Issue 055
October 2009
Now, in a moment of history that will simultaneously lay the foundations for the future, Fighters Only magazine is giving you the chance to honor those ‘legends’ – plus a host of others – in an awards ceremony that is set to become an MMA institution.
On December 30, 2009, the world’s best fighters will converge on The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, where the year’s top performers will be honored – solely via your votes.
The significance of the evening will be lost on nobody. The winner of the Fighter of the Year award come December 30th will go on to be revered in half a century’s time at the 50th World MMA Awards show. MMA fans of the future will watch nostalgic flashbacks to the inaugural ceremony and laugh at how people in 2009 did not have 3D TV. They will sit there with their moustaches and flares (which will no doubt be trendy again by 2059) mocking the skin-head of GSP or the short back and sides of Brock Lesnar, while salivating over the performances of Lyoto Machida in the same way we regale Royce Gracie.
Like a ‘W’ in the win column or an ‘L’ in the loss column, these awards will be the no-questions-asked bible by which we remember the MMA greats. Does Georges St Pierre deserve to end his career with fewer Fighter of the Year awards to his name than Anderson Silva? Should he be remembered in a lower class to the Brazilian? Your votes will define the history books.
The awesome force of fan power in MMA cannot be underestimated; Dana White proves testimony to that. Just look at what happened when the fans showed their displeasure at the announcement of a Dan Henderson / Rich Franklin rematch scheduled for UFC 103. He went out and within 48 hours had signed Vitor Belfort to replace Henderson. That is fan power in MMA. Would the Steelers or the Dolphins replace their star quarterback within 48 hours if the fans showed their displeasure at his performance? No. In MMA, your voice is the most important in the business (behind Bruce Buffer of course, and you just know the great tanned one will be voting!).
BB’s vote holds no more weight than yours though, so if Buffer picks Matt Hamill’s crunching head kick against Mark Munoz for KO of the Year while you fail to register your vote for Jose Aldo’s destruction of Cub Swanson, you may get an angry Brazilian banging down the door to your gym. Like a George W. Bush vs Al Gore election, make sure you do not leave the final result in the hands of others.
The World MMA Awards have the backing of the sport’s elite figures. They will become the equivalent of the Oscars in the film world, the Nobel Prize in the science world, or the Grammys in music.
However, there is one major difference. This is your chance to influence a World-first. When Nicolas Cage picks up an Oscar, he is following in the footsteps of others who have gone before him. When Kanye West claims the Best Solo Artist gong, his name is just being added to a lengthy list of previous winners such as David Bowie and Stevie Wonder. But at the World MMA Awards, you are setting the precedent by which others will follow. Fighters Only CEO Rob Hewitt sums it up: “We want to give the fans a voice in the industry, as well as educate people new to MMA as to who the sport’s leaders are.”
As MMA fans, the majority of you will have been there since the very start and will therefore have experienced the honor of witnessing Hall of Famers such as Royce Gracie and Randy Couture. Others will not have been so lucky; they will form their MMA knowledge from annual honors such as the World MMA Awards. Thus your vote is crucial to shaping MMA’s history.
One thing is sure; the feeling of gratitude and appreciation from last year’s winners – even though the awards were conducted on a much smaller scale – was overwhelming. The 2008 Fighter of the Year, Anderson Silva, thanked us six times in 11 seconds. Breakthrough Fighter of the Year Demian Maia thanked the fans and his coaches for ‘helping to make this come true’, while the most poignant word came from Fight of the Year winner Wanderlei Silva: “Whenever I fight I try to give my best for my fans, I try to leave it all out there, so to know that the fans enjoy my fights is incredible for me.”
This isn’t only about honoring the fighters though; you have the chance to big up the best MMA sports brands and coaches as well. There will be awards for the Best Glove, the Best Shorts, and the Best Overall Clothing. In years to come, when you see Tapout or Sprawl advertising themselves as five-time MMA Brand of the Year, that will be your doing.
Following the first official World MMA Awards ceremony, a global marker will have been set for sports brands, coaches, gyms, and of course fighters. Already some huge decisions are looming, decisions that will divide opinion more than the return of Tito Ortiz.
