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2012 World MMA Awards

Nobody should miss this year’s World MMA Award show, so mark January 11th on the calendar. Any event hosted by Chael Sonnen is bound to entertaining and this event will be no exception. The.

Nobody should miss this year’s World MMA Award show, so mark January 11th on the calendar. Any event hosted by Chael Sonnen is bound to entertaining and this event will be no exception. The nominees have been announced and fortunately, they all seem worthy of being on the list. Now while I usually make predictions for the winner, I’ll be selecting the nominee that I feel is the most deserving of the award. Let’s face it, voters don’t always get it right.

Comeback of the Year

– Alan Belcher (career)
– Mike Swick (career)
– Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 140)
– Tim Boetsch vs. Yushin Okami (UFC 144)
– J.P. Joubert vs. Norman Wessels (EFC Africa 15)

All the nominees have such a strong argument as to why they should win. For me it’s a toss up between Tim Boetsch and his comeback win over Yushin Okami, or J.P. Joubert and his comeback over Norman Wessels. It all comes down to who was being dominated more until they ultimately turned the fight in their favor. Although I doubt it will get the necessary votes in order to win, it should go to J.P. Joubert, who was outclassed by Norman Wessels for ninety five percent of the fight. Although there were parts of the fight that weren’t necessarily exciting, Joubert was being outclassed just the same. Eventually he was able to land a combination that hurt Wessels, which gave him the adrenalin boost needed to unleash a relentless combination of punches until Wessels dropped to the canvas. One could make the argument that Tim Boetsch was in the same scenario, but unlike Joubert, Boetsch controlled the third round from the very beginning and continued to do so until he found the knockout. In other words, Yushin Okami wasn’t as dominate over Boetsch as Norman Wessels was over Joubert before the comeback.

Pick : J.P. Joubert vs. Norman Wessels (EFC Africa 15)

Submission of the Year

– Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 140)
– Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely (UFC on FOX 2)
– Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio (UFC 142)
– Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate (Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey)
– Chan Sung Jung vs. Dustin Poirier (UFC on FUEL TV 3)

I have to dismiss three nominees for several reasons. Chan Sung Jung’s submission over Dustin Poirier was impressive, but it was a fight he was clearly in control of. It was almost as if the crowd was just waiting for the submission to come, or for Poirier to have a tremendous comeback. Charles Oliveira’s submission over Eric Wisely was the same scenario. He was clearly controlling the fight and submitted Wisely with a calve slicer while taking his back. Rousimar Palhares had yet another fast leg lock submission, like he always does, one reason I doubt he’ll get the votes to win. For me, it’s between Ronda Rousey’s armbar win over Miesha Tate and Frank Mir’s Kimura win over Antonio Nogueira; two astounding submissions that literally broke bones. I won’t complain if either of the two win, but in my eyes, Frank Mir is more deserving. Not only is Mir’s win nominee for comeback of the year, which always makes his submission win that much more impressive, but he submitted one of the most decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners in MMA. It’s the only time Nogueria has ever been submitted, and that alone is more than enough reason for Mir to be the most deserving of submission of the year.

Pick : Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 140)

Knockout of the Year

– Adam Khaliev vs. Alexei Belyaev (League S-70)
– Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim (UFC 142)
– Stephen Thompson vs. Dan Stittgen (UFC 143)
– Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon (UFC 144)
– Brian Rogers vs. Vitor Vianna (Bellator 61)

I had originally thought that Edson Barboza’s insane wheel kick knockout was not only the greatest UFC knockout, but also the most impressive knockout in MMA. While I still think Barboza’s aspiring kick is the most impressive UFC knockout to date, Adam Khaliev’s Tornado kick knockout was equally as stellar, and even more flashy. I give my pick to the slightly more flashy kick from Khaliev. One thing for sure, these two nominees are the only obvious options. If any other nominee wins the award, it will be the perfect example of biased opinion and favoritism.

Pick : Adam Khaliev vs. Alexei Belyaev (League S-70)

Fight of the Year

– Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (UFC 139)
– Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez (Bellator 58)
– Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego Sanchez (UFC on FUEL TV 1)
– Dustin Poirier vs. Chan Sung Jung (UFC on FUEL TV 3)
– Jamie Varner vs. Joe Lauzon (UFC on FOX 4)

Easiest category to pick a winner, in fact, everyone called this award winner the moment the fight was over. All are worthy nominees, but the UFC 139 main event produced one of the greatest and most memorable fights in UFC history. Dan Henderson vs. Shogun wasn’t just an epic fight, it’s one of those fights that can be watched over and over again. I will be absolutely shocked if this fight doesn’t end up winning fight of the year.

