Tag: 2010 mma awards

Fight of the Year: Anthony Pettis vs. Ben Henderson

In terms of great fights, 2010 saw at last three fights that fans will be talking about for years to come. In April, there was a crazy, almost cartoon-ish brawl that saw the rise of a Korean Zombie. In August, the Japanese MMA fans who stayed up in the…

In terms of great fights, 2010 saw at last three fights that fans will be talking about for years to come. In April, there was a crazy, almost cartoon-ish brawl that saw the rise of a Korean Zombie. In August, the Japanese MMA fans who stayed up in the wee hours to catch an underwhelming Sengoku 14 card (on paper), witnessed an epic fight between two no-nonsense middleweight veterans. And finally, on the last month of the calendar year, the last fight of the final WEC card delivered on a close championship bout with an unforgettable ending.

In the roundtable below, Matt Erickson and I discuss our top five fights of the year.

2010 MMA Knockouts of the Year

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Sengoku, BellatorSitting down to write any best-of list is a no-win situation for the writer. There’s always someone who gets left off, and you hear about it. (Sorry Mac Danzig.) Or there’s someone who shouldn’t be there,…

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Sitting down to write any best-of list is a no-win situation for the writer. There’s always someone who gets left off, and you hear about it. (Sorry Mac Danzig.) Or there’s someone who shouldn’t be there, and you hear about it. (You’re welcome, Frank Mir.)

But that’s also what makes these lists so great – they always elicit discussion. There’s no right or wrong answers, but all the opinions bring out some great and endless debates, part of what makes sports in general, and mixed martial arts in particular, so fun to talk about.

It’s in that vein that we bring you the best knockouts of 2010, and in a little different style than a typical Top 10 list. Sure, dropping in some fun categories apart from one man’s opinion of the best of the year is a cheap way to list more knockouts – ensuring there are fewer snubs. But despite taking the easy way out, we still hope you’ll enjoy a look back at 25 of the year’s best knockouts. We beseech you: Go easy on the writer. And let the debate begin.

The GDP Award

Filed under: Strikeforce, JapanThere are only two types of people who say they’ll get in the cage and fight for free: liars and psychos. You think you want to put on the gloves, get up in front of a screaming crowd, and get punched in the face for free…

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There are only two types of people who say they’ll get in the cage and fight for free: liars and psychos. You think you want to put on the gloves, get up in front of a screaming crowd, and get punched in the face for free on a Saturday night? Are you dense?

Naw, playa. Fighting, when done right, is a job. When done wrong, it’s a criminal offense, or at the very least a way to get kicked out of your favorite bar. The wise pugilist knows that if people are paying to see him, some of that money should find its way into his pocket, if only so he can pay for his stitches and Jägerbombs after the fight.

It is with this in mind that we award this year’s GDP Award (or as “King” Mo Lawal would say, the Get Dat Paper Award) for MMA’s most ambitious cash-stacking, money-making hustler to none other than Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem. [pause for confused applause]

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year

Filed under: UFC, WEC
Breakthrough Fighter is a category that’s easy to talk about but hard to define. What’s the difference between having a good year and a breakthrough year? Is it just a nicer way of saying that you sucked right up until January 1st…

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Breakthrough Fighter is a category that’s easy to talk about but hard to define. What’s the difference between having a good year and a breakthrough year? Is it just a nicer way of saying that you sucked right up until January 1st?

These are difficult questions, so to help me answer them I turned to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani for a spirited, though friendly debate. At least it started out friendly. Then it quickly turned into every other debate we’ve ever had, which is to say long, fierce, and entertaining…from a distance.

By all means, let’s let Ariel start us off.

Ariel Helwani: Look, Ben, I already know what you’re going to say upon hearing my pick for Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: a bunch of fighters won four fights this year. A bunch of guys won titles. A bunch of guys won no. 1 contender spots. A bunch of guys were involved in potential Fight of the Year candidates. A bunch of guys added scintillating knockouts to their highlight reels.

Fighter of the Year: Cain Velasquez

Filed under: Fighting, UFCAt 6-foot-1 and around 240 pounds, Cain Velasquez is no small man in the ordinary world, but among the UFC’s supersized heavyweights, he hardly stands out for his size.

In fact, many heavyweights are either taller or heavier …

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Cain VelasquezAt 6-foot-1 and around 240 pounds, Cain Velasquez is no small man in the ordinary world, but among the UFC’s supersized heavyweights, he hardly stands out for his size.

In fact, many heavyweights are either taller or heavier than Velasquez, and most are both. Yet by the end of 2010, it was Velasquez that reigned over the group of monster athletes.

For capturing the UFC heavyweight championship and completing a rapid rise to the top, Velasquez is MMA Fighting’s 2010 Fighter of the Year.