Tag: ESPY

UFC heavyweight champ Jon Jones wins ESPY award for 2023 Fighter of the Year

Jon JonesReigning UFC heavyweight world champion Jon Jones won the ESPY Awards’ 2023 Fighter of the Year honors. As announced by play-by-play man Jon Anik during the UFC 290 broadcast, ‘Bones’ was revealed as the winner following his stunning return to the Octagon at UFC 285 in March. Jon Jones spent the majority of his career […]

Jon Jones

Reigning UFC heavyweight world champion Jon Jones won the ESPY Awards’ 2023 Fighter of the Year honors.

As announced by play-by-play man Jon Anik during the UFC 290 broadcast, ‘Bones’ was revealed as the winner following his stunning return to the Octagon at UFC 285 in March.

Jon Jones spent the majority of his career dominating the light heavyweight division and capturing the 205-pound crown on more than one occasion. During his legendary reign ‘Bones’ dispatched some of the biggest names in the history of the sport, including Ryan Bader, ‘Shogun’ Rua, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Glover Teixeira, and Daniel Cormier.

Jon Jones Returns to Defend His Heavyweight Title in November

After running through the light heavyweight division, Jones walked away from the sport for three years. In March 2023, ‘Bones’ made his triumphant return with his sights on the heavyweight world title. Jones made his divisional debut by taking on top contender, Ciryl Gane, at UFC 285. Jones only needed 2:04 to remind the world just how good he is, scoring a first-round submission over ‘Bon Gamin’ to capture the vacant UFC heavyweight championship.

Next, Jon Jones will put his title on the line against the general consensus heavyweight GOAT, Stipe Miocic. The two MMA icons will square off inside the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, at UFC 295 in November.

Demetrious Johnson Claims ESPY for Best Fighter over Conor McGregor

UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has defeated Conor McGregor. “Mighty Mouse” was voted “Best Fighter” at the 2017 ESPY Awards Wednesday night. Johnson was nominated for the award along with McGregor and boxers Gennady Golovkin, Terence Crawford and Andre Ward. .@MightyMouseUFC tied Anderson Silva’s record for most consecutive title defenses in @ufc history#BestFighter: https://t.co/yxN3rsHe72 pic.twitter.com/mj7Biqf9df […]

UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has defeated Conor McGregor. “Mighty Mouse” was voted “Best Fighter” at the 2017 ESPY Awards Wednesday night. Johnson was nominated for the award along with McGregor and boxers Gennady Golovkin, Terence Crawford and Andre Ward. .@MightyMouseUFC tied Anderson Silva’s record for most consecutive title defenses in @ufc history#BestFighter: https://t.co/yxN3rsHe72 pic.twitter.com/mj7Biqf9df […]

Conor McGregor And Holly Holm Took Home ESPY Awards Last Night

UFC competitors Conor McGregor and Holly Holm each added yet another accolade to their respective trophy cases last night, as the pair each took home an award from yesterday’s 2016 ESPY awards. McGregor won the 2015 Best Fighter Award, While Holm took home 2015 Best Upset honors, for her thunderous win over former UFC bantamweight queen Ronda

The post Conor McGregor And Holly Holm Took Home ESPY Awards Last Night appeared first on LowKick MMA.

UFC competitors Conor McGregor and Holly Holm each added yet another accolade to their respective trophy cases last night, as the pair each took home an award from yesterday’s 2016 ESPY awards.

McGregor won the 2015 Best Fighter Award, While Holm took home 2015 Best Upset honors, for her thunderous win over former UFC bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey.

McGregor (19-3) has had quite the 2015-16 season thus far, as he holds knockout victories over the likes of Dennis Siver, Chad Mendes, and Jose Aldo. The brash Irishman was also handed his first loss under the promotion’s banner, as he suffered an upset submission victory to Stockton Native Nate Diaz in their clash at UFC 196 this past March.

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‘Notorious’ is currently in preparation for his highly-anticipated rematch with Diaz at UFC 202 this August, and thus was not in attendance to accept the award.

Holm (10-1) had a fine year herself, as she dethroned the former 135-pound juggernaut Rousey in their UFC 193 main event clash in Melbourne, Australia with a thunderous head-kick that put ‘Rowdy’s’ lights out.

Holm

‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ would unfortunately go on to drop her title in her first defense as champion to Miesha Tate at UFC 196, and now prepares for a clash with muay thai specialist Valentina Shevchenko.

Holm will take on Schevchenko in the main event of UFC on FOX 20 live from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on July 23, 2016.

McGregor will meet Diaz once again in the main event of UFC 202 live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 20, 2016.

The post Conor McGregor And Holly Holm Took Home ESPY Awards Last Night appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Ronda Rousey Wins ‘Best Female Athlete’ at 22nd Annual ESPY Awards


(Ronda could not be reached for comment, as she is currently in a state of cat-like readiness. / Photo via Getty)

Last night in Los Angeles, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey became the first MMA fighter to win an ESPY Award, when she claimed “Best Female Athlete” honors at ESPN’s 22nd annual sports awards ceremony. Rousey was nominated alongside basketball players Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart, and Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin, none of whom have ever KO’d a woman in 16 seconds. Rousey was also nominated in the “Best Fighter” category, along with UFC light-heavyweight champ Jon Jones, but the category was won for the fifth time by Floyd Mayweather.

