I think I'll jump in and do the awards as my first winter break post this year just to maybe get out ahead of some people and not risk people thinking that I'm just latching on to what others have to say. I'm going to be using the exact same categories that I did last year, which were the categories used on the 2021 version of The MMA Hour's yearly awards. I do apologize that I didn't do anything coming out of the final Fight Night of the year, but I really just had nothing to say about Sean Strickland and Jared Cannonier. Let's get right into it. Also, just as an aside, I don't really like the idea of giving multiple awards to the same exact thing, so I'm going to try to not do that. That isn't a rule in general, just one that I personally like to use. If your favorite for one category doesn't win where you think it should, I may have it for a different award, so just keep that in mind. Sometimes the moment just dictates that I have to give multiple awards to the same moment or fight, but I try not to do so when possible.
Male Fighter of the Year - Alexander Volkanovski
Normally the fighter of the year categories feel like there's a general consensus at year's end, but both the men and women kind of feel like that isn't the case this year. So many of the dominant champions who we consistently put in this conversation either lost or looked a bit vulnerable this year. Without someone competing inside the top 5 of a division while collecting 3-4 wins, the conversation kind of opens up, but I think Alexander Volkanovski takes the title in the men's category. I'll get to the honorable mentions in a second, but it is the quality of the performances in his two wins that make me want to give him the award this year. He out classed The Korean Zombie in a little over 3 rounds before getting the TKO. The only thing that allowed that fight to go as long as it did was Zombie's toughness because Volk was basically pitching a shutout in that one. He followed that up by dominating Max Holloway in an eye opening performance. No one beats Max like that, but Volk really made it look easy. I think performances that flawless against that level of competition set Volk apart this year.
My honorable mentions are Islam Makhachev, Aljamain Sterling, and Alex Pereira. Islam also went 2-0 in 2022 with wins over Bobby Green and Charles Oliveira to capture the title. He was as good as anyone really and a dominant win over Charles Oliveira carries significant weight. However, the total resume this year just fell a touch short of Volk's in my opinion. We get to see these guys fight in 2023 and it has to be the fight that I'm most excited for going into the new year. Aljo had a pretty solid year as well. He got revenge on Petr Yan after what seemed like years of trash talk back and forth. He proved much of MMA twitter wrong when he successfully defended his title that a lot said was gifted to him. He followed that up with another defense over former champion TJ Dillashaw. Unfortunately, we found out TJ was injured and he just wasn't in any condition to be competing, so that is a factor in holding Aljo back from winning this award. His fight with Yan was also really close, which, in a category like this, is enough to get passed by. The final guy I considered was Alex Pereira. Pereira was 3-0, so he has that going for him. However, I just don't put a lot of stock into him beating Bruno Silva. He did get a pair of knockouts over Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya. However, I think him losing a majority of the minutes to Izzy in that fight is what lead me to picking Volk. I think Pereira is the true runner up and I don't fault anyone who gives him the nod, but it's Volkanovski for me.
Female Fighter of the Year - Zhang Weili
Female fighter of the year is in a very similar situation to the male fighter of the year where no one really pulled away. The typical candidates all had down years, at least by their standards. That left Zhang to come in and snatch the award. She had a great knockout win over Joanna in the first half of the year before recapturing her title by submitting Carla Esparza to go 2-0 on the year. It sort of feels like Zhang is poised to hang onto the title for awhile, but I've said that before about this division, so we'll see just how long this title reign can last. For me, two quick finishes over high level opponents was enough for her to take it.
Amanda Nunes only fought once in 2022 and while she was great in that fight, one win over Julianna Pena wasn't enough to overtake Zhang. Valentina Shevchenko also only fought once and she didn't even look that good. I thought she lost the fight to Taila Santos, but the judges gave her the win. Rose Namajunas only fought once in her bizarre loss to Carla Esparza. Carla was 1-1 and lost to Zhang. I don't really even know who 2nd place would be. Manon Fiorot, Alexa Grasso, Erin Blanchfield, Ketlen Vieira, and Amanda Lemos all had good years to varying degrees, but I think Zhang is actually kind of a clear winner due to no other contenders having the level of competition that she did.
