2010 MMA Awards

[A.E]

Time to identify the best of 2010, in your own opinion.

Promotion of the Year: WEC

It's almost cliche', (and a forgone conclusion), to assume the UFC is the promotion of the year. However, if you watched any of the WEC in 2010, you saw some of the most action packed MMA ever. The WEC put together masterful bouts that didn't disappoint, meanwhile, they continued to churn some of the best, young champions. The WEC merges into the UFC, (saving ZUFFA a shit-ton of money), however; there's no doubt that the final year of the WEC was epic.

Honorable Mentions: UFC, Bellator

Fighter of the Year: Alistair Overeem

What do I value most in a fighter, a guy who manages to fight a lot in a year. Consider this and there's the answer for why I'm not choose Cain Velasquez, who despite his 2 amazing wins...only accounted for 2 fights in 2010. What did Overeem do in 2010? How about become the first person to ever hold world titles in MMA and kickboxing. Overeem juggled multiple schedules throughout the year, won 5 bouts in capturing the K-1 World Grand Prix Championship, successfully defended his Strikeforce crown, and then captured the first ever DREAM Heavyweight title to close out the year. Overeem did all of this in convincing fashion. He is becoming the most dangerous heavyweight on the planet and it seems like nobody wants to fight this guy right now.

Honorable Mentions: Cain Velasquez, Mauricio Rua, Frankie Edgar

Breakout Fighter of the Year: Anthony Pettis

I am a big fan of those guys who manage 5 fights in a year, especially those under a Zuffa contract. Pettis did just this...actually, there really wasn't anything he didn't do in 2010. Pettis went 5-0 in 2010, shot up the rankings, and capped off the year with one amazing highlight & the WEC Lightweight Championship. Pettis solidified himself as one of the greatest young fighters, very exciting to watch, and he finishes the majority of his bouts with style.

Honorable Mentions: Jon Jones, Ben Askren, Dominick Cruz, George Sotiropoulos

Comeback Fighter of the Year: Rashad Evans

Evans looked to quiet all the naysayers who felt that he had an easy route to his Light Heavyweight Championship reign...as well as add his wrestling back into his game and mature more as a fighter. A lesser fighter would have struggled to recover from such a one-sided loss to Machida; however, Sugar Rashad had a very strong 2010. Evans narrowly defeated Thiago Silva, in a fight where he looked like a guy trying out a new gameplan, and then went on to look like a genius during The Ulimate Fighter. Evans worked with his fighters very well, had the way more effective style of coaching, and then capped off the season with a huge win against Rampage.

Honorable Mentions: Chris Leben, Yushin Okami, Clay Guida, Carlos Condit

Fight of the Year: Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung

This is a fight that kinda ties into what I was saying to describe how great of a year the WEC had. Do you remember where you were when the term "Korean Zombie" was first embedded into your brain? This fight was a straight up slugfest; each man dishing out just as much punishment as they received. Both absorbed blow after blow, giving the fans exactly what we like to see. This fight is also a big reason why its a shame the WEC is no more. Despite the expansion, this fight would be buried in the preliminary card of most UFC PPV's. Either way, this was one of the greatest fights I've ever seen.

Honorable Mentions: Leben vs. Akiyama, Pearson vs. Siver, Grove vs. Munoz, Hamman vs. Wallace, Souza vs. Villaseñor

Knockout of the Year: Gerald Harris powerbombs Joe Silva

A ton of great punches and kicks to choose from...but I opted to go with something you just don't see everyday. This was one of the great, "HOLY SHIT!" moments of the year. The slam isn't anything we haven't seen before but it is rare and even more rare when the guy on the receiving end goes completely limp.

Honorable Mentions: Lawler KO's Manhoef, Serra KO's Trigg, Diaz KO's Zaromskis, Bader KO's Jardine

Submission of the Year: Evan Dunham armbars Efrain Escudero

The setup was amazing on this one and Dunham took a huge risk in the attempt. If he doesn't manage to lock it in, Dunham is on his back, trying to pull guard, and in a bad spot. Most impressive is how Dunham pulled it off w/o both legs on the face-side of Efrain's head...and it took some work to get 'er done.

