Now that I'm finally done talking about UFC 269, we can get a little creative going forward until we start getting live events again in a few weeks. My first installment of those more creative ideas is to do my own version of the yearly awards that so many people do. If you're a returning reader, you probably know that I'm pretty committed to watching and listening to a lot of Ariel Helwani's content, so I wanted to get my awards out before his just to avoid any claims of copying what he said. Lucky for me, he did release the categories that he will be using, so I will be using those and maybe adding one or two of my own. Without further ado, here are my 2021 MMA awards.
Male Fighter of the Year - Kamaru Usman
Obviously there are a lot of great male fighters and champions across all of MMA, but I think Usman became the clear winner after Dustin Poirier lost at UFC 269. Usman went 3-0 this year with knockout wins over Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal, while getting a decision victory over Colby Covington. The activity and record in that time gives him the edge over some of the other best fighters across all weight classes.
Honorable Mentions:
Charles Oliveira: 2-0, defeated Michael Chandler to win title and Dustin Poirier in first defense. If his fight against Tony Ferguson would have also been in 2021, he may have had a legitimate argument.
Cyril Gane: 3-0, defeated Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov, and Derrick Lewis to win interim title.
Names you may have expected like Adesanya was 1-1 in 2021, while Francis Ngannou and Alexander Volkanovski were both 1-0.
Female Fighter of the Year - Rose Namajunas
This is a fairly close race, but I'm giving my award to Rose. She was 2-0 in 2021 with both of her wins coming over Zhang Weili. The first was by an amazing head kick knockout and the second came by decision. I think her strength of opponent and difficulty of fight is what makes me give her the slight edge.
Honorable Mentions:
Valentina Shevchenko - don't interpret this as me saying that I think Rose is better than Valentina because I don't think that. I just didn't think her wins over Jessica Andrade and Lauren Murphy carried the same weight.
Julianna Pena - Also 2-0 and while her win over Amanda Nunes was absolutely amazing, I don't think combing that with a win over Sara McMann is enough to jump Rose.
Knockout of the Year - Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal II
This is a hard category for me because there's so many ways you can go with it. There's just the pure "wow" factor of it, there's the stakes involved in the fight, as well as some other things and this had all of them for me. The fight itself had stakes being for the title, but also had personal stakes in the Usman vs Masvidal rivalry. It also had the wow factor even though it was just a straight right hand. Masvidal's recent history of not being finished made this even more surprising. Usman finishing Masvidal on the feet, where Jorge had the perceived advantage added to the wow factor for many as well.
Honorable Mentions:
Cory Sandhagen vs Frankie Edgar - This flying knee got me off my bed when I was living in a different location at the time. Came out of nowhere and one of the best of the year.
Jiri Prochazka vs Dominick Reyes - This might win the award for most devastating knockout. I admittedly didn't know much about Prochazka before the Ozedemir fight so when he was favored over Reyes, I was a little surprised and this happened. One of the performances of the year for me.
Fight of the Year - Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler
This was an easy one for me. This had everything you could want. They both said what was going to happen and then delivered it. Both men largely stood in the center and traded power shots for a full 15 minutes. I'm a pretty even keel guy, so when I say I was going crazy, that actually means something.
It's honestly hard to come up with honorable mentions because this one was so obvious to me. I guess I'll say Usman vs Covington II is one that comes to mind and Michael Chandler vs Charles Oliveira.
Round of the Year - Alexander Volkanovski vs Brian Ortega Round 3
Another pretty clear cut one for me. Volk escaping the deepest mounted guillotine I've seen someone not go unconscious was crazy and then he rolled basically right into a triangle choke. To see the guy called T-City, lock in his signature choke on an exhausted opponent seemed so likely to get him the title and then Volk escaped that too. Not only that, but then Volk got to his feet and landed ground and pound that was so hard that Ortega couldn't get up after the horn. I actually thought the referee, I think Herb Dean, was going to stop the fight at that point.
This is another one where I don't think there's anything that really comes close to it. Maybe Prochazka vs Reyes round 2 or the first round from Gaethje vs Chandler, but those don't really come close for me.
Submission of the Year - Anthony Hernandez vs Rodolfo Vieira
Hernandez hadn't got a win since 2019 prior to his submission victory against Rodolfo Vieira. What made this submission of the year material is the fact that Vieira has some of the highest and most decorated accomplishments in the world of BJJ to enter the UFC in recent memory.
Honorable mentions here are Charles Oliveira defending his title with a standing RNC against Dustin Poirier and Brandon Moreno getting the RNC to win the title from Deiveson Figueiredo.
Breakout Fighter - Paddy Pimblett
Could have gone a few days with this one, but Paddy takes it for me. His first fight was very exciting and he has the personality and haircut to go with it. I'm not sure how far he can take it, but I can't wait to see him fight again.
Honorable mentions here start Ian Garry for his huge potential. There are some who broke out in terms of entering the top tier of fighters even though we already knew who they were including Cyril Gane, Jiri Prochazka, and Islam Makhachev.
Most Improved Fighter - Belal Muhammad
Belal Muhammad working his way into the top 5 by dominating Stephen Wonderboy Thompson is not what I expected for 2021, but Belal really earned it. He also stepped in to fight Leon Edwards on short notice and was undefeated this year. By far the best of his career and has a chance to find himself in a title fight in 2022.
Honorable mentions for me are Blonde Brunson and Brandon Moreno. Marina Rodriguez probably deserves some mention too.
