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By Shawn Smith

In his latest feature MMAPLUS man in Canada Shwan Smith takes us through his mixed martial arts highs and lows during the course of 2013.

Best Moments of 2013:

Chris Weidman’s finishes Anderson Silva

It was the knockout heard around the world.

For seven years, Anderson Silva stood atop the mixed martial arts mountain as the most dominant force the sport had ever seen. His unparalleled UFC winning streak, 16 straight with 10 title defenses, set records that may never be matched, and his explosive striking-based style made him a fan favourite around the world.

That was until Chris Weidman entered the picture. Weidman emerged on the scene as an exciting prospect in the UFC, but there was little to suggest he would be the one to dethrone the king. Weidman had looked good in performances against top contenders Damian Maia and Mark Munoz, but fighting the greatest fighter of all time still seemed a tall order to ask of the young Long Island native.

But on July 6, 2013, it happened. An impressive first round and excellent mental mindset put Weidman in the right place to deal with Silva’s trickery and he dispatched of the Brazilian kingpin in the second round.

The knockout put life back into a middleweight division which had grown stale with Silva’s dominance and made Weidman one of the UFC’s most marketable stars moving into 2014.

Ronda Rousey’s debut into UFC

For years Dana White and the UFC said they had no interest in female fighters. There was not enough fan interest and the talent pool was not deep enough they argued.

Then Ronda Rousey appeared.

An Olympic medalist in judo, Rousey brought a determination and skill not before seen in women’s MMA. Her demeanor and dedication were unmatched and so far in her career, it has shown in spades.

In February, the UFC held their first ever female bout pitting the aforementioned Rousey against gritty Liz Carmouche in a pay-per-view headlining bout.

Although the bout ended in familiar fashion, with a Rousey arm bar, the event itself turned out to be one of the most profitable of 2013.  Rousey was officially one of the most recognized and marketable stars the promotion had, not to mention one of the most talented.

UFC expansion

The UFC’s expansion was in full force throughout 2013 as they continued to venture into new markets, putting on more shows than ever before.

Events in Sweden, Canada, Australia, England and of course the United States brought the sport to new levels. The development of new stars in these markets will only further the sport’s growth. Alexander Gustafsson’s incredible performance against Jon Jones has made him a marketable fighter, and he can almost certainly sell out any show the company does in Europe moving forward.

With shows scheduled in Poland, Abu Dhabi, Sweden and China, it’s clear that UFC global domination will hit full force in 2014.

Worst moments of 2013:

Silva leg break

There’s a little bit of irony in the best and worst moments of 2013 happening between the same two competitors.

In the most highly anticipated rematch in MMA history, Chris Weidman defeated Anderson Silva in the most shocking fashion ever seen in a UFC cage. As Silva threw what appeared to be a fairly ordinary leg kick, his shin caught the knee of Weidman and snapped in two. It was one of the more painful and gruesome looking injuries ever witnessed inside the Octagon and for it to happen on the UFC’s grandest stage to its greatest athlete made it all the more shocking.

Perhaps the thousands and thousands of leg kicks Silva has thrown finally caught up with the aging athlete.

UFC 167 main event

As fans waited to hear the scorecards at UFC 167, most assumed they knew how it would go. Johny Hendricks started quick against Georges St. Pierre and most thought he took the first two rounds. The third and fifth rounds seemed to be almost assuredly St. Pierre’s while the fourth round likely belonged to the challenger. Three rounds to two seemed to be the almost unanimous assumption in favour of a new welterweight champion.

But on the UFC’s highly publicized 20th anniversary show, that’s not how things happened. St. Pierre was awarded a controversial split decision that saw him profusely booed before semi-retiring, which of course sent UFC President Dana White into a tizzy.

Many fans took to their multitude of social media platforms to tell of their displeasure with the main event and swear off of the sport. The conclusion of UFC 167 could not have gone any worse, unless of course somebody smashed their leg into multiple pieces.

As MMA fans, we’re used to terrible judging decisions. It’s a sad fact of the sport. What we are not used to is having people react so venomously.

Bellator

Where do I even begin with the disastrous year that Bellator had?

Contract negotiations with Eddie Alvarez tied up the promotion’s premier lightweight for most of the year. Fans were quick to take Alvarez’ side and pleaded with Bjorn Rebney to release the “hostage” to fight for another promotion (presumably the UFC).

With a UFC offer on the table, Alvarez was handcuffed into accepting a Bellator offer that on paper matched that of the UFC but in actuality would result in the fighter losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in contract money, bonus money and sponsorships. Alvarez made his return to the company on November 6, which brings us to the failed Bellator pay-per-view event.

Former light-heavyweight champions Tito Ortiz and Quinton Jackson were supposed to meet in the main event of Bellator’s first venture onto pay-per-view, with then lightweight champion Michael Chandler defending his title against Eddie Alvarez in the co-main event. As you likely know by now, Ortiz suffered his 643rd career injury (exact amount) and was forced out of the fight, cancelling the pay-per-view and bumping the Chandler against Alvarez clash into main event status.

On that same card was Muhammad Lawal against Emanuel Newton for the interim light-heavyweight championship. The two originally met earlier in the year where Newton landed a spinning back fist and knocked Lawal out in one of the biggest upsets of the year. Having the rematch on the company’s biggest show for the interim light-heavyweight title made sense, right?

Wrong. The major flaw in this plan was that the actual Bellator light-heavyweight champion Attila Vegh was running around Europe blabbing his mouth to any media contact that would listen. According to him, there was no injury and he was perfectly healthy to fight at the event. Bellator has claimed that his comments were taken out of context, but we’re still not exactly sure what happened.