Issue 072
February 2011
Just Bleed’ Award for Octagon Heroism
Chris Leben, for his underdog victories against Aaron Simpson and Yoshihiro Akiyama in the space of a fortnight. No matter what you think of him as an individual or an athlete, Leben’s epiphany matched the Silva vs Sonnen affair for personal drama.
Most Dignified Losing Speech
Lots of highly commended certificates here. Brock Lesnar stood pretty tall when he lost his heavyweight belt to Cain Velasquez. Jason Brilz deserves a nod for taking his loss to L’il Nog on the chin, as does Evan Dunham for bellowing “I love this sport” while Sean Sherk was awarded a similarly debatable decision against him. But the award goes to Jon Jones for the zen-like acceptance of his disqualification loss against Matt Hamill.
Forrest Griffin Award for Refreshing Lack of Sound Bites
A ‘highly commended’ to ‘Rampage’ Jackson for accepting he perhaps shouldn’t have got the nod in his fight against Lyoto Machida, but the trophy passes to Mike Russow for describing his magnificent KO comeback against Todd Duffee as “awful”.
Team That Most Closely Resembles The X-Men
Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu of Stockton, California. MMA’s ‘Crazy Gang’ had star power along with some magnificent results in 2010.
Finest Use Of Traditional Martial Arts
Carlos Condit’s combo-opening short-stomps to Dan Hardy’s lead leg in their UFC 120 clash impressed highly, but Anthony Pettis’ ‘punk capoeira’ takes home the silverware.
Most Vicious Lay ‘n’ Pray Game
The otherwise rated Nik Lentz took stifling to a new level against Andre Winner at UFC 118. So much so that MMA had to invent a new name for his technique of butting the silky Brit against the cage: ‘wall ‘n’ stall’.
Best Haircut
Even FO columnist Dan Hardy’s shaved off his Mohawk. This was the year that punk hairdos went out, and strangely threatening smart styles were in. Bouffant props therefore to preppy-looking fighters Matt Riddle, Mac Danzig and Michael Bisping.
Most Intimidating Inappropriate Entrance Music
This year nothing said ‘you’re about to face a complete psycho’ than the kind of chilled-out sounds your mom listens to after taking one trip too many to the grocery store. Yoshihiro Akiyama’s appropriation of an Andrew Lloyd Webber ballad sung by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, Time To Say Goodbye, certainly put the fear of God into us.
Most Rabid Fans
As Joe Lauzon addressed his home crowd: “Scream for me, Boston!” Not sure about the guy who apparently told a battered Marcus Davis that he’d ‘shamed the city’ though.
Most Eyebrow-Raising Commentary
“I started counting fights [for my record] when I’d come home drunk and knock my old lady around,” quoth Don Frye during the Shark Fights 13. Not as easy as it seems, is it guys?
Most Incendiary Blogging
Who else could get this gong but the terror of Queens, die-hard MMA fan and shadowboxing supremo Bloodstain Lane. We’re not sure if he holds us in particularly high regard but hey, you don’t have to see eye to eye with people to enjoy them on YouTube.
Most Essential T-shirt
‘Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung was the cult hero of the year and his mould-breaking T-shirt flew out of online retail warehouses. Fedor Emelianenko’s ‘banned’ TapouT T-shirt was the objet d’anarchy of the year if anybody managed to bag one of those before they got pulled. But overall we have to give it to RVCA’s ‘Just Scrap’, as seen on BJ Penn at UFC 123.
Glammest Party
Our own Fighters Only World MMA Awards after-party at the Playboy Club in the Fantasy Tower at the Pearl at the Palms. Period.
Funniest Moment of the Year
Nick Diaz stopping his car so he could do double middle fingers at the now-obligatory dashboard-mounted video camera during his Mayhem miller-themed video blog rant. Gestures aside, diaz had a fantastic 2010, dispatching opponents with indomitable style.
‘Back Down to Earth’ Moment Of Unstinting Reality
Chael Sonnen’s positive PED test, although the December 2nd hearing suggested everybody’s favourite real estate agent may not have been acting entirely inappropriately.
WWE Crossover of the Year
Having studiously distanced ourselves from ‘sports entertainment’ for all this time we welcomed the stars of pro wrestling in from the cold in 2010. Not only did Batista sign up with team Cesar Gracie, The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar imported some post-fight confrontation. Which made some of us nostalgic for the time when Royce Gracie tied guys up for hours on end.
Shrewdest Spin-Off
While other dudes were still messing around with T-shirts, ‘The American Psycho’ Stephan Bonnar was busy catering to high net worth individuals like himself with his MMA art house ngauge (ngaugeinc.com).
Note: this is only a bit of fun, nobody’s getting any trophies, and we realize some winners fall outside the regular WMMA Awards nomination period.