Comeback Fighter - Nick Diaz
How is it not? We hadn't seen Nick in so long that I don't even care how he looked. Just seeing him again and actually not looking that bad until he called it quits was great. I don't need to see a repeat of that fight, but for a one time event, that was special.
Of course, for a more traditional view of the award, TJ Dillashaw probably wins. There's also cases to be made for Jose Aldo, Glover Teixeira, and Miesha Tate.
Comeback Fight - Merab Dvalishvili vs Marlon Moraes
This was a crazy fight. Moraes looked like he was going to get the win multiple times as he had Merab hurt badly in the early going. Merab was able to hang on and Moraes emptied the tank, allowing Merab to get the finish later in the 2nd round.
The most obvious honorable mention is the Clay Guida fight that just happened that followed this same exact pattern. Charles Oliveira vs Michael Chandler is a good one as well. For my first non UFC answer, the Sergio Pettis vs Kyoji Horiguchi fight has to be mentioned too.
Upset of the Year - Julianna Pena vs Amanda Nunes
No explanation required. Julianna Pena stared the women's MMA GOAT in the face and walked her down. She beat her both in the striking and on the ground. Life altering and unforgettable performance.
There's nothing that even touches this honestly, so it's hard to think of another one. I think Brunson may have been a sizeable underdog to Darren Till, but I honestly can't say for sure.
Rivalry of the Year - Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier
We got to see this fight twice this year and I think we were all happy to see it. This felt like a rivalry that was equally about competition and personal beef. It had everything fans like to see with the war of words that was in the lead up the July version of the fight. Even after that fight the rivalry was still hot until Poirier was announced to be getting the title shot.
The main honorable mention is Colby Covington vs Kamaru Usman given how heated their first fight was. This one didn't seem as personal, but was still a great fight in the cage. Vettori and Adesanya don't really like each other, but that fight was so non-competitive that I can't rank it too high.
Coach - Trevor Whitman
This seems like an obvious one too. Whitman has taken Usman to the number one pound for pound and he's seemingly still improving. He helped Rose recapture her title and has Justin Gaethje on the verge of his second title shot. Doing it all in one night just sort of puts a bow on things.
Honorable mention for me is Eugene Bareman. The city kickboxing team was still great this year on so many levels, just not enough to outdo Whitman in 2021.
Event of the Year - UFC 268
This card gave us Gaethje vs Chandler, Rose vs Weili II, and Usman vs Covington II, which should honestly be enough. The prelims gave us some other pretty good fights and crazy moments. We got the Chris Curtis short notice debut and knockout, return of Al Iaquinta, the debut and flying knee KO for Alex Pereira, the Chris Barnett spinning kick knockout, and the debut fight for Ian Garry.
I think UFC 261 is my honorable mention. The main card was just so crazy that it can overcome prelims that weren't anything out of the ordinary.
Crowd of the Year - Bellator Dublin (Bellator 270)
This crowd was literally insane. They were so loud and so into everything from start to finish. They showed out to support all of the Irish fighters and it was truly an awesome thing to see. Peter Queally's walk out with "Zombie" was amazing and the crowd made that what it was.
If I had to give an honorable mention I think I would see UFC 261, which was the first fight back with fans. They were loud and into from the first fight of the night, which doesn't normally happen at big UFC cards.
Walkout of the Year - Brian Ortega Purge Walkout
I almost gave this to Queally, but I leaned Ortega. I just thought the song and mask were really cool together, I don't know what else to say beyond that.
Queally obviously is an honorable mention and I liked the mask that Izzy wore for the Vettori fight, but that doesn't touch the top 2 for me.
Poster - Font vs Aldo
I don't know what I'm really supposed to say for this category, I just thought it looked nice.
I also like UFC 257 and Sandhagen vs Dillashaw, so those are my honorable mentions.
Photo - Kamaru Usman Knockout of Jorge Masvidal
Another easy one for me. This photo was awesome and this night was awesome in general. I don't think anyone saw that ending coming and it came in dramatic fashion with a great photo with the water droplets flying off of Masvidal's head.
Honorable mentions for this one is the photo of Brandon Moreno after he won the title and the photo of Charles Oliveira at the broadcast table after he won the title.
Story - Brandon Moreno Becomes Champion
Brandon Moreno becoming the UFC's first Mexican born champion was the best story this year. Moreno's individual story only adds to it after he was cut from the UFC once before. He had a great first fight against Figureido that was sort of unexpected to earn the rematch where he came up huge with a submission win.
Feel Good Moment - Glover Teixeira Becomes Champion
How can you not feel good about this one. Seeing Glover Teixeira become champion after everything that's happened in his career is the ultimate payoff. He had to work so hard for so long after his initial title shot to even get this opportunity and then he really got it done. He's such an easy guy to root for in a sport where good guys don't always win.
Mensch - Dustin Poirier
This one is easy for me after UFC 269. Dustin Poirier just had his heart ripped out by losing out on the UFC championship for the second by losing to Charles Oliveira. In the immediate aftermath of that loss, Poirier had the wherewithal to talk with Oliveira via a translator and organize the opportunity for Dustin to donate money to Oliveira's hometown. No one else does that in any sport, especially this one. To think about helping people less than 10 minutes after you lost on the biggest stage is unheard of and that's why Dustin is here.
Those are my 2021 MMA awards and honestly, I've been horribly sick for about a week, so if some of my explanations don't hit for you then I apologize. I'm trying to finish this in time, but I don't know exactly when I'll be posting again after this. I'm feeling better than I was but I'm still trying to get back to eating a normal meal so my energy levels still aren't this best. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this and congratulations to everyone who's going home a winner. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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