Tag: midseason mma awards

Midseason MMA Awards: The GDP Award

Filed under: UFCSome people say money can’t buy happiness. Those people are broke losers who live with their moms and take the bus to work at Cinnabon. Forget those people. For the rest of us – the ones who don’t want to take all our meals in shopping …

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Some people say money can’t buy happiness. Those people are broke losers who live with their moms and take the bus to work at Cinnabon. Forget those people. For the rest of us – the ones who don’t want to take all our meals in shopping mall food courts – it’s important to have a little cash in our pockets.

There are two ways you can accomplish that as a pro fighter: 1) Be a main-eventin’, cut-of-the-pay-per-view-gettin’, mainstream-sponsor-havin’, first-class-flyin’, son of a gun, or 2) Fight every single chance you get.

The first option is more glamorous, but the simple fact is that it’s not realistic for 99% of MMA fighters. They can’t all be the best in the world. Some of them sweat and bleed for every penny. They have to make as much as they can, while they can. They have to keep getting in the cage and keep getting paid.

So far in 2010, one man stands head and shoulder above the rest when it comes to putting on the gloves and stacking that paper, and that man is Chris Leben.

Midseason MMA Awards: Top Fighter

Filed under: UFCStop and think for a moment about where Chris Leben was in his mixed martial arts career at the beginning of 2010: In his most recent fight he had been submitted by the eminently mediocre Jake Rosholt. Before that he had served a suspen…

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Stop and think for a moment about where Chris Leben was in his mixed martial arts career at the beginning of 2010: In his most recent fight he had been submitted by the eminently mediocre Jake Rosholt. Before that he had served a suspension for testing positive for steroids following his loss to Michael Bisping. It had been 22 months since he last won a fight, and he was probably one more loss away from getting cut from the UFC.

But what a 2010 it’s been: Leben is 3-0 this year, he’s cashed bonus checks for Fight of the Night and Knockout of the Night, and he’s gone from being known mostly as a guy who acted like a jerk on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter to getting a huge ovation from the crowd after winning the co-main event at the UFC’s biggest card of the year.

Midseason MMA Awards: Best Fight

Filed under: Fighting, NewsMidway through the calendar, we’ve already seen hundreds of fights across the MMA landscape, from old reliables like the UFC to upstarts like Moosin and organizations trying to get to the next level like Bellator.

During tha…

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Midway through the calendar, we’ve already seen hundreds of fights across the MMA landscape, from old reliables like the UFC to upstarts like Moosin and organizations trying to get to the next level like Bellator.

During that time, we’ve seen our fair share of clunkers and adrenaline pumpers, but as far as the best goes, one stands out from the crowd.

Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia at WEC 48 is the easy pick for the best fight of 2010 so far, and it really isn’t even close. Some people have suggested that the fight deserved to be downgraded because it lacked, shall we say, artistic merit. It wasn’t a technical masterpiece, with both men resorting to bombs-away haymakers at several points, but what it lacked in textbook application, it more than made up for in raw grit and heart.

Midseason MMA Awards: Best Knockout

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, BellatorThere may have been more surprising knockouts, more spectacular knockouts or more exciting knockouts, but there has been no more impressive knockout so far in 2010 than Shogun Rua connecting with Lyoto Machida in …

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There may have been more surprising knockouts, more spectacular knockouts or more exciting knockouts, but there has been no more impressive knockout so far in 2010 than Shogun Rua connecting with Lyoto Machida in the first round of their light heavyweight title fight at UFC 113.

Just think about how difficult it is to land a clean, hard shot to Machida’s head. Right up until that very moment when Rua’s right hand hit Machida’s temple, Machida had been the UFC’s hardest fighter to hit. Whether you loved or hated his elusive style of fighting, you knew Machida was devastatingly effective at avoiding damage.

And then Shogun came along. After losing a very close decision to Machida last year, Shogun wanted to take it out of the judges’ hands this time around, and that’s what he did, winning the light heavyweight belt by tagging Machida with by far the hardest punch anyone has ever hit him with and then pouncing and finishing him with a few more punches on the ground. It was the best knockout in mixed martial arts so far in 2010.