For the title Fighter of the Year, current holder Anderson Silva may not even get a look-in, despite registering two more dominant victories this year – one of which was against a former UFC light heavyweight champion. The Brazilian’s work is likely to be cast into the shadows by the more high-profile victories of Messrs Lesnar, Machida and, of course, St Pierre.
The European Fighter of the Year award is just as tight: Martin Kampmann two victories, Dan Hardy two victories. Or should the award go to a TUF winner such as Ross Pearson or James Wilks? Marcus Davis fans should note that he does not qualify for this award despite claims to the contrary.
Matt Hamill and Jose Aldo’s efforts to claim the KO of the Year award have already been noted, although Machida, Henderson and Shane Carwin may have something to say about that, while Demian Maia’s greatest challenge for the Submission of the Year gong may very well come from Liverpool, England, in the form of Terry Etim.
Fight of the Year is always hotly debated and will inevitably feature ‘The Axe Murderer’ Wanderlei Silva in its list of nominees, but was the Sanchez-Guida tear-up better than the Franklin-Silva strike-fest? Should Miguel Torres’ mash-up with Takeya Mizugaki get your vote?
In 50 years’ time a new generation of MMA fans won’t be able to cast their minds back to 2009 – they didn’t live it. They will be relying on your votes to give the truest representation of what we witnessed so that, when they look back to the first ever World MMA Awards, they know which fighters ruled the Octagon, which fighters ruled our respect.
Cast your minds back, and shape the MMA landscape for decades to come.
The World MMA Awards will be an exclusive black-tie event where the many fighters due to attend will arrive via a red carpet entrance. Tickets for the event are available for fans. For details on how to be one of the select few hundred fans to witness a glamorous ‘who’s who’ evening of MMA, visit www.WorldMMAAwards.com.
If you’re anything like us you’re probably struggling to remember what you did last night, let alone all the defining moments of 2009, so here’s some food for thought.
Fighter of the Year
Georges St Pierre
Delivered four brutal rounds of punishment to BJ Penn back in January, and then produced an equally dominant destruction of Thiago Alves to leave us wondering what’s next for the welterweight king.
Brock Lesnar
You either love or hate the UFC heavyweight champion, but there can be no denying how far he has come in a small space of time; his dismantling of Frank Mir was a horror show.
Lyoto Machida
A seriously classy operator. Destroyed Thiago Silva in vicious style to answer his critics and then schooled Rashad Evans for the belt.
KO of the Year
Machida vs Evans
The Dragon barely suffered a graze as he turned out Evans’ lights with two picture-perfect throws of the left fist. Majestic.
Aldo vs Swanson
Eight seconds, that’s all it took for Jose Aldo to knock the smile off Cub Swanson’s face with a savage flying knee.
Hornbuckle vs Gono
The young American shocked a nation by traveling to Japan and laying out the crafty Akihiro Gono. Dan Hornbuckle left the ring with his arms raised, Gono left on a stretcher.
Submission of the Year
Maia vs Sonnen
“I knew what I would do three moves before I did it,” said Maia. A perfect triangle.
Lawlor vs Dollaway
Lawlor needed all of 55 seconds to put CB to sleep with a guillotine choke.
Etim vs Buchholz
So nearly TKO’d in round one, Etim struck back in the second to lock on the sweetest of D’Arce chokes for a $60,000 check.
Fight of the year
Franklin vs Silva
The Cologne classic. Both men got rocked on more than one occasion, both men slugged it out to the death.
Kampmann vs Condit
One for the purists. Submission attempts and escapes galore, mixed in with a whole lot of classy striking.
Sanchez vs Guida
How Guida survived the opening onslaught (and then the head kick) is anyone’s guess. He nearly got a draw at the death too.
Torres vs Mizugaki
A real bantamweight slugfest, five rounds of unadulterated striking in the WEC.
Breakthrough fighter
Jon Jones
A string of victories in the UFC for the 21-year-old, the sky is the limit for this 205lb’er.
Brian Bowles
Coming from nowhere to snatch the WEC’s 135lb title, Bowles certainly made sure the world would remember him.
European fighter
Dan Hardy
One of the most explosive KO’s of the year and a victory over Marcus Davis. Not a bad year so far for The Outlaw.Martin Kampmann
Arguably a top five welterweight, Kampmann’s next bout with Mike Swick will be huge.
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