Pick : Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (UFC 139)

International fighter of the Year

– Michael Bisping
– Alexander Gustafsson
– Chan Sung Jung
– Martin Kampmann
– Stefan Struve

Bisping has a win, loss, win going for him, so the lack of consecutive wins prevents him from getting my vote. Kampmann had wins over elite fighters Thiago Alves, and Jake Ellenberger, but most fans consider those wins, nothing more than lucky combacks. On top of that, his fight with Ellenberger was extremely controversial due to multiple claims of an early stoppage. Had Kampmann won his most recent fight against Johnny Hendricks, I would’ve picked him to win the award hands down, but that’s not the case. Gustafsson’s win over Shogun is argument enough for him win. As if the win over Shogun wasn‘t impressive enough, his prior fight was a dominating victory over former elite light heavyweight, Thiago Silva. Chan Sung Jung was my first initial pick, his last two wins were over Mark Hominick, who was just coming off a title fight, and Dustin Poirier, who was possibly one win away from a title fight. The Korean Zombie finished both fights, and received a bonus award for each one. Stefan Struve has more wins in the contest timeline than all the other nominee, three of his four win were fight that I incorrectly predicted that he would lose. He has been the most well rounded in his fights, winning by knockout, and two different submissions . His last two fights were against two heavy handed up and comers, which Struve was able to derail their ride to the title. After winning and finishing more fights than the other nominees, and doing so in multiple ways, I consider Struve the most deserving of the title International fighter of the year.

Pick : Stefan Struve

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year

– Renan Barao
– Michael Chandler
– Luke Rockhold
– Ronda Rousey
– Chris Weidman

This award will be closely contested, because all five nominee has three wins during the contest timeline, and four of the nominees won the title during this time. Had Weidman not beaten Mark Munoz, he wouldn’t be on the list, and I don’t consider Munoz as highly ranked as others did during the time of their fight. For Chandler and Rockhold, they took the belt from fighters, who at the time, were ranked in the top ten of their weight classes. However, their first title defenses were against fighters who were nowhere near deserving of a title fight. Rousey had three first round armbar wins, very impressive, but most people were picking her to armbar Miesha Tate to win the belt. No other female fighter, has been seen as truly dominate. Barao faced Brad Pickett in his UFC debut, talk about a tough first fight, but he won in the first round via submission. He picked apart Scott Jorgensen and did the same to Urijah Faber. Barao has faced and beaten three elite fighters, beating Faber has given him an achievement that makes him my choice for breakthrough fighter of the year.

Pick : Renan Barao

Female Fighter of the Year

– Jessica Aguilar
– Sarah Kaufman
– Sara McMann
– Ronda Rousey
– Miesha Tate

Ronda Rousey has beaten two of the nominees, both by first round armbar. She is a nominee for breakthrough fighter of the year and fighter of the year, there’s no reason for Rousey not to win female fighter of the year. The only other fighter that I can see even remotely deserving the award is Jessica Aguilar for her victory over Megumi Fujii, but still, not as impressive as Rousey.

Pick : Ronda Rousey

Fighter of the Year

– Daniel Cormier
– Benson Henderson
– Nate Diaz
– Jon Jones
– Ronda Rousey

After he refused to fight Chael Sonnen and had similar feelings for a rematch with Lyoto Machida, I’d rather not see Jon Jones win fighter of the year. However, as much as I hate to say it, I have to admit that he is the most deserving of the award. In four consecutive fights, Jones defeated four former champions, submitting three of them. None of the other nominees had faced the quality of opponents that Jones did. I’d like to see Cormier win, only because I don’t believe that Henderson deserves the award due to his two controversial fights with Frankie Edgar, two fights that I scored for Edgar. Henderson destroyed Diaz, so obviously, I won’t vote for Diaz. Bottom line, I have to be unbiased, and Jon Jones deserves the award based on his superior accomplishments in the octagon.

