 in New York, which had 11 finishes in 14 fights and two title changes? It had more finishes, and with arguably bigger names attached. True. But UFC Fight Night 204 had one thing that puts it over the top.
The atmosphere was electric enough at The O2, and the finish-heavy results were exciting enough that White said immediately after the event that the UFC was going to rearrange its calendar for a return to London much quicker than originally planned. The UFC had been hitting the city once a year around March for several years before the pandemic. But instead of waiting until March 2023, the UFC returned just four months later with another card headlined by Aspinall.
For its anticipation, for its electricity, for its nine finishes in 12 fights, for its star-making performances and for the way it was big enough that the members of the UFC brass had to go back to work to try to catch lightning in a bottle twice, UFC Fight Night 204 in London is our 2022 Event of the Year.
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The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 knockout candidates down to a four-KO shortlist of super highlight-reel finishes.
The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 knockout candidates down to a four-KO shortlist.
The promotion this week unveiled the four finalists on its list for Knockout of the Year. Fans can vote for their favorite of the four through the UFC’s YouTube channel or social media platforms.
Two women and two men make up the final four, and more than they were brutal – and they all were – all the candidates seemed to come out of nowhere, making them nearly impossible to defend against.
Check out the four finalists on the UFC’s list below, as well as looks back at their aftermaths. In addition, you can see a recap of all four highlight-reel finishes in the video above.
Check out a full recap of 2022’s most significant footnotes and milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.
Now that the year has come to a close, and with a major assist from UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll, here are some of 2022’s most significant milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances in the octagon.
Daniel Cormier thinks Dan Hooker’s best days might be behind him.
[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag]’s best days might be behind him.
Hooker (21-12 MMA, 11-8 UFC) is now 1-4 in his past five fights. Most recently, he was stopped by Arnold Allen in his return to featherweight this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 204.
It’s been a rough stretch for Hooker, who once was a title contention threat in the 155-pound division. He attempted to seek new life by returning to featherweight, but was finished in the first round by surging contender Arnold Allen in London.
“I think we have our answer now as to where Dan Hooker is in his career, and it’s sobering,” Cormier said on his ESPN show “DC & RC.” “It’s actually sad for a fan favorite like Hooker. But we know now that Dan Hooker is now on the tail end because when you start to become the person that is there to uplift the younger talent, the gatekeeper per se, like you always say: ‘I try to make everybody a gatekeeper.’ It seems like now he will continue to find himself in those types of matchups.”
Cormier said Hooker’s back-to-back wars against Paul Felder and Dustin Poirier took a toll on “The Hangman” and his ability to take damage in a fight.
Despite UFC president Dana White not being concerned about Hooker’s future, Cormier isn’t sure if the 32-year-old can return to top form.
“Even though he didn’t go out against Felder, he didn’t go out against Dustin Poirier, he took an absolute beating,” Cormier said. “And now you’re starting to see all the wear and tear from those fights really start to show themselves because he’s not the same guy. And it’s sad to watch, because he’s not an old guy, but he’s also down a weight class. And as we’ve seen time and time again, these guys suck all that weight, it does affect the chin a little bit.
“I think the weight cut and all the damage he’s taken over the course of a really tough career is starting to really wear on Dan Hooker, and I don’t think we’ll ever see him the same guy again. It’s sad.”
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Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”
Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.
On Episode 3,244, the guys reviewed this weekend’s UFC card and went over all the new storylines, including where does Molly meatball’s KO rank in WMMA, if Jon Jones will fight by the end of the year, what do you do with Dan Hooker now, and much more. Tune in!
Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.
Given the performances and electric atmosphere, we won’t soon forget the UFC’s long-awaited return to London.
The UFC’s long-awaited return to London after three years away was an electric one.
Featuring some of the best talent to ever come out of the U.K., the home fighters absolutely delivered this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 204.
Fans at the O2 Arena were on their feet all night. The performances collectively were so good that UFC president Dana White handed out a whopping nine “Performance of the Night” bonuses to every fighter who scored a finish. White was so elated with how the night turned out that he promised U.K. fans that the UFC will return before 2022 ends.
From Tom Aspinall at the top of the bill to Muhammad Mokaev, who kicked off the night with a bang, here are eight reasons why UFC London was one of the promotion’s all-time great events.
John McCarthy keeps it real on Paddy Pimblett’s first two UFC appearances.
John McCarthy isn’t a fan of the way [autotag]Paddy Pimblett[/autotag] has been matched up so far in the UFC.
Pimblett (18-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a former Cage Warriors champion, is 2-0 since joining the UFC roster last year. He’s coming off a first-round submission of Kazula Vargas this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 204, but he faced a bit of adversity before notching the finish just like he did in his octagon debut against Luigi Vendramini.
The impact Pimblett has made in just two octagon bouts is undeniable. The Liverpool native quickly has become one of the most popular fighters on the roster but insists he won’t take a step up in competition unless he gets an increase in pay.
While McCarthy gets the reasoning behind the UFC’s matchmaking, the fact remains that he thinks Pimblett has been given favorable matchups so far.
“I understand why they put him against someone like Kazula Vargas, an older fighter,” McCarthy said on his “Weighing In” podcast. “He’s got a good record even though he hasn’t really fought that many quality opponents. I’m not a Paddy hater. I love when you have a guy like Paddy who talks the way he does, who has that game. I don’t want to say he’s flamboyant, he is boisterous, he’s out there, he’s gonna push the envelope. If you want to talk about how great you are, I want to see you against other great fighters so you prove it.”
He continued, “I just want to see him against better competition. I’ve seen him against better competition in Cage Warriors than I’m seeing him in competition in the UFC. Tell me I’m lying.”
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Pimblett was involved in an altercation with fellow lightweight Ilia Topuria, who knocked out Jai Herbert on the same night. Topuria said he wanted Pimblett next, which would be a significant step up for the brash Brit. But Pimblett brushed off his callout, claiming that everyone just wants to hang on his coattails.
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