2014 continues to showcase awesome UFC competition. Dana White is one of my favorite sports figures because of the creative ways he guides his sport. He is fearless in his decisions and his general attitude. He also makes the big fights happen. He has never wanted the UFC to appear like boxing with the way the old fight game would never have more than a couple of epic matchups during a year. The UFC has great fights regularly because the champions have to face the best opponents in most cases. The fighters in the top ten rankings below the champ must fight it out with each other in order to get a shot at being the man. There have been some great battles in 2014 at the halfway point of the calendar, so here are my top ten UFC fights so far in 2014.
- Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler – The fight ended in a decision for Hendricks who captured the vacated title at welterweight. We have not seen the last of these two in the Octagon though.
- Alex Caceres vs. Sergio Pettis – Caceres has the best nickname in MMA, Bruce Leroy, and this fight was just as good. Both guys put on a show for this Fox event.
- Henderson vs. Rua II – All UFC fans love a Dan Henderson fight since there are good odds on seeing a guy get his lights put out. That is exactly what happened after two and a half rounds of MMA action. Rua got put on the mat to end the fight in round three.
- Rory MacDonald vs. Demian Maia – Maia is a fighter that has had some ups and downs but always has the potential to beat even the best competition. MacDonald ended up winning a decision but the battle was fierce the whole way.
- Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann – This fight was not the greatest battle ever, but it had the polarizing Rousey get her first knockout win in the UFC. Not using the arm bar submission to get her win was a change of pace for the UFC diva.
- Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva – Great fights most often have a big swing from one guy taking it to his opponent only to have the momentum turn wildly. That was the case in this epic fight that saw a stoppage in favor of Matt Brown in the last round.
- Benson Henderson vs. Rustam Khabilov – Henderson managed to finally catch his foe in a submission late in a close fight. Khabilov made a good showing against a top notch fighter.
- Fabricio Werdum vs. Travis Browne – This fight was supposed to showcase the awesomeness of Browne. However, Werdum whooped up on the alleged bad ass for most of the fight. But you always had the feeling that Browne would somehow find a way to score a big knockout. He did not find that way however.
- Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira – Jones dominated a foe that was expected to give the champ a run for his money. Fights like this may not be an even contest, but they do showcase a talent that only comes around once a decade or so.
10. Minotauro Nogueira vs. Roy Nelson – While Nelson does not look the part of a great UFC fighter, he has the knockout power that voids that perception. He ended this fight with legendary Nogueira in quick fashion.