Knockout of the Year - Leon Edwards vs Kamaru Usman II
I mean, was there really any question here? By almost any measure, this has to be the one. All of the circumstances dictate that this is the correct answer. Leon was the guy that the UFC continued to over look and didn't want to give the opportunity to. He was very cleanly losing the fight through a vast majority of 24 minutes. Just as the commentary team was writing him off, Leon Edwards delivered a left high kick for the ages and put the number 1 pound for pound fighter in the world out cold to win the championship. I was so shocked that I bypassed reacting in any way and just froze. I was watching this card by myself, but was texting my brother and we really didn't even have a conversation until the next day as no one knew what to say. It was an absolutely incredible moment. Fights like this are why we continue to come back to MMA and the UFC week after week. What a moment. What a kick. Easily knockout of the year for me and I suspect most people.
Alex Pereira is probably the runner up in this category as well with his fifth round knockout of Israel Adesanya. The knockout itself wasn't something we haven't seen before, but the circumstances surrounding it made it what it was. Their history with each other and the stage of the fight made it one of the best knockouts of the year. Molly McCann's spinning elbow against Luana Carolina has to be mentioned as well just for the craziness of it all. The final one I want to mention is Michael Chandler's front kick against Tony Ferguson for obvious reasons. Tony's history of being very durable, even as he was seemingly aging, added to it for me as well.
Fight of the Year - Glover Teixeira vs Jiri Prochazka
In short, this fight pretty much had it all. Great striking exchanges, fun grappling transitions, submission attempts, and chaos from start to finish. This was a fight that projected to finish one way or another and we got both men trading finishing sequences for almost 5 full rounds. I watched this fight while on a family vacation with members of my family who don't normally watch MMA and even they were fully bought in. Just when it looked like Glover was going to retain his title, Jiri managed to escape mount before getting to Glover's back. He latched in a rear naked choke grip, but without the hooks in, I assumed someone of Glover's caliber and his BJJ credentials would have been fine, but the choke was too tight and Jiri became champion. There was really no aspect of MMA that was left unturned. We still got a finish, but the fight also lasted long enough for us to see both guys give the other everything they had. It had everything we could have asked for and then a little extra. I think this probably the rightful fight of the year and expect it to be the winner on most lists over the next couple of weeks.
Michael Chandler vs Dustin Poirier is another fight that will be on a lot of people's lists and rightfully so. I don't think it is possible for either of these guys to be in a boring fight, so matching them up was guaranteed fireworks. It delivered exactly what we all expected and it was a fantastic fight. Maybe it's just bias because the fight was so recent, but Stephen Thompson vs Kevin Holland was a great fight as well. Both guys needed to be matched up with another striker and they delivered once they got it. This fight had all of the striking technique you could ask for while having the urgency and pace to make it a back and forth battle. Khamzat Chimaev vs Gilbert Burns was the favorite to win this category for quite awhile. This was the first time we saw Khamzat really pushed and Burns really had him there for a moment. This fight was back and forth for much of the run time. The chaotic nature of it brought an energy that might have been unmatched this year. Petr Yan vs Sean O'Malley was another great fight that I thought just deserved to be mentioned here.
Round of the Year - Matt Schnell vs Sumudaerji round 2
This is always one of the toughest categories for me as it is tough to remember specific rounds of fights a lot of the time, especially when the amount of accessible MMA competition is increasing, but this one sticks out. This whole fight was a pretty hectic one, but the second and final round really saw things picking up. Sumudaerji was landing shots that were hurting and sometimes stunning Schnell and it looked like he was going to knock him out on multiple occasions. Schnell somehow survived and was landing some shots of his own. He was able to initiate grappling exchanges that saw multiple submission attempts and transitions. Schnell finally locked in the triangle choke that put Sumudaerji out cold to put an end to the most chaotic round of the year. Much like I said about Glover vs Jiri, this one really had it all. This time, it was just in a single round instead of an entire fight.
