Top 20 Upsets of 2009 to Date

by GregS123 on Oct 15, 2009 9:27 AM EDT Comment 16 comments

Just over three quarters through the year, we have seen a number of stunning Mixed Martial Arts upsets in 2009. Using publicly posted oddsmaker lines to rank them, Tapology has compiled a list of the year’s top 20 upsets to date. From newcomer Joe Warren’s improbable victory over Kid Yamamoto in the Dream featherweight tournament, to veteran Mark Coleman defying father time against Stephan Bonnar, there have been plenty of upsets to keep fight fans on their toes.

The rankings are based on the oddsmaker money line for the favorite in each fight. The greater the line, the greater the potential upset. Odds are taken from multiple sportsbooks to come up with an average. If a fight took place without any publicly posted odds, it didn’t qualify for this list.

Some notable stats: 10 of the top 20 upsets were caused by a KO or TKO. 9 took place in Japanese promotions Dream and Sengoku. The top upset this year to date took place this past Saturday night at WEC 43, where huge favorite Waggney Fabiano lost via triangle choke submission against newcomer Mackens Semerzier.

Rank	Loser Odds	Loser Name	Winner Odds	Winner Name	Result	Fight Date	Event Name
1	-715	Wagnney Fabiano	+465	Mackens Semerzier	Round 1 Submission	10/10	WEC 43
2	-568	Hayato Sakurai	+428	Marius Zaromskis	Round 1 KO/TKO	7/20	Dream.10
3	-550	Norifumi Yamamoto	+400	Joe Warren	Decision	5/26	Dream.9
4	-500	Brock Larson	+423	Mike Pierce	Decision	9/16	UFC UFN 19
5	-478	Ikuhisa Minowa	+358	Katsuyori Shibata	Decision	4/5	Dream.8

The full list of the top 20:

http://www.tapology.com/2009/10/the-biggest-mma-upsets-of-2009/

If you want to know where a specific fight ranks, say the word.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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For me, it was the way Semerzier won. Beat Fabiano, sure, but sub him? And to a lesser extent, Larson losing by dec, I didn’t see that coming either. Warren was a shocker just to get the W, but if you ask yourself if he did win, what would he win by? You would likely say dec given he’s a wrestler.

by szucconi on Oct 15, 2009 10:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Semerzier was shocking. but interestingly a big influx of cash came in on him in the last couple hours before the fight. Some people out there knew he had skills.

these are tweets from @MMAOdds -

#WEC 43: Mackens Semerzier def. Wagnney Fabiano via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:14. Could see that coming with late money on dog 9:09 PM Oct 10th from web

#WEC 43: Steady money coming in on 3-0 WEC newcomer and +500 underdog Mackens Semerzier over IFL Champ 12-1 Wagney Fabiano #MMA #VERSUS #UFC 5:18 PM Oct 10th from web

www.tapology.com | twitter.com/tapology

by GregS123 on Oct 15, 2009 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Skill, maybe, but that hints at an injury or something else wrong with Fabiano. The line might have moved earlier if it was based on skill alone.

by szucconi on Oct 15, 2009 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, it’s more likely that Fabiano was sick or hurt than anything else.

Twitter: @Mike_Fagan_13
http://www.sackmikegoldberg.com

by Mike Fagan on Oct 17, 2009 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice post, and Rec’d. Just one thing that irks me that I see everywhere—Don’t begin a sentence with the numerical form of a number/always spell out numbers under 10.

We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms, turning every good thing to rust.

by Robert Downey Sr. on Oct 15, 2009 10:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

by thekiltedwonder on Oct 16, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wonder if some of those fights

were to be refought today how many would have significantly different lines and how many are considered such a fluke that the favorite would open with nearly the same odds again?

by rzor on Oct 15, 2009 1:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs