2017 MMA awards were announced, what are your picks?
I'm pick mine in Bold and in RED
The 2017 World MMA Awards nominees are below.
Charles 'Mask' Lewis Fighter of the Year
Michael Bisping
Donald Cerrone
Cody Garbrandt
Conor McGregor
Stipe Miocic
^ This was a tough one for me, I feel Conor was the fighter of the year and definitely had The biggest Accomplishments of the year With Becoming the first ever simultaneous 2 weight UFC champ and With him making 40 million dollars between his 3 fights, I also think what he did coming back form the Diaz loss, the way he handled it and the way he demanded the rematch in the exact same circumstances and then made great adjustments to beat Diaz in the rematch was Incredible. but I just can't NOT give it to Cody, unranked coming in to 2016, and ends the year BW champ, and he beat The Best BW ever to win the belt with an incredible performance.
Female Fighter of the Year
Cris Cyborg
Angela Hill
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Angela Lee
Amanda Nunes
^Easy
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
Yair Rodriguez
Cody Garbrandt
Doo Ho Choi
Derrick Lewis
Michael Page
^Doo Ho Choi is a close second
International Fighter of the Year
Michael Bisping
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Conor McGregor
Gegard Mousasi
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Fight of the Year
Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit (UFC 195)
Cub Swanson vs. Choo Ho Choi (UFC 206)
Michael Bisping vs. Anderson Silva (UFN 84)
Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2 (UFC 202)
Michael Chandler vs. Benson Henderson (Bellator 165)
^IMO this comes down to preference, Diaz/Conor II was just amazing for me...but IMO Cub Swanson vs. Choo Ho Choi and Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit are both worthy of fight of the year too......Round 5 of Lawler/Condit is IMO The round of the Year!
Knockout of the Year
Anthony Johnson (vs. Glover Teixeira, UFC 202)
Landon Vannata (vs. John Makdessi, UFC 206)
Michael Page (vs. Cyborg Santos, Bellator 158)
Yair Rodriguez (vs. Andre Fili, UFC 197)
Michael Chandler (vs. Pitbull Freire, Bellator 157)
Submission of the Year
Ben Rothwell (vs. Josh Barnett, UFC on FOX 18)
Nate Diaz (vs. Conor McGregor, UFC 196)
Miesha Tate (vs. Holly Holm, UFC 196)
MacKenzie Dern (vs. Montana Stewart, Legacy 61)
Thiago Moises (vs. David Catillo, RFA 35)
^ Tate's Sub of Holm and the way it happened may be one of my favorite MMA moments, If Tate didn't get that takedown in the last 2 minutes of the 5th round, If she didn't get the RNJ and Finish it, she loses on all scorecards and NEVER becomes a UFC Champ, it truly was NOW or NEVER, and Tate pulled it off
Comeback of the Year
Michael Bisping (vs. Anderson Silva, UFN 84)
Nate Diaz (vs. Conor McGregor, UFC 196)
Dan Henderson (vs. Hector Lombard, UFC 199)
Miesha Tate (vs. Holly Holm, UFC 196)
Dominick Cruz (Career)
^ IMO Cruz coming back from 3 career ending type injuries and only fighting 1 time in 4 years and coming back and beating A Champion as great as TJ is just amazing and clearly the comeback of the year, but what Bisping did against Silva, Literally getting KO'd Dead at the end of the 3rd round and then literally picking himself up and coming back out to win the 4th round and the fight, it was truly special, Tate's Comeback was truly amazing too as I said above
Upset of the Year
Michael Bisping (vs. Luke Rockhold, UFC 199)
Bryan Barberna (vs. Warlley Alves, UFC on FOX 18)
Joe Taimanglo (vs. Darrion Caldwell, Bellator 159)
Brandon Moreno (vs. Louis Smolka, UFN 96)
Zac Riley (vs. Hugo Viana, RFA 34)
Shawn Tompkins Coach of the Year
Jason Parillo
Din Thomas
John Kavanagh
Marcus Marinelli
Greg Jackson
^ IMO Tie...Kavanagh proved himself an excellent coach in the rematch with Nate and with His assessment of Eddie Alvarez's abilities and with his breakdown of how Conor would beat Eddie and When it would happen, Kavanagh literally predicted Conor's finish of Eddie down to the second it happened...theres a great video of Kavanagh talking to Ariel on the MMA hour after the fight where he explains how he knew going into The Eddie fight, Eddie was a massive Mismatch against Conor, and explains he thought going in it was going to look Worse than Conor's fight with Brimridge for Eddie.
https://youtu.be/giraz1DNXOY?t=733---heres the vid and at the exact time he says it-
and what Jason Parillo did with Bisping was incredible, Parillo watched tape on Rockhold, found a weakness/hole and thats exactly how Bisping got the KO, they knew Rockhold dropped his right hand and knew Bisping could come over the top and it won Bisping the title...Bisping also just straight out boxed Silva in their fight and had better footwork, Parillo had a lot to do with that
Gym of the Year
American Top Team
SBG Ireland
Jackson-Wink Arena
American Kickboxing Academy
Team Alpha Male
^ SBG just exploded this year and last year
what are your picks???????????