2020 in Review: The Little Things

Running through the year that was with a look at all the great performances and cool moments that slid under the radar and into the background

Like most years, 2020 was dominated by big stories and big names, beginning with the return of Conor McGregor, into the uncertain spring, and then onto a torrid stretch of events that just wrapped last weekend where titles were won, defended, and vacated, championship fights were scheduled, rescheduled, pushed to next year, and hastily put together (while still delivering), and a select group of competitors remained at the center of the most frequent and fervent MMA-related conversations.

But just like every other year, there were a lot of great performances, cool moments, and smaller efforts that either didn’t get the attention they deserved in the moment or have faded from memory because January, February, and March feel like forever ago and the spring, summer, and fall have been one big tidal wave of events and talking points.

So to kick off this two or three-week stretch of looking back at the year that was, here's a look at some of the little things that stood out for me in 2020 that reminded me how much I love this ridiculous sport.

Enjoy… and Happy Holidays!

JANUARY

Drew Dober sparked Nasrat Haqparast in an upset win at UFC 246, earning his second straight finish and earning the veteran “What’s going on here?” looks.

Carlos Diego Ferreira pushed his winning streak to six with a second-round submission win over Anthony Pettis. Lightweight is so loaded and the top names are so established that folks forget about the Texas-based Brazilian who is now 8-2 in the UFC with his only setbacks coming against Beneil Dariush (more on him later) and Dustin Poirier.

Michael Chiesa established himself as a contender in the welterweight division with a unanimous decision victory over Rafael Dos Anjos. Now 3-0 in the division, “Maverick” slides under the radar because those wins are spread out over two years, but he enters 2021 as a dark horse in the championship chase.

FEBRUARY

James Krause stepped up on 24-hours notice, moving up a division, and fought Trevin Giles to a split decision, and probably should have gotten the nod. The loss snapped his six-fight winning streak, but reminded everyone that Krause is all kinds of awesome.

Dominick Reyes narrowly lost to Jon Jones. And when I say, “narrowly lost,” what I really mean is did enough to beat him, but the judges didn’t quite see it that way. Because the rest of the year went the way it did, Reyes has become a bit of a forgotten man for now, but dude should have walked out of UFC 247 as the light heavyweight champion.

Jimmy Crute bounced back from his first career loss with a first-round submission win in Auckland. The Contender Series grad (Class of ‘18) is one of the best prospects in the UFC, but rarely gets mentioned as such.

MARCH

Beneil Dariush extended his winning streak to three with a second-round knockout win over Drakkar Klose. A former Top 10 lightweight, his third straight finish, combined with Drew Dober’s win over Haqparast in January, highlighted just how good Dariush is and made him someone to keep tabs on going forward in the lightweight division. (Note: Dariush subbed Dober in 2019)

Gilbert Burns made it clear he was a threat in the welterweight division by trucking Demian Maia in Brasilia to push his winning streak to five. This was one of those “sit up and really start paying attention” type of efforts that has just been lost to time because the year has been crazy, Burns turned in another stellar effort later in the year against Tyron Woodley, and is now in line to challenge for the title.

But in March, this was a big deal.

MAY

Vicente Luque got back to doing Vicente Luque things with a third-round stoppage win over Niko Price at UFC 249. “The Silent Assassin” added another finish (against Randy Brown) later in the year to re-affirm his standing as one of the most consistently entertaining fighters on the roster.

Calvin Kattar shattered Jeremy Stephens’ nose with a wicked step-in elbow.

Henry Cejudo defeated Dominick Cruz to successfully defend the bantamweight title, then retired, telling Joe Rogan, “You won’t have to hear from me anymore, Joe.” He hasn’t stopped yapping on Twitter since.

Drew Dober scored his second “upset” win in five months, stopping Alexander Hernandez for his fourth consecutive victory, making him a full-fledged potential late bloomer in the lightweight division. He’s slated to face Islam Makhachev early next year and I. CANNOT. WAIT.

