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At this time last year, we had already witnessed two fights that ended up being strong candidates for fight of the year. Thus far this year there have been some very compelling bouts–technical wars, slugfests, and epic title clashes–but nothing as spectacular as Gomi-Diaz or Griffin-Edgar from last year. Where these early offerings from January through April will stand at the end of the year is anybody’s guess, but they likely won’t be top candidates for fight of the year when it’s all said and done.

North America

January came and went with not much to show for as far as great fights are concerned. The UFC’s first PPV of the year in England featured Paul Kelly vs. Paul Taylor, which had high-paced, entertaining spurts, but was kinda forgettable. The same card had BJ Penn’s return to prominence at 155, with his one-sided drubbing of the tough Joe Stevenson, but was too much of a domination to be considered a top fight. Less than a week later, Zuffa staged their first Spike TV Fight Night of the year, and while the televised bouts didn’t offer much, the Jeremy Stephens vs. Cole Miller prelim, was a very competitive, entertaining fight. The bout featured some very close submission attempts from Miller, an incredible slam from Stephens, and was fought at a breakneck pace for nearly ten minutes. Definitely a fight to check out if you haven’t already.

February brought UFC 81, and my current fight of the year. Nathan Marquardt’s win over Jeremy Horn was a fun bout, but the night belonged to Minotauro. The Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Tim Sylvia fight featured just about everything you could ask for in an MMA bout. It featured two top fighters, healthy, and willing to fight and is one of the first true superfights that was promised when Zuffa purchased Pride. It was vintage Nogueira, as he weathered Sylvia’s storm for over two rounds, before finally taking Sylvia down, sublimely sweeping him, and latching on to the finishing guillotine. Quite possibly, one of the five best UFC heavyweight fights we’ve ever seen.

Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett was definitely the fight of the night at UFC 82. Koscheck showed off his continually evolving skills as he engaged Hazelett in mainly a stand-up war. Kos got rocked early, but showed excellent composure and movement on his feet to stay in the fight. When the fight went to the floor, he eluded submission attempts, and when it returned to the feet Koscheck nearly took Hazelett’s head off with a wild high-kick followed by punches on the ground to finish the Ohio native. A great fight, and I–never much of a Koscheck fan or supporter–is eagerly awaiting his clash this Summer with the always game Chris Lytle.

UFC’s 13-bout April Fight Night card was solid but didn’t offer anything mind-blowing, although Nate Diaz vs. Kurt Pellegrino , which featured a stellar comeback and submission from the younger Diaz was the highlight of the show. Diaz showed tons of toughness and it’s looking pretty obvious that this is not the same Nate Diaz who got submitted by Hermes Franca back in October ‘06.

Outside the Octagon, the most notable fight thus far is easily Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le. The hype for this was huge, and it’s safe to say it lived up to it. Although it seemed like a kickboxing match with 4 oz gloves, and even a sparring session at times, it’s hard to deny the entertainment value of the fight. Despite a somewhat disappointing end, the bout delivered some fabulous action in its fifteen minutes.

Japan

I have seen Dream I+II and Sengoku I. I have seen all televised Shooto, Pancrase, DEEP and Cage-Force. With that being said, there haven’t been too many fights that have really stood out for me thus far from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Easily my current Shooto fight of the year, is Mamoru Yamaguchi vs. Masaaki Sugawara from Back to Our Roots 8 at the end of March. It’s a top-notch strike-a-thon between two solid flyweights. If you’re unfamiliar with the flyweight division, is a solid primer for the type of non-stop action, and technical expertise you can come to expect from the Shooto 123 lbers.

Sengoku I was an enjoyable show. The opening bout of Nick Thompson vs. Fabricio Monteiro , despite a puzzling decision, was a very entertaining contest. Of the first two Dream events Eddie Alvarez vs. Andre Amade, and JZ vs. Aoki are standouts but I doubt they’ll be given serious FOTY consideration come the end of the year. The Hansen/Alvarez and Kawajiri/Buscape fights have dynamite written all over them, so here’s hoping to a strong finish to both the lightweight and middleweight GPs.

Conclusion

Two drastically different fights are my top two right now, those being the Nogueira and Mamoru fights. The rest of the year has a lot of promise. In the UFC, fights like Penn-Sherk, Griffin-Aurelio, GSP-Fitch, Huerta-Florian and possibly Henderson-Franklin are just a few promising bouts on, or likely on the horizon. In Japan, Shooto’s big 20th Anniversary show, the hopeful continuation of the Cage-Force Tourney as well as efforts from Dream and Sengoku will offer plenty of treats the remainder of the year.