Honorable Mentions: Silva triangle's Sonnen, Marloes armbars Sarah Kaufman, Omigawa straight armbars Cole Escovedo

Upset of the Year: Werdum taps Fedor

I can't think of a bigger upset than Werdum tapping out the living legend.
Going into the fight, Fedor's only loss came in a tournament and was the result of a forfeit due to injury. The man largely regarded as 'unbeatable' not only lost but he lost in the most unimaginable fashion. Nobody gave Werdum a chance to win the fight and not a single person on this planet expected him to beat Fedor in the first round, much less a triangle choke. This may be the one and only time we'll ever see Fedor tap.

Honorable Mentions: Yuichiro Nagashima over Shinya Aoki, Edgar over Penn (UFC 112), Pat Curran over Roger Huerta, Manny Gamburyan over Mike Brown

Event of the Year: UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin

This was one of the tougher choices as I rack my brain and think about all the cards I watched in 2010. In retrospect, UFC 116 was very anticipated, very hyped, and it delivered. Love him or hate him, everyone is glued to the tv when Brock Lesnar steps into the octagon & this main event goes back to the days where boxing main events featured a pair of massive, bruising heavyweights to close out the show. The main event was some of the most amazing 3 minutes of a first round...and the rest was a jaw-dropper. Even prior, Leben and Akiyama delivered in what is a huge candidate for fight of the year. It was one of those cards you couldn't wait to watch, it was great fight after great fight, very memorable.

Honorable Mentions: Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery, Dynamite!! 2010, WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber, Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu

 

[DJT]

Huh...I've never heard of Overeem, but winning 5 fights in a year is pretty amazing.

 

[A.E]

Huh...I've never heard of Overeem, but winning 5 fights in a year is pretty amazing.

Never heard of Overeem? You need to expand your MMA horizons beyond the UFC my friend.

He actually faught 7 times in 2010. 5 K-1 bouts, 2 MMA title fights.

 

[DJT]

He should come to the UFC.

I'm sure Dana is probably trying hard to get him.

 

[A.E]

He should come to the UFC.

I'm sure Dana is probably trying hard to get him.

He was supposedly ready to get into the UFC in 2008; however, nothing materialized. Matter of fact, Overeem was seen having a conversation with Dana White at the UFC Card in Ireland. I don't know if Overeem would be happy in the UFC though. He's one of those guys that wants to fight as much as he can, as long he's healthy, and the UFC doesn't permit guys that opportunity. In his current situation, Overeem can fight in Strikeforce, DREAM, and K-1, all in the same year.

I still won't rule it out tho. Overeem has won every belt he set his sights on and I think that once he finally gets his crack at Fedor, should he win, he's got nothing left to prove at the international level. Very competitive guy, wants nothing more to be the best, and he's basically on a mission to check off all those boxes required. Obviously, becoming a champion in the UFC is pretty high up on the list.

 

[Dizzy Darko]

Overeem has said that he doesn't have a problem with the UFC having his exclusive rights if he liked the terms. His plan has always been to be in the UFC, but right now he is busy building his "star" in Japan. He's huge there. Getting the K-1 out of his system by winning the GP was a big step in getting closer to the UFC and this Strikeforce GP will probably be a major step as well. I have no doubts that within the next 2 years Overeem will sign with the UFC. Dana wants him bad and can market him as a major star being as huge and technical as he is.

Working on my picks right now

 

[Dizzy Darko]

Promotion of the Year: WEC

For the reasons AE posted, every single card was exciting, action packed, full of hungry fighters dying to be the champ or just fighting for the love of it. They even put on a really good PPV early in the year. But more importantly than all of that, is all these guys were getting paid very very poorly in comparison to UFC fighters and now that they have merged, it gives these little guys a shot at some big pay day's.


Fighter of the Year: Jose Aldo

I wanted to go with Alistair here as well, but many of my choices were the same as AE's do I decided to make some different choices just to add some variety. Jose Aldo became a devourer of soul's in 2010. Sure he only had 2 fights. But in those fights he absolutely picked apart and decimated former WEC stand out Urijah Faber for 5 rounds with killer stand up and leg kicks so brutal Urijah had to be carted out on a stretcher. He then fought Mannie Gamburyan, a man many thought would be able to frustrate Aldo and land that big bomb, and proceeded to drop and finish him with strikes in the 2nd round of their fight. After the merger, he became the first ever UFC Featherweight Champion, and after sending Urijah down a weight class, bashing Mike Brown to undercard status and wrecking Manvel, there appears to be nobody that can get in his way in 2011


Breakout Fighter of the Year: Frankie Edgar

This might come as a surprise pick seeing as he is the LW Champ, but at the end of 2009 he was a relative unknown. He earned his title shot by decisioning journeyman Hermes Franca, decisioning former Champ-turned-Gatekeeper Sean Sherk, and finally got the shot by submitting Matt Veach, a man who went 1-2 in the UFC before being released. It's no surprise he was a huge underdog going into the first fight against BJ Penn. Despite this, he managed to beat Penn (a man who hadn't lost at 155 in roughly 8 years and was coming off huge wins over Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez) not once but twice. Narrowly winning the first 5 rounds, then dominating the next 5. This was a feat nobody game him the slightest shot at. Anybody that knows me knows I'm not a big fan of this kid, but you cant deny his talent or his accomplishments, especially in 2010.