Miguel Baeza earned his first of two stoppage victories in 2020, rallying to beat Matt Brown in Jacksonville. This was a perfect example of a quality performance that got lost in the shuffle, but thankfully for “Caramel Thunder,” his subsequent win in November officially put him on the map as one to watch in the welterweight division going forward.

JUNE

Aljamain Sterling blitzed Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250, deploying his “Human Jansport” approach right out of the chute and securing the submission win in under two minutes. There has been a lot going on at bantamweight since the restart, but this might have been the best performance of the year in the 135-pound weight class.

Amanda Nunes made history by becoming the first fighter to successfully defend UFC titles in two weight classes when she defeated Felicia Spencer at UFC 250. For all the attention that has been committed to “two-weight world champions” since Conor McGregor first accomplished the feat, far too many people made far too little of a deal about “The Lioness” further proving her dominance.

The June 13 event in Las Vegas began with three knockouts in a combined 113 seconds, as Christian Aguilera (59 seconds), Tyson Nam (32 seconds), and Julia Avila (22 seconds) wasted little time handling their business.

Veteran Tecia Torres snapped a four-fight slide with a unanimous decision win over Briana Van Buren. The Ultimate Fighter alum earned a second victory earlier this month and stands out as an example of how not all losing streaks are created equal and the importances of not writing off still capable competitors too soon.

JULY

Leonardo Santos showed up to get his annual victory, starting quick and holding on down the stretch against Roman Bogotov. He’s now 7-0-1 in the UFC and has won six straight, but fights so sporadically that it’s impossible to figure out where he fits in the lightweight division and how to even talk about him in the context of what he’s accomplished.

Amanda Ribas continued her emergence with a first-round submission win over Paige VanZant. The Brazilian upstart is a ball of positive energy and radiant light, as well as a tremendous emerging talent, and has to be near the top of any list of potential breakout stars heading into 2021. (Yes, I’m going to pen such a list at some point before the first event of the year)

Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway went another five rounds at UFC 251 and just like their first fight, the sequel was a super-close chess match that won’t get as much Fight of the Year love as it deserves… and it deserves to be in the running for the bronze medal, without a doubt. These two are such perfect matches for one another in the cage that if the UFC wanted to pair them off every year for the next couple years, I’d certainly watch them fight over and over and over again.

Jack Shore pushed his professional record to 13-0 with a second-round submission win over Aaron Phillips. “Tank” is one of the best prospects in the UFC (yes, this list is coming too), but because this fight happened on the same night that Khamzat Chimaev debuted (and Mounir Lazzez, who has lost all his momentum at this point), no one really talked about it. Dude is 25-0 combined between the amateurs and pro, with a dozen finishes in 13 pro victories; how he gets no love still baffles me.

AUGUST

Beneil Dariush followed up his second-round knockout win over Klose in March with a first-round knockout win over Scott Holtzman in August, pushing his finishing streak to four, his winning streak to five, and himself back into the lightweight rankings. He had a rocky three-fight stretch prior to this run where injuries and tough competition left him without a victory, but the mild-mannered Kings MMA product enters 2021 with the Top 10 in his sights.

He’s set to run it back with Carlos Diego Ferreira in early February in a can’t-miss matchup.

Shana Dobson scored one of the biggest upsets in UFC history when she withstood an early attack from Mariya Agapova to secure a second-round stoppage win. I’m still high on Agapova long term, but this was a massive, massive effort that people just didn’t spend enough time talking about in the aftermath.

The August 29 card at the UFC Apex began with four straight submissions — tandem rear-naked chokes bookending an armbar and an guillotine — leading many to wonder if the record for most finishes was in jeopardy. It was not; the remaining six fights all went the distance. (sad trombone)

SEPTEMBER

Kevin Croom showed up with minimal notice and submitted Roosevelt Roberts in 31 seconds. The result has since been overturned because Croom popped for weed (lame), which probably takes it out of the Upset of the Year race (understandable), but it was still awesome in the moment and one of those fun little happenings that you just have to love.