I think the main runner up here is Dustin Poirier vs Michael Chandler round 1. That round was the perfect storm of the chaos that both of those fighters have a reputation of bringing. It was back and forth with both guys throwing and landing big shots. Gaethje vs Oliveira round 1 had a lot of that same back and forth nature. I'm sure I'm forgetting some lower profile fights. Maybe one of the Nate Landwher vs David Onama rounds or Tuivasa vs Lewis round 2.
Submission of the Year - Jessica Andrade vs Amanda Lemos
I think when you're the first to do something in UFC history, that cements you as an award winner for the year. Jessica Andrade finished the first standing arm triangle when she forced Amanda Lemos to tap to it very early in their main event in 2022. The dominance of the submission as well as the uniqueness of it puts it over the top for me. Andrade grabbed onto it very early in the fight and continued to adjust her grip until it got too tight for Lemos to fend off. This was a competitive category, but this being a first put it over the top for me.
My other main contender for this category was Islam Makhachev submitting Charles Oliveira. Getting a huge submission to win a championship over a well regarded champion who is also one of the best submission artists in the history of the sport would win this award in most years and will likely be the winner for a lot of people still. I have no real argument against it, but just the unique qualities of the Andrade submission made choose that one. Jiri submitting Glover is a candidate for much of the same reasons. Oliveira submitting Justin Gaethje was a great one as well.
Breakout Fighter - Jalin Turner
In my mind, the breakout fighter is a younger fighter who is making their first real push towards the top. The next category, the most improved fighter, is a similar award, but for older fighters or fighters who we have known about for awhile elevating to a status that no one really had them projected for. I don't know if that is exactly how it is supposed to work, but that's what it means in my mind. Jalin Turner may not be the popular choice in terms of how many others have him as their winner, but he's certainly deserving. Turner went from a guy with mixed results to a guy with nice wins over lower level competition and emerged this year as one of the scariest matchups in the lightweight division. His size and all around finishing ability is a serious problem for anyone. His length and power are one thing, but when combined with a very solid submission skill set, he becomes a scary problem for the rest of 155 lbs. His 2 wins this year were very eye opening and I can't imagine getting him a fight against someone ranked above him will be all that easy for Hunter Campbell to get done.
There are plenty of candidates for this award. Sean O'Malley, Arnold Allen, Rafael Fiziev, Shavkat Rakhmonov, Alex Pereira, Jamahal Hill, Sergei Pavlovich, Manon Fiorot, Erin Blanchfield, and Ketlen Vieira all have rightful arguments to win. To me, I think Shavkat, Pereira, and Hill are the most compelling cases, but this was one of the toughest ones to narrow down for me. There are so many great choices and the future both immediate and long term is looking bright for the UFC roster.
Most Improved Fighter - Marlon Vera
Chito is really the fighter that stood out to me in this category. Seeing Chito position himself for a potential title shot just isn't where I saw his career going and he's proved me wrong as well as many others. I'm not upset about being wrong though as Chito is one of the most interesting characters in MMA for me. His interviews are always so captivating and he deserves all of the success he's found. His two massive wins over Rob Font and Dominick Cruz have him inside the top 5 and he's now booked against Cory Sandhagen. A win would almost have to get him a shot at the title.
I gave this award to Belal Muhammad last year and he could have gotten it again honestly. He just keeps winning and it's forced a lot of people to reevaluate what they thought of him. Taila Santos also needs to be mentioned here as I don't think anyone really gave her much of a chance against Valentina and I thought she actually won that fight. It came out of nowhere and I think it has sort of gotten lost in the shuffle, so I wanted to make sure she got her flowers for that performance. Coming back later to mention Alexa Grasso after I almost forgot her in this category.