Pick : Jon Jones

– Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli

Melendez May get an Automatic Title Shot

The title says it all fight fans. Dana White made an announcement that Gilbert Melendez will most likely get an automatic title shot in his UFC debut. Though many thought that the winner of Pettis.

The title says it all fight fans. Dana White made an announcement that Gilbert Melendez will most likely get an automatic title shot in his UFC debut. Though many thought that the winner of Pettis vs Cerrone would get the shot, Melendez proves an interesting matchup for Benson Henderson. The Champ just won a unanimous decision victory against Melendez’ team mate Nate Diaz in what was the most dominant performance he has had as of late.

Some say that Melendez doesn’t deserve the shot seeing as he hasn’t fought many big names in Strikeforce, but yet he has remained among the top 10 Lightweights in the world. I am all for this fight, mostly because it will show us whether Gilbert Melendez is all hype, or a top 10 fighter. Personally I see Henderson using his size to control the fight and take a unanimous decision, but this has the makings to be a great fight.

Let me know what you think in the comment section fight fans.

-Josh Leduc

UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II Medical Suspensions

Medical suspensions for this past Saturday’s UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II event were handed down by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday. A total of fourteen competitors were handed suspensions which includes six-month suspensions for four fighters which includesTim Boetsch, Alan Belcher, Michael Johnson, and Todd Duffee. UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. […]

Medical suspensions for this past Saturday’s UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II event were handed down by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday.

A total of fourteen competitors were handed suspensions which includes six-month suspensions for four fighters which includesTim Boetsch, Alan Belcher, Michael Johnson, and Todd Duffee.

UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II took place on December 29, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Event headliners Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos both received 45-day suspensions with no contact for 30 days.

Check out the full list of UFC 155 medical suspensions (as posted by MMAManaia.com)

Main Card (Pay-per-view)

Junior dos Santos: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

Cain Velasquez: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

Joe Lauzon: Suspended 60 days (45 days no contact) for facial/forehead lacerations.

Tim Boetsch: Suspended 180 days unless cleared by physician (nasal fracture). Minimum suspension 45 days (30 days no contact).

Alan Belcher: Suspended 180 days unless cleared by a physician (mandible, knee). Minimum suspension 60 days (60 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

Yushin Okami: Suspended 14 days (10 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

Preliminary Card (FX)

Eddie Wineland: Suspended 30 days (21 days no contact) for lacerations.

Brad Pickett: Suspended 21 days (14 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

Byron Bloodworth: Suspended 60 days (45 days no contact) for scalp lacerations.

Jamie Varner: Suspended 60 days (45 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

Melvin Guillard: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for right shin laceration.

Michael Johnson: Suspended 180 days unless cleared by a physician (left hand). Minimum suspension 21 days (14 days no contact) for ear laceration.

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

Todd Duffee: Suspended 180 days unless cleared by a physician (left knee). Minimum suspension 60 days (45 days no contact) for forehead laceration.

Philip DeFries: Suspended 21 days (14 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

Leonard Garcia: Suspended 21 days (14 days no contact) for precautionary reasons.

UFC 155 Aftermath

Regardless of any opinions of the match ups, results, or overall excitement of the event; there’s no debating that UFC 155 answered a number of questions. Being one of only a half dozen of predictors to call an upset in the main event, I’m not all that surprised with Velasquez recapturing the title. There were however several results, some of them more shocking, that deserve a little more attention.

Todd Duffee is NOT overrated

Even with a seven second knockout under his belt, as well as six other first round knockouts, a number of MMA fans considered Duffee to be nothing more than over hyped fighter. Dispite back to back losses to Mike Russow and Alistair Overeem, arguments for counting out Duffee in his bout with Phil De Fries were feeble. Before the unbelievable comeback from Mike Russow, that fight was as one sided as a fight could possibly be. As far as the Overeem loss, can you really hold that against him? Overeem is arguably the second best heavyweight in the world. As to why anyone would think Duffee wouldn’t overcome the likes of De Fries is baffling, but he proved the nay sayers wrong by finishing De Fries only two minutes into the fight.

I don’t think anyone is making the argument that Duffee should be ranked in the top ten of the division, but he certainly deserves a step up in competition for his next fight. There are quite a few opponent options for Duffee, but the one that is really making a world of sense to me is Pat Barry. He’s a fellow heavy hitter coming off a recent knockout win of his own.

