My #10 photo took place on September 16th at the AFO Perfect Storm in Club Lido. The fight was between Kin Moy and Luis Ramos. This was Ramos's first amateur fight and he took on a very tough Kin Moy. The battle was back and forth and very exciting to watch. Kin ended up winning the fight with a triangle. This picture was taken right before the triangle I believe.
My #9 photo took place for the AFO Glory at Club Lido on July 15th. This fight took place between Dan Cormier and Chad Kelly. Kelly was a replacement for Jared Sarno and is and all around great fighter who looks more impressive each fight. Cormier has insane standup and takedown defense. This fight went the distance and two of the rounds had some of the best standup I've seen in an amateur fight. Kelly did end up getting a takedown in the 3rd round but it was too little too late.
My #8 photo took place at the AFO Perfect Storm at Club Lido on September 16th. The battle was between Kody Nordby and Matt Doherty. Kody won the battle against another tough fighter of Matt Doherty via a decision. Kody stood for a bit and they were back and forth shots but Kody ended up winning the rounds with his wrestling skill by getting the takedowns and controlling the ground.
My #7 photo was taken on November 23rd at the AFO Thanksgiving Massacre 4 in Mansfield MA. It was an epic battle between Matt Doherty and Rico Disciullo. I had Rico winning the fight 2 rounds to none. I think Doherty knew he had to do something to win it in the third. He went for a takedown near the middle of the 3rd round and worked a rear naked choke. Rico was forced to tap with seconds left in the round and the crowd went nuts. Great fight by the two amateur fighters.
My #6 photo took place at the June 27th Cage Titans Vendetta show. The venue was the Local IBEW and this fight took place between Kin Moy and Matt Doherty. This was another back and forth battle but Kin got the better of it with takedowns and good ground control. At one point in the fight he stood up and was dropping some ground and pound and that was when this photo was taken.
My #5 photo was taken from Premier FC 6 which took place on July 31st at the 350 Grill in Springfield, MA. This was the first and only amateur title fight that Premier FC has done so far. It took place between Jeremy Reipold and Dat Tran. Dat Tran ended up winning due to ref stoppage in round 3 but it was a great fight. Dat threw alot of kicks and Jeremy checked some and that is what gave us this great photo!!
My #4 photo was taken the same night on July 31st at Premier FC 6 in Springfield MA. This fight was between Sam Nadeau and John Cumper. Nadeau controlled most of the fight on top and got some vicious ground and pound which gave us one of my favorite photos of the year!! Cumper got in some good shots standing up against Nadeau and Sam ended the fight in Rd 3 via arm bar submission.
My #3 photo was taken at Reality Fighting at Mohegan Sun which took place on October 8th. This was a title fight between Jeff Emil Haddad against John McLaughlin. This was a back and forth fight and McLaughlin at some point broke Jeff's nose and Jeff battled through it. There was blood everywhere! He was down two rounds and I know he was aware of that but he hung in there. He ended up getting a head kick knockout and winning the professional Bantamweight belt!!
My #2 photo took place at CES Road To Glory on September 11th at Twin River Casino. The fight took place between Cody Lightfoot and Greg Rebello. I had Cody winning the first round but it was very close. In the beginning of the second round Rebello got a head kick in that cut Cody's head open. I didn't even see it live but on the replay and pictures show it was a clean hit to the side of the head. Blood immediately started gushing out. Kevin the Ref stopped the fight to have the doctor look at it and Cody stood up with blood running down his face, it was awesome! They resumed and blood was pouring everywhere and the doctor had no choice but to stop it.
Finally we are at my #1 photo. This one took place at Premier FC 7 at the Mullins Center in Amherst MA. It took place on December 3rd and the fight was between Dan Lauzon and Anthony Kaponis. For the first few minutes of the fight it was a back and forth stand up battle. This awesome action shot was taken at that point. Lauzon ended up getting in a good uppercut that wobbled Kaponis back and he went down. Dany finished it off with a few hammerfists and it was a great way to finish off the MMA year. Ironically enough it finishes off my top 10!
Well I hope you all had fun reading this as I did writing it. Thanks for all the great memories from all the fighters and I know we will have plenty more for 2012. Let us all spend the time and write some comments of your favorite fight of the year and if you want you can even include a photo of your favorite fight if you have one in our comments. Let's have some fun!