Picking the very best mixed martial art fighter of 2007 is a difficult task unless you’ve seen most of them scrapping in person.

When looking at a fight in the ring or Octagon, there are events and actions that cannot be perceived accurately while watching on television. You need to be at the fight listening to the actual impact of the punches and kicks to decipher if someone is effective.

That’s why this list I’m concocting mostly designates those fighters seen live. A few were seen on television, but only as a last resort.

Several fighters qualify for best in 2007: Randy Couture, Anderson Silva, Urijah Faber, Takanori Gomi, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Fedor Emelianenko. It’s a lofty list.

But Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who as an underdog beat Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell with a knockout, then edged Dan “Hendo” Henderson in five closely fought rounds, set himself apart and is the pick for Fighter of the Year.

Altogether he won three fights in 2007 and hasn’t lost in almost three years. Jackson’s win over Liddell was a huge fight for 2007, a rematch with the man who held the UFC light heavyweight title. Henderson's style matched up well against Jackson's, but Rampage won that one, too.

Jackson is the Fighter of the Year.

Fight of the year
Several rumbles stand out, such as Liddell’s fiery confrontation with Wanderlei Silva, Roger Huerta’s win over Leonard Garcia, Michael Bisping’s match with Matt Hamill, Frank Shamrock’s bout with Phil Baroni, and Nick Diaz’s split-decision win over Hawaii’s Mike Aina.

My pick is Huerta’s bludgeoning victory over a stubborn Garcia in UFC 69. It was a shootout that probably led to Huerta become the first UFC cover boy for Sports Illustrated the following month. Huerta and Garcia put on an electrifying show that night.

Upset of the year
KJ Noons' beating the favored Edson Berto was a surprise to many on July 27. On Sept. 22 two fighters emerged victors though they were decided underdogs: Forrest Griffin forced a submission from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Keith Jardine gained a split-decision from Liddell. But the biggest upset was watching Gabriel Gonzaga take out the great Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. That win gave the big Brazilian a shot against Couture for the UFC heavyweight title. It was supposed to be Cro Cop.

Knockout of the year
Nothing topped Gonzaga’s kick to the side of Cro Cop’s head, which shut out his lights and left him twisted like a pretzel last April 21 in England. The referee winced as he saw Cro Cop’s leg in a contorted position and quickly untangled him. It was an tingling power display of a leg kick.

Best fighters
This is a list of the best fighters in each weight division for the year of 2007. It’s not the best pound for pound, but the best MMA fighters in each division, according to this columnist.

Heavyweights: Fedor Emelianenko (27-1, 1 NC) recently proved that size doesn’t matter when he chopped down the much bigger Hong-Man Choi in the first round with an arm bar. The speed in this heavyweight is phenomenal, both with his grappling and his fists. His combination punches come in rapidly and before his opponent can adjust, it’s over.

The second best is Randy “The Natural” Couture (16-8), who might never step in an Octagon or ring again but has proven that among heavyweights, he’s a major wrecking force. His destruction of a younger, stronger and faster Gabriel Gonzaga made 40-year-olds all over America  up and cheer.

Light heavyweights: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (28-6) decimated Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell for not just one fight, but two. Liddell was still recovering from the shocking knockout loss that Jackson gave him when he lost to Keith Jardine. Jackson has raw strength that can’t be taught and has upped his punching and defensive skills to match his ground game.

The second best is Dan “Hendo” Henderson (22-6), who lost a decision to Jackson, but proved his chin and grappling skills cannot be underestimated. Inside a cage or ring Henderson’s a magician. He’s very smart when he fights. The loss to Jackson was not decisive, so a rematch could be coming.

Middleweights: Anderson Silva (20-4) has evolved from a decent fighter to a slick and powerful middleweight. He is one of the best stand-up fighters MMA has ever seen among middleweights. He can kick, punch or submit anyone. Wins over Rich Franklin, Travis Lutter and Chris Leben have some experts tabbing Silva as the very best MMA fighter, pound for pound. It’s early for that declaration, but we’ll see how he does against one of the truly best when he meets Dan Henderson in March.

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Paulo Filho (10-0) ranks second. He has defeated Kazuo Misaki, Shogun Rua and Ryo Chonan, all hefty wins. Filho is a friend of Silva so it’s not certain if he’d fight his Brazilian comrade. But anything can happen when money talks. Filho is the World Extreme Cagefighting champion, the sister organization of Ultimate Fighting Championship, so it can be arranged by UFC president Dana White.

Lightweights: It’s a division that has so many great fighters but with Hawaii’s BJ Penn (11-4-1) dropping from welterweight to lightweight, he’s my choice for the best 155-pounder. Penn handles welterweights well with his superior ground game. It makes sense that his strength will prevail against the smaller weight class. Penn is scheduled to meet Joe Stevenson for the vacant UFC lightweight title stripped from Sean Sherk.

Takanori “The Fireball Kid” Gomi (27-3) continues to mount wins over superb opposition in Japan. With wins over Mitsuhiro Ishida, who recently beat Gilbert Melendez, and Crazy Horse Bennett and Jens Pulver, this strong fighter could give Penn a heck of a scrap if they ever meet. He lost to the Hawaiian four years ago. It’s time for another meeting.

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