Comeback Fighter - Drew Dober
There's a couple of different ways to interpret this award, which is why list two winners. The first is the more general outlook which is just the fighter who had a really good year to bounce back from a really bad year. Drew Dober did just that after finishing all of his fights in 2022 after a very down year in 2021. He's bounced back to get himself a spot in the rankings. The other way to go with this one is a fighter who overcame a more concrete obstacle and not just poor results.
.To me, I think Luke Rockhold stood out. He was away from the sport for so long and was intending to come back earlier, but had to work through a lot of injuries. He came back against a top 8 opponent and performed way better than most people thought he would. I was never really a fan of his, but he earned a ton of respect and I was even a bit sad to see him walk away. He has back tracked the retirement talk a bit and I think a real camp where he's actually healthy could give us an interesting version of Luke Rockhold if his body is actually capable of doing so. Joanna Jedrzejczyk fits the same definition that Rockhold did and she has also walked back her retirement talks. Nina Nunes deserves to be mentioned here as well after she picked up a win in her final fight. Stephen Thompson bounced back tremendously after a not so great stretch for him. Beneil Dariush collected a great win after an unfortunate injury caused him to miss out on the Makhachev fight.
Comeback Fight - Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesanya
This is finally the spot where I give Alex Pereira his award. He could have gotten a variety of them, but comeback fight of the year is the spot for me. Most people will give this to Leon and rightfully so, but what Alex did is very similar in a lot of ways. The reason that I sided with him over Leon is that Alex was only a few seconds away from being finished. He was hurt badly at the end of round 1 and would have been knocked out if Izzy had another 20 seconds to fight. It also looked like Alex was completely gassed out late and that he had nothing left to give. He was able to get off some offense late and once he hurt Izzy, he poured on big power shots and got the finish. It was an incredible performance and night in general.
The other contenders for this one are pretty obvious. Leon vs Usman and Jiri vs Glover will win this for a lot of people and they deserve it. Francis Ngannou coming back against Ciryl Gane early in the year was also extremely impressive. Nate Landwehr's comeback against David Onama and Matt Schnell vs Sumudaerji were some others that deserve mentioning.
Upset of the Year - Larissa Pacheco vs Kayla Harrison
This is one of the easier ones for me this year. Regardless of betting odds, I think seeing Kayla Harrison lose was one of the more surprising developments of the MMA year. Kayla was being mentioned in the same sentence as Amanda Nunes, Valentina Shevchenko, and Cris Cyborg, so seeing her lose was similar to seeing Nunes lose to Julianna Pena in 2021. It's no slight on Larissa Pacheco as she has clearly been the best competition for Harrison in the PFL, but she wasn't really looked as more than just a very solid fighter in a weight class that was probably too big for her. Watching the fight play out and seeing Pacheco keep it competitive and take rounds from Harrison may have been my top non-UFC MMA experience of the year. It was a huge upset and kind of has Kayla's future more up in the air than it was before this fight happened.
The other upsets are the ones you were expecting. Leon Edwards could have won this category as well and it would have been well deserved. Aljamain Sterling defeating Petr Yan probably deserves to be mentioned here as well as I don't know many people who were giving him much of a chance after we saw how their first fight was going. Christian Echols knocking out Pat Downey in Bellator this year was also a big upset, at least according to the betting odds.
Rivalry of the Year - Colby Covington vs Jorge Masvidal
This is one of the categories that really didn't have a great answer to me. We haven't talked about this one in awhile, but I think a rivalry that was considered hot enough to main event a PPV with no title on the line then results in a criminal investigation has to take home the award. There were a few other contenders, but I don't think any of them had the heat this one did, even if it didn't burn for that long.
Izzy and Alex Pereria is probably the other main contender here, but it just didn't really do that much for me. The fight and matchup were great, better than Colby vs Masvidal in both regards, but not because of the actual rivalry. I guess Poirier vs Chandler could be mentioned as well, but the heat they had didn't really seem to be all that present during fight week. I don't know. There wasn't a clear one for this category this year.
