Issue 194
December 2020
The results from the 12th World MMA Awards are in and some of mixed martial arts’ biggest names are among the winners.
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, two-weight UFC champion Amanda Nunes, and ‘BMF’ king Jorge Masvidal picked up some of the biggest awards on the night, broadcast live on CBS Sports Network and hosted by Dolph Lundgren.
Due to COVID-19, the World MMA Awards had an extended voting period of January, 2019 to July, 2020.
Here are the winners – as voted for by you, the fans – below.
Charles “Mask” Lewis Fighter of the Year: Israel Adesanya
Other nominees: Henry Cejudo, Justin Gaethje, Douglas Lima, Jorge Masvidal
Female Fighter of the Year: Amanda Nunes
Other nominees: Cris Cyborg, Kayla Harrison, Valentina Shevchenko, Zhang Weili
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Jorge Masvidal
Other nominees: Gilbert Burns, Alexander Volkanovski, Zhang Weili, Petr Yan
International Fighter of the Year: Israel Adesanya
Other nominees: Aung La N Sang, Valentina Shevchenko, Kamaru Usman, Zhang Weili
Fight of the Year: Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (UFC 248)
Other nominees: Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum (UFC 236), Josh Emmett vs. Shane Burgos (UFC on ESPN 11), Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker (UFC on ESPN 12), Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington (UFC 245)
Knockout of the Year: Jorge Masvidal vs. Ben Askren (UFC 239)
Other nominees: Cody Garbrandt vs. Raphael Assuncao (UFC 250), Douglas Lima vs. Michael Page (Bellator 221), Sean O’Malley vs. Eddie Wineland (UFC 250), Anthony Pettis vs. Stephen Thompson (UFC on ESPN 6)
Submission of the Year: Demian Maia vs. Ben Askren (UFC on ESPN+ 20)
Other nominees: Misha Cirkunov vs. Jimmy Crute (UFC on ESPN+ 16), Aviv Gozali vs. Eduard Muravitsky (Bellator 225), Bryce Mitchell vs. Matt Sayles (UFC on ESPN 7), Brent Primus vs. Tim Wilde (Bellator Europe 2)
Comeback of the Year: Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier (UFC 241)
Other nominees: Eddie Alvarez vs. Eduard Folayang (ONE Championship 99), Cody Garbrandt (career), Peter Queally vs. Ryan Scope (Bellator Europe 4), Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Alistair Overeem (UFC on ESPN 7)
Upset of the Year: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway (UFC 245)
Other nominees: Kai Asakura vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (Rizin FF 18), Henry Corrales vs. Aaron Pico (Bellator 214), Timofey Nastyukhin vs. Eddie Alvarez (ONE Championship 92), Khama Worthy vs. Devonte Smith (UFC 241)
Shawn Tompkins Coach of the Year: Trevor Wittman
Other nominees: Eric Albarracin, Eugene Bareman, Mike Brown, Sayif Saud
Trainer of the Year: Phil Daru (strength and conditioning)
Other nominees: Andre Hicks (strength and conditioning), George Lockhart (nutrition), Bo Sandoval (strength and conditioning), Sunz Singh (strength and conditioning)
Gym of the Year: American Top Team
Other nominees: American Kickboxing Academy, Elevation Fight Team, Fortis MMA, Sanford MMA
Referee of the Year: Herb Dean
Other nominees: Mike Beltran, Marc Goddard, Jason Herzog, Frank Trigg
Ringcard Girl of the Year: Brittney Palmer
Other nominees: Jhenny Andrade, Carly Baker, Louise McKie, Mercedes Terrell
Leading Man: Dana White (UFC)
Other nominees: Scott Coker (Bellator), Martin Lewandowski (KSW), Nobuyuki Sakakibara (Rizin FF), Densign White (IMMAF)
Best Promotion: UFC
Other nominees: Bellator MMA, KSW, ONE Championship, PFL
Personality of the Year: Joe Rogan
Other nominees: Jon Anik, John McCarthy, The Schmo, Chael Sonnen
Analyst of the Year: Daniel Cormier
Other nominees: Michael Bisping, Robin Black, Paul Felder, Dan Hardy
Best MMA Programming: JRE MMA Show
Other nominees: Anatomy Of A Fighter, Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Dana White’s Contender Series, UFC Embedded
MMA Media Source of the Year: ESPN
Other nominees: The Athletic, The Mac Life, MMA Junkie, Sherdog
MMA Journalist of the Year: Ariel Helwani
Other nominees: Mike Bohn, Gareth A. Davies, John Morgan, Brett Okamoto
Fighting Spirit of the Year: Dustin Poirier (Good Fight Foundation)
?Other nominees: Walt Harris (Return to fighting), Robbie Lawler (How to take a loss), Conor McGregor (PPE donation), Justin Wren (Fight for the Forgotten)
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