Best of MMA 2009 - 6 Month Checkup

Although there's still a week left in June, there are no more major-league MMA (UFC, Affliction, DREAM, Strikeforce etc) events until July.  That being the case, it seemed a good time to review the candidates for this year's traditional "best of MMA" voting.

At year end various websites present users and staff with a smorgasbord of categories to pick from in defining The Year That Was in our sport.  I'll leave most of the categories - like most improved, fighter of the year, best camp, biggest story, etc - till year end and instead focus only on the blue-chip categories: submission of the year, KO of the year, and fight of the year.

Some candidates I think should be in voters' minds when the tree is up and decorated and the kids are building snowmen - after the jump:

Submission of the year:

Not a large number of breathtaking subs this year.  I rounded up half a dozen here, so by year's end there will probably be a good 10-15 solid picks to choose from.

What's good (props to smoogy for the GIFs):

Kitaoka-Gomi, Achilles Lock, R1, Sengoku Rebellion 2009 (1/4/2009)
Faber-Pulver, guillotine choke, R1, WEC 38 (1/25/2009)
Lauzon-Stephens, armbar, R2, UFN 17 (2/7/2009)
Maia-Sonnen, triangle choke, R1, UFC 95 (2/21/2009)
Hioki-Manuel, triangle choke, R1, Sengoku 7 (3/20/2009)
Imada-Masvidal, inverted triangle choke, R3, Bellator 5 (5/1/2009)

Boiling it down to 3, I am going with the 3 triangle chokes....

I know, I am a sucker for a good triangle choke.

KO of the year:

Decent number of good KO's this year.  I prefer to err on the side of "knocked the ____ out" for my year-end awards, with relatively few TKO's.

Here's some consciousness-losing goodness:

Vitor Belfort KO's Matt Lindland, Affliction Day of Reckoning (1/24/2009)
Fedor Emelianenko KO's Andrei Arlovski, Affliction Day of Reckoning (1/24/2009)
Lyoto Machida KO's Thiago Silva, UFC 94 (1/31/2009)
Matt Hamill KO's Mark Munoz, UFC 96 (3/7/2009)
Hayato Sakurai KO's Shinya Aoki, DREAM.8 (4/5/2009)
Gilbert Melendez KO's Rodrigo Damm, Strikeforce Shamrock vs. Diaz, (4/11/2009)
Lyoto Machida KO's Rashad Evans, UFC 98 (5/23/2009)
Brett Rogers (T)KO's Andrei Arlovski, Strikeforce Lawler vs. Shields (6/6/2009)

The big 3 are tougher to pick here, but I'm going with:

Fight of the year:

Some great fights already this year, tough to pick the best...and we are only halfway through!  Here are some for your consideration:

Dan Henderson-Rich Franklin, UFC 93 (1/1/2009)
Santiago-Misaki, Sengoku Rebellion 2009 (1/4/2009)
Diego Sanchez-Joe Stevenson, UFC 95 (2/21/2009)
Martin Kampmann-Carlos Condit, UFN 18 (4/1/2009)   
Miguel Torres-Takeya Mizugaki, WEC 40 (4/5/2009)
Scott Smith-Benji Radach, Strikeforce Shamrock vs. Diaz (4/11/2009)
Hideo Tokoro-Abe Cullum, DREAM.9 (5/26/2009)
Rich Franklin-Wanderlei Silva, UFC 99 (6/13/2009)
Diego Sanchez-Clay Guida, UFC TUF 9 Finale (6/20/2009)

Even being aware of the "recency bias" as I call it - the increased likelihood of naming something that is more recent simply because it is fresher in your mind - I am taking two fights from June for my top three. Those three are:

What are your top picks for best submission, KO, and fight of the first half of 2009?

What did I miss in my roundup?