Comeback Fighter of the Year: Cain Velasquez

Ok I know, another odd pick but bare with me. Cain did not have a strong 2009. He started off by beating unknown Denis Stojnic, who is no longer with the UFC. After this, he took on Cheick Kongo and despite his olympic level wrestling, he had major trouble with the striking game of Kongo, getting dropped a few times and holding down Kongo but not delivering much offense. He developed a reputation of having "pillow hands" shortly after. He was especially scrutinized after his next fight against Ben Rothwell, where he had Rothwell against the cage landing shot after shot but seemingly doing no significant damage as Rothwell was standing back up as the fight was stopped. It was controversial to say the least. But he followed up his 2010 very strong stopping legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira standing for only the second time in his career, and dethroing former "World's Baddest Man" Brock Lesnar. This coupled with the Fedor loss has many declaring Cain the #1 Heavyweight in the world


Fight of the Year: LW Champion Ben Henderson v. Anthony Pettis - WEC

Sidenote: I <3 Brittney Palmer

Great technical striking? Check. Various submission attempts? Check. Smart, active fighters throwing everything they have in their tool box at one another? Check. Drama? The title was on the line and this was the main event of the last WEC show we will ever see, winner getting a crack at the UFC LW title, so check. This fight had everything. Pettis would land a bomb, Hendo would land a bomb. Pettis would get a takedown, slap on a guillotine, Hendo would spin out, reverse, throw on a rear naked choke. These guys came hard and delivered. Plus it gave us this:

Knockout of the Year: Robbie Lawler demolishes Melvin Manhoef - Strikeforce: Miami

Robbie Lawler was getting hammered. Manhoef was stalking and landing huge shots and scary leg kicks. It was looking like it was only a matter of time before Manhoef landed the big one. He had Lawler backpeddling against the cage, landed a huge leg kick and then in the blink of an eye "Ruthless" does what he always seems to do, an overhand right and Manhoef was out on his feet, stumbling towards the ground. It was unbelievable. The punch that knocked him down wasn't even the worst shot, watch the gif and see the hit Lawler lands when Manhoef is down, watch his head snap back. That is crushing power.


Submission(s) of the Year: Fabricio Werdum's triangle/arm bar on Fedor Emelianenko - Strikeforce: Fedor v. Werdum, Scott Jorgensen's guillotine on Chad George - WEC 47

Werdum making Fedor tap couldn't NOT be mentioned here. Not because of anything special about the submission itself, but because of the impact it had on the MMA world. Fedor finally losing. Turns out he is just a man after all.

Scott Jorgensen on the other hand had an absolutely scary guillotine on Chad George. Locked in so hard he actually lifted George off the ground and had him pressed against the cage as he kicked his feet beneath him. Technically amazing? No, we've seen crazier submissions, but this was down right fearsome


Upset of the Year: Mike Russow KO's Todd Duffee - UFC 114

Another surprise pick. Neither man is a world beater, but after Todd Duffee's KO of Tim Hague in .031 seconds he was instantly launched into stardom. Maybe a slight exaggeration but he was seen as a future star at Heavyweight in the UFC. A huge man with good striking and major power, he was given a somewhat "gimme" fight against a decent but average fighter. For 3 rounds Duffee pounded on Mike Russow, throwing several impressive combinations and absolutely tooling the other man. Then Russow managed to nail Duffee and deliver one of the scariest hammerfist's the MMA world has ever seen, now known as the "Hammerfist of Doom". Parents hide your chidren and beware, this is not for the faint of heart. Hammerfist at 2:12 but i suggest you watch the entire vid. Its worth it

 

[A.E]

LOL @ that MMA Kombat video. I could watch Duffee FAIL all day, I swear.

Took Overeem 14 seconds to knock Duffee into another lifetime at Dynamite.