Memorable Month Of May For Fight Fans

By KTW
– Senior Editor

The month of May has ended for fight fans, as we were treated to an assortment of elite and very intriguing match ups.  Both boxing and mma delivered this month in supplying us with something to watch almost every weekend and even during weekdays.

There was not a day this month that we weren’t bombarded with breaking news about the Rampage vs. Rashad match.   And the Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley fight was one of the most anticipated boxing match ups – probably since Mike Tyson’s heyday.

In the month of May 2010, this is the lineup of big fights that we enjoyed:

• May 1st—Floyd Mayweather  Vs.  Shane Mosley
  • Mayweather wins via Unanimous decision.
    • Mosley rocked Mayweather twice early in the fight.  We hadn’t seen the “Pretty Boy” in that much trouble since his win over Zab Judah.   Every round was dominated by Floyd except for round three.  There’s nothing left for Mayweather except for a fight with Manny Pacquiao.  Or, Mayweather can move up in weight class….
• May 8th—Lyoto Machida  Vs.  Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (Part II)
  • Shogun avenges his controversial lost in their last fight with a devasting KO of Machida.
    • Rua became the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.  He’s now been a champion in both Pride and the UFC.
• May 8th—Kimbo Slice  Vs.  Matt Mitrione
  • Slice disappoints with his performance and loses via TKO (Punches) to the much bigger Mitrione.
    • Before anyone jumps down my throat for listing this fight here, hear me out.  Whatever you think about Slice as a professional mma fighter, the fame and popularity of Kimbo is massive.  However, that Kimbo train has lost a lot of steam.  Kimbo was cut from the UFC after this fight.
• May 15th—Alistair Overeem  Vs.  Brett Rogers
  • Overeem returns to American soil and finally defends his Strikeforce heavyweight belt, defeating Rogers via TKO (Strikes).
    • Rogers almost defeated #1 mma fighter Fedor Emelianenko in his previous fight.  The intrigue of that, mixed with the return of the Dutchman Overeem after at least a 2 year absence, drew huge interest in this fight from mma fans.
• May 15th—Andrei Arlovski  Vs.  Antonio “Big Foot” Silva
  • Arlovski makes his return since losing to Fedor, however the UFC vet and former champion looked stoic and soft against the much bigger Silva, losing to Silva via Unanimous decision.
    • Arlovski hadn’t fought in 11 months; this was his third straight loss.   No one knows what’s next for Arlovski.  And Big Foot, after this big upset,  moves up to contender status in the Strikeforce heavyweight division.
• May 21th—Tim Sylvia  Vs.  Mariusz Pudzianowki
  • Sylvia wins over the World’s Strongest Man via Submission (Punches).
    • Only hardcore mma fans knew of this fight.  Casual mma fans had no idea about this fight, nor did they know who Mariusz was.  Sylvia has been somewhat ostracized by mma fans for being knocked out by retired and out of shape boxer Ray Mercer in under 10 seconds, but he climbed his way back into the graces of some fans with this easy victory. Sylvia fought this match at 305lbs – a far cry from his 265lbs while with the UFC.
• May 29th—Quinton “Rampage” Jackson  Vs.  Rashad Evans
  • Rashad wins via Unanimous decision.
    • In the most anticipated matchup in UFC history, it was the first time that two black Americans headlined for the UFC.  The pre-fight hype was definitely better than the fight itself.  Fans booed because it was a lot of wrestling and stalling.  Nonetheless, the UFC ushered in a slew of new fans.  The UFC Expo in Las Vegas, for this weekend alone, drew 125,000 fans.
• May 29th—Nick Diaz  Vs.  Hayato Sakurai
  • Diaz wins via 1st round Submission (Armbar)
    • In a collaborative effort by Strikeforce and Dream (Japan), Diaz was sent over to Japan to take on Sakurai.  This was a non-title fight for Diaz.

Although there were some good fights during this month, the best fight that didn’t happen was the boxer vs. mma fighter match, presented by Shine Fights.  UFC vet Din Thomas was slated to take on former boxing champ Ricardo Mayorga on May 15th, before Don King stepped in a day before the fight and won a court appeal in Florida, thus cancelling this intriguing and, what could have been, highly dramatic fight.

MMAviewers.com compiled a short list below of the approximate percentage of visitors that the events above had on this site for the month of May:

1. Mayweather Vs. Mosley (boxing)—52%
2. UFC 114 (Rampage/Rashad)—35%
3. UFC 113 (Machida/Shogun/Kimbo)—7%
4. Shine Fights (Mayorga/Din Thomas)—5%
5. Strikeforce (Overeem,Arlovski/Rogers)—4%
6. Moosin (Sylvia/Pudzianowski)—1%
   

Despite what these percentages say, there was a lot of activity for the Strikeforce and Shine Fight events.  Because these events aren’t known for their ppv buys from sports bars, it was not expected to get as many hits as we did.  Especially for Shine Fights, the amount of overall hits regarding information surrounding this fight was surprisingly very high!  The percentages above mainly reflect visitors who are looking for bars or restaurants to view these live pay-per-view events.

Bellator and Strikeforce Challengers Series deserve mention as well for the elite young and up & coming talents that they put on display during May.

Mayweather’s popularity is simply in a league of its own!  His fight was by far the most popular searched article at MMAviewers.com for the month of May 2010, exponentially exacerbated by the fact that this fight was on the 1st of the month.

Since August 2009, Mayweather’s overall popularity for this site has received a sizable amount of visitors:

1. Mayweather Vs. Mosley
2. UFC 114
3. Roy Jones Vs. Bernard Hopkins II
4. Mayweather Vs. Marquez
5. WEC 48(Aldo Vs. Faber)
6. Shine Fights(Mayorga/Thomas)
7. Manny Pacquiao Vs. Joshua Clottey
8. UFC 113
9. Strikeforce: Nashville

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Related posts:

1. Post-Fight Thoughts from Mayweather Vs. Mosley
2. Poll: Which 2 Fights Within The Next 4 Weeks Are You Anticipating The Most?
3. A Listing Of Bars/Restaurants To Watch Mayweather Vs. Mosley