The suspension hurt Leben more than expected

Derek Brunson had less predictions pulling for him than Cain Velasquez did, but he was able to get the job done. Although Brunson had several impressive takedowns, the story of his success was more of a lacking performance on Leben’s part. To get straight to the point, Leben didn’t look like the old crowd pleasing brawler most people were expecting to return. When he was first taken down, Leben utilized a very active guard, but he tired quickly after. Joe Rogan even made a comment that it looked as if Leben had lost a significant amount of power in his punches, and Brunson didn’t seem discouraged even after Leben tried to unleash all his fury. Clearly, Leben didn’t stay as active in the gym during his suspension as most people assumed. Hopefully he will wise up and get back to training, because if his next fight is a letdown, the UFC could say farewell to the crippler.

Miles Jury will be a serious lightweight contender

This was the fight that the odds makers are kicking themselves for right about now. The heavily favored Michael Johnson didn’t amount a shred of offense and was dominated on the ground for fifteen minutes. This marks the second consecutive victory for Jury which was shocking impressive. I considered Johnson to be on the rise, but after seeing what Jury was able to do, I’ll be eager to see him compete again against another up and coming fighter.

Jury is truly a prospect in the lightweight division, and therefore should next face fellow lightweight prospect Abel Trujillo. It will make for the a most intriguing fight that will determine if Jury has what it takes to excel to the next level.

Perez needs a true test

While it’s true that I have been outspoken about the controversy of Perez’s “submission win” over John Albert, I can’t deny that Perez had an incredible display of determination and submission skills, both offensive and defensive. In his three UFC wins, Perez has demonstrated well rounded skills and is in dire need of a step up in competition. A few names come to mind, such as Ivan Menjivar,Mike Easton, or Scott Jorgensen. These three suggested opponents are either coming off a loss, a win over a no name fighter, or a win over a fighter that Perez has already beaten. Either of the three bantamweights would make for an intriguing fight with Perez, and it would give him the challenge of a higher level opponent that he deserves.

Wineland may be ready for a title shot

I was surprised when I found out that Brad Pickett wasn’t the favorite going into the fight against Wineland. I predicted Pickett submit Wineland after successfully taking the fight to the ground, but Wineland stuufed all takedown attempts, and did substantially better on the feet than I expected. Worst case scenario, I saw the entire fight going like it did in the third round. In that scenario, Pickett would’ve won a split decision. Nonetheless, I was wrong and Wineland looked sharp in his performance. I can’t remember seeing Pickett outclassed on the feet like that. Even Renan Barao didn’t pick him apart as well as Wineland did in that first round. Wineland has two consecutive wins over two top bantamweights, and has only lost to two elite fighters while in the UFC. At this point, Wineland is back in the top five of the division and could get the next shot at either the tiitle, or interm title, depending on when Dominick Cruz returns. However, he should at least fight the loser of Renan Barao and Michael McDonald.

– Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli

DREAM.18 & Glory 4 New Year’s Eve Special Weigh-in Results

The official weigh-ins for the DREAM.18 & Glory 4 New Year’s Eve event went down at a hotel in Tokyo, Japan, featuring 20 bouts of mixed martial arts and kickboxing matches. The December 31, 2012 event is scheduled to take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan highlighted by mma bouts between Shinya […]

The official weigh-ins for the DREAM.18 & Glory 4 New Year’s Eve event went down at a hotel in Tokyo, Japan, featuring 20 bouts of mixed martial arts and kickboxing matches.

The December 31, 2012 event is scheduled to take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan highlighted by mma bouts between Shinya Aoki vs. Antonio McKee and Bibano Fernandes vs. Yoshiro Maeda, as well as a sixteen fighter one night heavyweight Grand Prix kickboxing tournament.

A total of $600,000 is up for grabs in the Heavyweight Grand Slam tournament with a Grand Prize of $400,000.

The event marks the latest New Year’s Eve event in Japan and the first show by DREAM since NYE of 2011.

The event is set to begin here in North America at 2am EST (11pm PST) on New Year’s Eve with different viewing options depending on your location. Canadians can catch the whole event live on the Fight Network, while fans in the United States will have to pay $20 to catch the event live via pay-per-view at GloryWorldSeries.com. The show will also air via tape delay in the U.S. on CBS in two separate parts.

