I really don't have enough to say about last weekend's main event to make an entire post about it or really the card as a whole, so I'm not going to waste your guys time. Since it is Thanksgiving this week in the United States, I figured I would do a series of posts of things we are thankful for in MMA. MMA is a sport where we complain a lot and there's a lot of things that need altered, fixed, or changed in some way, but we all still love it for what it is. In this series I'll go over the fight I'm thankful for, male and female fighter I'm thankful for, and I'll figure out some other things for later in the week. I'm going to keep this focused mostly on this year, but I'm not necessarily limiting myself to just this calendar year because I don't want to make it a yearly awards or anything like that because I'll do that in late December or early January. This addition of MMA Thanksgiving will focus on the fight that I'm most thankful for this year and maybe I'll mention a couple more as all time favorites or just some honorable mentions.
This one is probably easy, but I would be a liar to not say Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler only a few weeks ago at UFC 268. What I think makes this the fight I am most thankful for this year is that the build up and the fight itself delivered. This fight was being billed as a crazy war where both guys were going to stand and trade until someone fell and we've heard fighters say this in the past, but then the fight itself plays out differently. That wasn't the case with this one at all. Both men were perfectly content to take the others best shot just to land their own. We got the one knockdown in the second round by Gaethje with the uppercut, but other than that, we didn't see either fighter really back down at all. Gaethje was hurt on the feet for a brief moment, but in typical Justin Gaethje fashion, he just swung his way out of it. We saw Chandler grab onto a single leg after the knockdown just to be able to recover and we saw the one other huge slam takedown attempt where Gaethje was able to immediately scramble back to his feet. Another factor is that they had this fight lead off the card, mostly so Trevor Wittman didn't have to coach three in a row, but it still added to the mystique of it somehow. This fight was so much fun that it's almost hard to explain. We saw Michael Chandler appear on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and he said something that really stood out to me. I don't think it's his quote because it sounds like something I've heard somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where. He said something to the extent of "people won't remember the wins and losses, they'll remember how you made them feel" and in this case, he's 100% right. This is the fight I am most thankful for this year because of how it made me feel. It provided me a moment with my brother and parents where we were all just captivated and "ohhing" and "awwing" after every shot landed. I think that's going to be a common theme for my most thankful series overall. Fights or moments or individuals who created a memory for me with my family will stick out and that's what this fight represented for me. After such a long two years with everything that covid has caused, having a moment like that watching this fight just felt different and I'm grateful that both of those men were game to create that moment for all of us.
There's also a couple other fights I want to mention from this year. Chandler vs Oliveira for the title created a similar moment for me. My mom specifically really excited for this fight, which is kind of a weird thing because she's not that kind of person. The fact that she was so into this matchup actually got me even more excited for it and the fight delivered a back and forth exciting round and a half. Conor vs Poirier II was a great night as well. Seeing Poirier flash knockout Conor McGregor wasn't something I was expecting because we had never seen Conor be knocked out before. Honestly, anything that gets Conor back in the cage is something I'm thankful for too, so him losing to Dustin twice and re-motivating him is a great thing as well.
In terms of all time, some fights that I'm really thankful for are Usman vs Covington I, Condit vs Hardy, Diaz vs Daley, and Diaz vs McGregor I. The profile picture for blog's twitter account isn't Nick Diaz Army for no reason after all. Carlos Condit is one of my all time favorites and his knockout of Dan Hardy (almost said Greg Hardy) is my favorite moment of his to go along with the kick he landed against GSP. Usman vs Covington I is I think what my answer is when people ask for my favorite fight of all time. Nate vs Conor is probably the most iconic rivalry in the modern history of the sport unless you want to say Khabib vs Conor, but Khabib largely didn't participate in the trash talk until they were in the cage, that's what makes Conor and Nate different for me. This is a little short, but reading all of my personal connection to these fights isn't what this is all about. Everyone always says to leave comments to get their interactions up, but I really mean it. I want to know what fight you are most thankful for this year and all time. Leave your answers below and feel free to explain. I see how many clicks I get, but I've never gotten a comment before and I would love to interact with some of you so either tweet at me or leave your comments below. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your week.
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