Sure, the ESPY’s are just a fan-voted* popularity contest, but Rousey’s win is kind of a big deal. Since 2007, various UFC stars (including Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Quinton Jackson, and Randy Couture) have been nominated for Best Fighter, but have lost every single time to Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao. UFC fights have popped up twice in the “Best Upset” category as well — Frankie Edgar’s UFC 112 defeat of BJ Penn in 2010, and Chris Weidman’s UFC 162 KO of Anderson Silva, which was nominated this year — but mixed martial arts has always walked away empty handed.

It’ll be a while before an MMA champion can draw more votes than the biggest star in boxing. Maybe that will never happen. But if Ronda Rousey is the most compelling, dominant, and popular female athlete in sports right now, that’s great publicity for the sport as a whole. So let’s enjoy it before Rousey buzzes off to Hollywood full time to become an unholy hybrid of Milla Jovovich and The Rock.

* I submitted a write-in vote for that chick who just killed it on American Ninja Warrior. Ah well. Maybe next year.


(Ronda could not be reached for comment, as she is currently in a state of cat-like readiness. / Photo via Getty)

Last night in Los Angeles, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey became the first MMA fighter to win an ESPY Award, when she claimed “Best Female Athlete” honors at ESPN’s 22nd annual sports awards ceremony. Rousey was nominated alongside basketball players Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart, and Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin, none of whom have ever KO’d a woman in 16 seconds. Rousey was also nominated in the “Best Fighter” category, along with UFC light-heavyweight champ Jon Jones, but the category was won for the fifth time by Floyd Mayweather.

Sure, the ESPY’s are just a fan-voted* popularity contest, but Rousey’s win is kind of a big deal. Since 2007, various UFC stars (including Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Quinton Jackson, and Randy Couture) have been nominated for Best Fighter, but have lost every single time to Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao. UFC fights have popped up twice in the “Best Upset” category as well — Frankie Edgar’s UFC 112 defeat of BJ Penn in 2010, and Chris Weidman’s UFC 162 KO of Anderson Silva, which was nominated this year — but mixed martial arts has always walked away empty handed.

It’ll be a while before an MMA champion can draw more votes than the biggest star in boxing. Maybe that will never happen. But if Ronda Rousey is the most compelling, dominant, and popular female athlete in sports right now, that’s great publicity for the sport as a whole. So let’s enjoy it before Rousey buzzes off to Hollywood full time to become an unholy hybrid of Milla Jovovich and The Rock.

* I submitted a write-in vote for that chick who just killed it on American Ninja Warrior. Ah well. Maybe next year.

CagePotato PSA: Barboza, Silva and Jones Nominated for ESPYS, So Go Vote!

We’re about to win at IRONY!

TOP SCORE!!!

We should probably feel sad about the fact that we live in a country where people get more passionate about voting for the winner of a reality show than they do for voting for their school board representatives. Or that many of you have probably quoted “the Founding Fathers™” inaccurately in a typo-ridden Facebook rant at some point in your lives. Or that many of you don’t know when this year’s presidential election is, yet have already voted for the awards we’re about to shamelessly plug.

But if we did that, then we might miss out on one of these fighters winning an ESPY. We wouldn’t want that, would we? Didn’t think so.

We’re about to win at IRONY!

TOP SCORE!!!

We should probably feel sad about the fact that we live in a country where people get more passionate about voting for the winner of a reality show than they do for voting for their school board representatives. Or that many of you have probably quoted “the Founding Fathers™” inaccurately in a typo-ridden Facebook rant at some point in your lives. Or that many of you don’t know when this year’s presidential election is, yet have already voted for the awards we’re about to shamelessly plug.

But if we did that, then we might miss out on one of these fighters winning an ESPY. We wouldn’t want that, would we? Didn’t think so.

Yesterday, voting opened for this year’s ESPY Awards, which will air live on ESPN on July 11 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. While MMA fighters may not be eligible for “Male/Female Athlete of the Year” (Ronda Rousey is not impressed), our sport finds itself represented in two categories.

Obviously, “Best Fighter” has UFC athletes Anderson Silva and Jon Jones up for nomination, along with boxing’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Andre Ward. An MMA fighter has never won “Best Fighter” since the category’s inception (?!), but with Floyd Mayweather being broken by jail and Anderson Silva fighting two days before the voting ends, this year may very well give us an MMA fighter winning this category, like God intended.

Also of note, Edson Barboza’s third-round wheel kick knockout of Terry Etim at UFC 142 is up for “Best Play of the Year”. Voting in this category is 16 seed tournament-style, with the first eight matchups having a voting period ending on Tuesday. The winners advance to an Elite Eight round from July 3-9, and voters will have all of July 9th to pick the winner from the final four plays to advance. 

This round, Barboza’s wheel kick KO is matched up against a freaking golf highlight. We can’t possibly let ourselves lose to golf, can we? Then click here to vote for Edson Barboza, and click here to vote for the other categories, including “Best Fighter”. Go out and make your voices heard!

2012 Espy Awards: Jon Jones Is Undoubtedly the Fighter of the Year

Today’s announcement that Jon Jones has been nominated for an ESPY Award—along with Anderson Silva, Floyd Mayweather and Andre Ward—should come as no surprise. Jones had a brilliant year. So brilliant, in fact, that he should rightly …

Today’s announcement that Jon Jones has been nominated for an ESPY Award—along with Anderson Silva, Floyd Mayweather and Andre Ward—should come as no surprise. Jones had a brilliant year. So brilliant, in fact, that he should rightly take home this award without even so much as calling for a vote.  But it’s not that simple, […]