All weights taken from the official DREAM website and converted from kilograms to pounds.

DREAM.18 Card

Featherweight bout: Tatsuya Kawajiri (142.9/64.8kg) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (143.3/65kg)
Featherweight bout: Hiroyuki Takaya (143.3/65kg) vs. Georgi Karakhanyan (143.3/65kg)
Lightweight bout: Shinya Aoki (154.3/70kg) vs. Antonio McKee (153.2/69.5kg)
Bantamweight bout: Bibiano Fernandes (136.9/62.1kg) vs. Yoshiro Maeda (138.5/62.8kg)
Middleweight bout: Melvin Manhoef (184.3/83.6kg) vs. Denis Kang (185.1/84kg)*
Welterweight bout: Hayato Sakurai (168.7/76.5kg) vs. Phil Baroni (167.8/76.1kg)
Women’s featherweight bout: Marloes Coenen (145.5/66kg) vs. Fiona Muxlow (144.8/65.7kg)
Lightweight bout: Satoru Kitaoka (154.3/70kg) vs. Will Brooks (154.3/70kg)*

* Both Kang (84.6) and Brooks (71.2) made second attempts at making weight

GLORY 4 card

Heavyweight Tournament

Semmy Schilt (287/130.2kg) vs. Brice Guidon (225/102kg)
Sergei Kharitonov (264.5/120kg) vs. Rico Verhoeven (255/115.8kg)
Gokhan Saki (228/103.4kg) vs. Raoumaru (230/104.2kg)
Anderson Silva (243/110.2kg) vs. Igor Jurkovic (220/99.8kg)
Remy Bonjasky (243/110.2kg) vs. Filip Verlinden (205/93.1kg)
Errol Zimmerman (253/114.8kg)+ vs. Jamal Ben Saddik (284/128.8)
Peter Aerts (231.5/105kg) vs. Mourad Bouzidi (215/97.5kg)
Daniel Ghita (238/108kg) vs. Jhonata Diniz (237.5/107.8)

Superfights

Mitsuki Ebata (116.4/52.9) vs. Sang-Jae Kim (115.74/52.5kg)
70-kg bout: Guacharo ‘Jienotsu’ Nagashima (154/69.9kg) vs. Robin van Roosmalen (154/kg)
85-kg bout: Matsumoto Toshio (187/84.9kg) vs. Jason Wilnis (185/84kg)
Heavyweight bout: Jerome Le Banner (247/112kg) vs. Koichi Pettas (220.5/100kg)

UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II Weigh-in Results

The official weigh-ins for the UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II pay-per-view event will take place this afternoon beginning at 7pm EST (4pm PST) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Headlining the card is a heavyweight title rematch between defending champ Junior dos Santos and former champ Cain Velasquez. The […]

The official weigh-ins for the UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II pay-per-view event will take place this afternoon beginning at 7pm EST (4pm PST) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Headlining the card is a heavyweight title rematch between defending champ Junior dos Santos and former champ Cain Velasquez. The co-main event pits lightweights Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller against one another.

The pay-per-view event is set for Saturday (Dec. 29, 2012) with the main card airing on PPV, and the prelim card split between FX and Facebook.

Check out the full UFC 155 card below:

Main Card (PPV)

Heavyweight title bout: (c) Junior dos Santos (239) vs. Cain Velasquez (240)
Lightweight bout: Joe Lauzon (156) vs. Jim Miller (156)
Middleweight bout: Tim Boetsch (186) vs. Costa Philippou (186)
Middleweight bout: Yushin Okami (184) vs. Alan Belcher (186)
Middleweight bout: Chris Leben (185) vs. Derek Brunson (185)

Preliminary Card (FX)

Bantamweight bout: Brad Pickett (136) vs. Eddie Wineland (135)
Bantamweight bout: Erik Perez (136) vs. Byron Bloodworth (136)
Lightweight bout: Melvin Guillard (155) vs. Jamie Varner (155)
Lightweight bout: Michael Johnson (154) vs. Myles Jury (155)

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

Heavyweight bout: Phil De Fries (245) vs. Todd Duffee (249)
Featherweight bout: Leonard Garcia (146) vs. Max Holloway (145)
Flyweight bout: Chris Cariaso (125) vs. John Moraga (126)