It's MMAzing's Favorite Memories of 2012

Happy New Year from the It's MMAzing crew

The sun has set on yet another year and as the old is put to rest, a new year with new beginnings, new opportunities is upon us.  Although when you woke up on January 1, 2013 nothing really changed from December 31, 2012 (considering the fiscal cliff was avoided, whew!), a new year is a symbolic time to reflect on the last 12 months. To think about where you were a year ago, the happy moments along with the hardships that we all encounter at some point in our lives. But here's the thing, although you may encounter some cuts, scrapes and generally get your ass kicked in the game of life sometimes, there's always something you should remember.  Chicks dig scars and they serve as a great teacher for the future. But that's enough of Philosopher Gooms

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, we now look at back the how great a year this was in the world of MMA by giving you each ItsMMAzing staff member's top two MMA (and one non-MMA) moments of the year. Just like last year we took a look at moments we enjoyed personally from the year of events. Hope you enjoy them.

Strikeforce announces it will fold. In related news, the sun will rise in the East tomorrow

Here are a few things in life we all saw coming from a mile away.  Liberace being gay, Ross ending up with Rachel, the 4th Hokage being Naruto's dad and we can't forget when we learned that bears DO in fact go twos in the woods. We have one more nugget to add to this list.  On Friday it was announced that after their January card, Strikeforce would shut its doors, with many of it's fighters (hopefully) joining the UFC.

If there was any surprise or shock to be had from this news was that it took so long for this to happen.  As soon as it was announced that Zuffa had purchased the San Jose based promotion, there wasn't a person on this planet that didn't think it would go the way of Pride after it was purchased.  BUT...we were told SF would NOT be folded into the UFC and would remain a separate promotion.  A fairy tale on par with the Tooth Fairy and Sasquatch.

Even as they fed us this story, many of their top fighters defected to the UFC, leaving the roster so depleted they had to cancel two separate cards on account of a lack of quality fights. If the writing wasn't plain to see on the wall in March 2011 when they were purchased, a fat lady with a megaphone singing your favorite hits was added during the last two months.  You're all listeners of the podcast, so you likely already know about how we've talked ad nausea about how if managed properly, SF could have been operated as a "minor-league" promotion for the UFC, where young fighters could grow.  However, we all know there's no crying over spilled milk or wondering about what soon to be defunct fight promotions could have done.

However, from the ashes of a once proud (-ish?) promotion comes the possibility for intriguing (well I do at least) story lines in the next year and a half:

Tap or Snap, Sometimes the Choice is Made For You

While UFC 139 has been rightfully getting the lion's share of attention this weekend, I really hope people were still able to check out the other stellar MMA events, namely Strikeforce Challengers. While there were many spectacular finishes on the card, there was one that really stood out to me: "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey's technical submission over Julie Budd. Rousey's last win wasn't as clear cut due to some confusion regarding a verbal tapout. Like any good student, Ronda didn't make that same mistake in this fight. Even when it looked like Budd was going to tap, Ronda held on in till the referee stopped the fight. Unfortunately for Budd, her elbow was dislocated before she was able to tap. What's so impressive about Rousey is just how well she's been able to adapt her Judo skills to MMA.

There have been many Olympic Judo players to try their hand at MMA and the results have varied. Most have a difficult time using their judo skills when there's no Gi to grip on to. Rousey, on the other hand, has little to no trouble getting trips and takedown from the clinch and when it hits the floor, she is able to grab armbars off her back and from the top. While she hasn't yet reached the highest level of women's MMA, its hard to imagine anyone with her skills in the clinch or the ground.