Jon Jones
UFC champ won Breakthrough Fighter in 2010
The 2011 World MMA Awards are in the books, and it was another dominant year for the UFC.
The awards show, in its fourth year, was presented again by Fighters Only magazine and took place at The Palms in Las Vegas. Nominees in 22 categories were selected by a nominations panel, then voted on by fans.
The night’s biggest winner was UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who was named the Charles “Mask” Lewis Fighter of the Year. Jones was nominated against Dominick Cruz, Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson and Anderson Silva. Jones took home the Breakthrough Fighter of the Year at last year’s awards. The 2011 Breakthrough Fighter award went to Donald Cerrone, Jones’ teammate at Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., where Greg Jackson was named Coach of the Year.
The UFC was again named best promotion, and Leading Man of the Year again went to UFC president Dana White. UFC broadcast analyst Joe Rogan was the MMA Personality of the year, and longtime Octagon Girl Arianny Celeste repeated as Ring Girl of the Year.
Fight-specific categories also were swept by the UFC, with Cheick Kongo winning Comeback of the Year for his fight against Pat Barry at UFC on Versus 5; Submission of the Year went to Chan Sung Jung for his twister win over Leonard Garcia at UFC Fight Night 24; Knockout of the Year went to Silva for his front kick KO of Vitor Belfort at UFC 126; and Fight of the Year, not surprisingly, went to Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard for their draw at UFC 125.
The full list of nominees and winners is below:
International Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Michael Bisping, Alexander Gustafsson, Joachim Hansen, Alistair Overeem, Dennis Siver
Winner: Alistair Overeem
Gym of the Year
Nominees: Alliance MMA, Black House, Jackson’s MMA, Roufusport, Xtreme Couture
Winner: Black House
Referee of the Year
Nominees: Herb Dean, John McCarthy, Dan Miragliotta, Josh Rosenthal, Mario Yamasaki
Winner: Herb Dean
Comeback of the Year
Nominees: Marloes Coenen vs. Liz Carmouche (Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson), Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry (UFC on Versus 5), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (career comeback), Tito Ortiz (career comeback), Joe Warren vs. Joe Soto (Bellator 27)
Nominees: Cheick Kongo
Best Technical Equipment
Nominees: Bad Boy, Everlast, Hayabusa, Rival, Venum
Winner: Everlast
MMA Journalist Fighter of the Year
Nominees: John Morgan (MMA Junkie), Gareth A. Davies (The Telegraph), Josh Gross (ESPN), Ariel Helwani (MMA Fighting), Ben Fowlkes (MMA Fighting)
Winner: Ariel Helwani
Coach of the Year
Nominees: Rafael Cordeiro, Eric Del Fierro, Cesar Gracie, Greg Jackson, Shawn Tompkins
Winner: Greg Jackson
Best Lifestyle Clothing
Nominees: Affliction, Bad Boy, Form Athletics, RVCA, Tapout
Winner: Tapout
Promotion of the Year
Nominees: BAMMA, Bellator, Dream, Strikeforce, UFC
Winner: UFC
Media Source of the Year
Nominees: “Inside MMA” (HDNet), MMA Fighting, “MMA Live” (ESPN), MMA Junkie, Sherdog
Winner: MMA Junkie
Best Technical Clothing
Nominees: Bad Boy, Hayabusa, Jaco, Sprawl, Venum
Winner: Bad Boy
MMA Personality of the Year
Nominees: Bruce Buffer, Jacob “Stitch” Duran, Joe Rogan, Bas Rutten, Burt Watson
Winner: Joe Rogan
Female Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Marloes Coenen, Zoila Gurgel, Sarah Kaufman, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate
Winner: Miesha Tate
Ring Entrance of the Year
Nominees: Yoshihiro Akiyama (UFC 133), Vitor Belfort (UFC 133), Dave Herman (UFC 131), Mark Hominick (UFC 129), Jason “Mayhem” Miller (Dream 16)
Winner: Jason “Mayhem” Miller
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Donald Cerrone, Daniel Cormier, Phil Davis, Demetrious Johnson, Brian Stann
Winner: Donald Cerrone
Submission of the Year
Nominees: Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia (UFC Fight Night 24), Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin (UFC 129), Richard Hale vs. Nik Fekete (Bellator 38), Vinny Magalhaes vs. Viktor Nemkov (M-1 Challenge 25), Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader (UFC 132)
Winner: Chan Sung Jung
Ring Girl of the Year
Nominees: Arianny Celeste (UFC), Kelli Hutcherson (Strikeforce), Brittney Palmer (UFC), Chandella Powell (UFC), Mercedes Terrell (Bellator)
Winner: Arianny Celeste
Leading Man of the Year
Nominees: Scott Coker (Strikeforce), Lorenzo Fertitta (UFC), Marc Ratner (UFC), Bjorn Rebney (Bellator), Dana White (UFC)
Winner: Dana White
Knockout of the Year
Nominees: Patricky “Pitbull” Freire vs. Toby Imada (Bellator 39), Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry (UFC on Versus 5), John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson (UFC 129), Lyoto Machida vs. Randy Couture (UFC 129), Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort (UFC 126)
Winner: Anderson Silva
Fight of the Year
Nominees: Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick (UFC 129), Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber (UFC 132), Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II (UFC 125), Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley (Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley), Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann (UFC on Versus 3)
Winner: Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II
Charles “Mask” Lewis Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Dominick Cruz, Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva
Winner: Jon Jones