Coach - Khabib Nurmagomedov
It isn't a surprise that Khabib became a fantastic MMA coach, but it is at least a bit surprising that it happened this fast. Of course, having Javier Mendez as your right hand man will help quite a bit, but Khabib had a really good year while 2022 wasn't as kind to a lot of the names that typically come up for this award. Islam Makhachev and Usman Nurmagomedov both captured titles this year with Khabib manning their corner. He also has pushed Umar Nurmagomedov into the rankings and even helped Belal Muhammad continue his push towards a title shot. In what was a down year for a lot of the big coaches, Khabib shined and takes home this award for me.
I think Eric Nicksick would be the runner up for me. The work he put in with Francis Ngannou showed as he was able to pull of the comeback win over Ciryl Gane with the ACL injury. The normal contenders like Greg Jackson, Mike Brown, Trevor Wittman, and Eugene Bareman all had a down year, so those were really the two for me.
Event of the Year - UFC 281
The UFC's yearly MSG card is always one of the best cards of the MMA calendar on paper and it delivered this year. We saw Zhang Weili take her title back and Alex Pereira upset Israel Adesanya. Combine that with the retirement fight for Frankie Edgar, Poirier vs Chandler, the returns of Dan Hooker and Dominick Reyes, Erin Blanchfield propelling herself into another tier by dominating Molly McCann and Renato Moicano cutting the promo of the year after submitting Brad Riddell and there really wasn't a dull moment. The worst fight on the card was probably Andre Petroski vs Wellington Turman and it was still a fine fight. Definitely the deepest card of the year and it was full of action from start to finish.
There were some other great cards this year. UFC Austin, UFC Orlando, the first UFC London, and the PFL finals were some great events that stood out to me this year. I don't really recall a ton of Bellator cards as a whole, just some isolated moments. Some of the ONE on Amazon events were solid too although I'm not sure they really get to card of the year type material.
Crowd of the Year - UFC London (March)
This one was probably the easiest decision of the year. The atmosphere for the first UFC London card of 2022 was easily the best of the year in my estimation. The walkouts for all of the UK fighters felt huge and when they got the win, the crowd would erupt. The celebration outside for Tom Aspinall after he submitted Alexander Volkov was incredible and that was the energy that showed up for basically every fight. The Molly McCann reaction, Paddy's walkout, the Ilia Topuria knockout, it was all special.
A lot of the UK cards for Bellator have a similar feel, just not on the same scale. The Bellator vs Rizin card felt big as well, but still not the same as the biggest UFC events, at least for me.
Walkout of the Year - Matt Frevola at UFC 281
Going with a bit of a fun one, but for me, it's the ones with some meaning that really get me. Any walkout that feels big is going to be high on my list. Francis walking out for the main event with his contract situation, Volk's walkout for the trilogy against Max Holloway, and even Frankie Edgar walking for his retirement fight. However, Matt Frevola, who is a bit of a fan favorite and has a strangely loyal following on social media getting his moment in front of his home fans was a good one. Using the Timmy Trumpet song made famous by New York Mets' closer Edwin Diaz just added to the moment. It was the perfect combination of fun, emotional, and feel good for me.
The showmanship of Israel Adesanya's Undertaker walkout at international fight week was interesting and I appreciate the effort, but it bordered on corny for me. I don't hate it and wouldn't mind seeing more wrestling themed walkouts in the future, but carrying the urn to the cage and then leg kicking Cannonier for 25 minutes kind of soured the experience in my memory. The super produced walkouts aren't necessarily my thing in general, but it is one of the only others that stood out from this year. The walkouts for Bellator vs Rizin were pretty cool as well with multiple fighters wearing the armor, but it wasn't enough to take the award for me.