Randy Costa went all “Zohan” on Journey Newsom, kicking him in his damn head and knocking him out in 40 seconds. Sometimes nicknames are just perfect and this was one of those times.

For the second time in 2020, Jan Blachowicz showcased his “legendary Polish power,” dropping Dominick Reyes to claim the vacant UFC light heavyweight title. If you can’t be happy for a genuine good dude like Blachowicz, who has gone 8-1 over his last nine after a 2-4 start to his UFC career, I don’t know what to tell you.

Also, don’t do the whole “yeah, well he never beat Jon Jones!” bit either; it’s boring. You can only beat the people in front of you, and Blachowicz did it emphatically.

OCTOBER

Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie re-affirmed their standing as the top two contenders in the bantamweight division with convincing victories over Irene Aldana and Juliana Pena. Both looked great, which in turn serves as another reminder of just how damn good Amanda Nunes is because she beat both handily and would likely do so again, if required.

Chris Daukaus, Tom Breese, Tom Aspinall, and Dricus du Plessis all had impressive stoppage wins overshadowed by Joaquin Buckley’s viral knockout of Impa Kasanganay. All four head into 2021 as interesting names to follow in their respective divisions.

Jimmy Crute slumped Modestas Baukauskas for his second first-round stoppage win of 2020. “The Brute” doesn’t turn 25 until March, is 4-1 in the UFC, and a proven finisher; he’ll be on that breakout list with Ribas and should be talked about far more than he is at present.

Jessica Andrade roasted Katlyn Chookagian’s insides. I know everyone remembers because everyone is looking forward to seeing Andrade face Valentina Shevchenko at some point in 2021, but it’s also one of those efforts where you kind of forget how violent and impressive it was until someone makes you think about it again… and I’m that someone.

Brian Ortega came back, shaved his head, and pitched a shutout against Chan Sung Jung. Dude looked like a completely different person, fought like a completely different fighter, and made us all remember (for too brief a moment) that “T-City” is a tremendous talent.

Philip Hawes finally arrived, proving once again that giving young fighters time to grow and develop before heaping loads of praise and hype and pressure onto their shoulders is probably best for everyone.

Alexander Hernandez scored a blistering first-round knockout win over Chris Gruetzemacher. It feels like Hernandez was hyped and then discarded when he struggled, but with a new team (Factory X) and some added seasoning, he might be primed to make the push a lot of people were forecasting him to make prior to his fight with Donald Cerrone two years ago.

Sean Strickland fought for the first time in two years, returning to middleweight and posting a clean sweep of the scorecards against durable veteran Jack Marshman. Once a hyped prospect, “Tarzan” is still only 29 and looked really good.

NOVEMBER

Sean Strickland turned right around and pieced up Brendan Allen less than a month after making this return to the Octagon. He’s now 4-0 at middleweight in the UFC and 17-0 overall when fighting at 185-pounds. Do with that what you would like.

Valentina Shevchenko collected her second successful title defence of 2020, outworking Jennifer Maia with scores of 49-46 across the board. “Bullet” has reached the point where fans and observers are over-selling her opponent’s efforts and being hyper-critical of tactical efforts that don’t produce highlight reel finishes, which is a sure-fire way to know you’re a dominant champion and that fans and observers are crazy.

DECEMBER

The December 5 card at the Apex featured four breakout efforts: Ilia Topuria scored his second UFC victory with a knockout win over Damon Jackson; the debuting Jordan Leavitt slammed Matt Wiman into the great beyond in 22 seconds; Jamahal Hill dusted Ovince Saint Preux for his third win (though one was overturned for weed); and Marvin Vettori took a major leap while mauling Jack Hermansson.

Gabriel Benitez destroyed Justin Jaynes’ insides with his knee.

Cub Swanson created beautiful violence in one of my favourite performances of the year at UFC 256 against Daniel Pineda.

Jimmy Flick hit a goddamn flying triangle choke and y’all acted like it was no big deal.

Rob Font pieced up and put away Marlon Moraes with the crisp boxing that is becoming the signature weapon the New England Cartel.