Most Lackadaisical Appearance

Gilbert Yvel, UFC 121

The Octagon isn’t exactly the catwalk but a slight paunch, unkempt hair and sponsor-less UFC-brand shorts, at UFC 121, didn’t do justice to Gilbert Yvel’s once-respected MMA career. Combining the look with a 1:48 TKO loss to belly-boasting wrestler Jon Madsen didn’t help the 36-16-1 (1NC) fighter’s argument for staying on the hallowed UFC roster. Being 0-3 in the Octagon is bad news for any fighter.

Punches In Bunches Award

Nick Diaz, Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons 2

Put a loudmouth boxer like KJ Noons in a fight with a surly Nick Diaz and apparently you get an explosion of strikes. Combined, both men attempted 1,054 hits, between fists and feet, in their Strikeforce welterweight championship tilt in October. As ever, when presented with a stand-up-based target such as KJ Noons, Nick Diaz will always elect to connect his limbs to his opponent as many times as possible. Which he did 194 times – enough to earn him a judges’ decision.

Most Stunning Knockout

Carlos Condit, UFC 120

We’ve never seen (or dared to visualize) British hero Dan Hardy stone-cold KO’d on the canvas before. Maybe that gave Carlos Condit’s left hook such startling impact for fans. Both men exchanged straight rights followed by identical lefts, Condit’s landing directly on ‘The Outlaw’s jawbone and sending the Nottingham fighter to the floor in a heap. Hardy’s version, which dug below the ear of ‘The Natural Born Killer’, wasn’t without its charms though. Condit was significantly staggered by the Mohican’d one’s hook, until he spied the severely rocked striker between the Bud Light and Harley Davidson logos and finished off his work.

Best Name

Waachiim Spiritwolf, Strikeforce Challengers 11

If there’s a fighter with a better name than Waachiim Spiritwolf in all of mixed martial arts, FO would most definitely like to hear it (War Machine doesn’t count). The Native American fighter, who recently debuted for Strikeforce in their Challengers series, might own a modest 8-7-1 record but he has the MMA world’s greatest collection of syllables and consonants constitute his name. Plus, he was also used as an extra on National Geographic Channel’s Fight Science MMA episode with Bas Rutten and Randy Couture. Mad props.

Revenge Of The Belly

Rob Broughton, UFC 120

Mixed martial arts might be the only sport in the world where a portly grafter can beat a Hugo Boss-model lookalike. This time Wolfslair-based catch wrestler Rob Broughton played the tubby underdog while Chute Boxe striker Vinicius Quieroz acted as the marble-carved hero (who later tested positive for steroids). The bout played to the script, for the first two rounds, until the Brazilian gave up his back in the third round and tapped to a rear naked choke. Yet again, physiques and fight predictions fail to be happy bedfellows.

Best Passive Intimidation

Yoshihiro Akiyama, UFC 120

Stepping into the cage with someone who’s so macho he’s happily just held hands with his cornermen while an Andrew Lloyd Webber record plays in the background has to be massively unnerving. That UFC 120’s ‘Fight of the Night’-addicted Yoshihiro Akiyama managed it in style makes him very much ‘the man’; he clasped palms with his fellows while Time To Say Goodbye, sung by world-renowned warblers Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, echoed out as his chosen cage-entrance theme. It’s all so anti-testosterone that it becomes, in-turn, so macho.

Joe Rogan Kiss Of Death

Cain Velasquez, UFC 121

Shortly after Cain Velasquez battered the UFC heavyweight belt from Brock Lesnar at UFC 121, commentator Joe Rogan announced that the Mexican’s reign was ushering in a “new era” in the 225lb-plus division. The last Rogan-christened ‘era’ was the short-lived ‘Lyoto Machida era’ – otherwise known as one debated decision and a knockout loss. Will Cain Velasquez’s last longer than Machida’s 12-month run?

Biggest Upset

Zoila Frausto over Megumi Fujii, Bellator 34

Going 23 fights without a loss was one ask too many for femme-fighting sensation Megumi Fujii. The finals of Bellator’s women’s tournament saw the Japanese phenom take her first defeat in a six-year career and snap her perfect 22-0 record. Her new 22-1 digits came via a split decision to Zoila Frausto in October that had Fujii – a multiple-time grappling champion – opt to keep the majority of the match standing. The heavy underdog, Frausto’s win gives her the women’s Bellator 115lb gold and made MMA fan boys’ heads explode.

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