Poster - UFC 270
I'm not like the MMA Hour crew and don't go through all of the Rizin posters as I'm not that into the posters as they are, but I thought UFC 270's was solid. I'm very much into the simple look and the black and white of the UFC 270 poster was simple, but provided the appropriate vibe for the rivalry between the two. I don't know, this category just doesn't interest me as much as the others. Emmett vs Kattar was a cool one too
Photo - Adrian Yanez vs Tony Kelley
Adrian Yanez giving the double middle fingers to Tony Kelley after knocking him out was the best photo from a year that had so many of them. Yanez is a fan favorite because of his style and personality and when he was pitted against one the MMA's villains at the time, it made for great theater. Kelley was in hot water because of the comments he made towards Brazilians while corner Andrea Lee a few weeks prior and Yanez was promising to get back at him for it. He did just that with a first round knockout and let him know about it after. That was a fun fight and a fun image to go with it.
This is another category that Leon Edwards could have won for a few different photos. Him in the back with the title as well as him with his arms raised in the cage and him looking away from Usman and towards the camera during the pre fight instructions all come to mind. The photo of Luke Rockhold on top of Paulo Costa came to mind pretty quickly as well.
Story - James Krause Betting Scandal
I haven't talked about it yet on here, but this story feels like it reaches the farthest in MMA this year to me. It hasn't seen a conclusion yet and probably won't for some time, but this has the potential to shake MMA up in a major way and already has to a certain degree. Betting on UFC fights was suspended in parts of Canada and I think that suspension may still stand, at least in certain areas. I suspect I don't need to summarize the story if you're into MMA enough to find this blog, but it's not being made a big enough deal in my opinion. Not only is Krause banned from the UFC at this point, but no one who goes to his gym is allowed in the UFC. The UFC and MMA as a whole has been fighting for legitimacy for 30 years and if it comes out that there was a fight fixing operation in the most prominent promotion, it could set the sport back decades, depending on how far it was truly reaching. Legal sports betting is something that the UFC has really leaned into and betting on the fights has been a huge entry point for a lot of new fans, so to see that potentially go away until this situation can be cleaned up is a big deal. This was easily my biggest story of 2022 and it is probably the story I'm most interested in going into 2023 as well.
Feel Good Moment - Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson get a proper moment
As negative as MMA can be, and has been recently, there were plenty of feel good moments. Leon Edwards was one of the big ones, but I'm going to give it to Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson. The UFC created a PPV centered around killing the both of them off with Khamzat Chimaev and Li Jingliang, but the MMA gods would not have it. After Chimaev came in 8 lbs over championship weight, the UFC was forced to scramble and rearrange the final 3 fights of the night. Instead of the squash matches that they intended, we got Tony Ferguson vs Nate Diaz in the main event in what ended up being a nice moment for the both of them. It may have been Diaz's last fight with the UFC and could have also been his last MMA fight in general. He deserved to go out with an appropriate opponent and Ferguson provided just that. Tony was (and still is) on a pretty ugly looking slide, but he also deserved a moment in front of the fans. Having him be in what will likely be his final main event against an appropriate level of competition would be a great way for him to go out, but I suspect that we'll see him fight again. Seeing the older fighters who have given their lives to this sport get a proper send off is something that will always make me feel good and this is no exception.
This took way longer to get out than I expected, but better late than never. Leave all of your winners in the comments. Before I wrap this up, I just want to take a moment to say rest in peace to both Stephan Bonnar and Victoria Lee. Bonnar passed a few weeks ago now, but his legacy in this sport will stand for the rest of time. MMA wouldn't be the same without his fight against Forrest Griffin in the TUF 1 finale. He was lost way too soon and I wish the best for his family and friends. Just a few hours ago (as of the time I'm finishing this), the news hit social media of the passing of ONE championship fighter Victoria Lee. The details aren't clear, but 18 is far too young and I feel awful for her family and anyone else close to her. As someone who still isn't that old, seeing people younger than me pass away is still a strange feeling and I hope that everyone close to her can find the strength to somehow continue on. Two very sad situations that came about in the last few weeks that I felt like I had to say something about.
Thanks for reading, have a good one, and happy new year.
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