2011 Fighter of the Year

[INDYjon22]

2011 saw the emergence of new faces to the top of the sport and saw some of the greatest fighters in history continue to improve their legacies. In addition it saw some of the old guard finally fall off and retire. There are quite a few guys who can make a claim of being the best fighter of the year, but for our sake, hopefully only one takes this prestigious award home. Here are the nominees:

Jon Jones

Jones is most likely, and for good reason, the favorite to win this award. JJ had one hell of a year in the sport. He defeated 4 very talented fighters, 3 of which are legends in the sport. And, he made it look easy. I can't think of a fighter who has climbed the ladder faster then Jones and made it look simple in doing so.

Dan Henderson

The old lion and possibly the greatest American fighter of all time, had another fantastic year in the sport. Hendo had three big wins in 2011, and was just shy of 4 seeing as his fight with Babalu was at the end of the 2010. Hendo dropped Feijao, had a slugfest with Fedor, and came out the victor in one hell of a fight, the greatest I have ever seen, with Shogun. Defeating two legends of the sport and one of the biggest prospects turned champion definitely adds some credentials to his career and his year.

Michael Chandler

Chandler is the dark horse in this category. He is an undefeated fighter who took home the Bellator Lightweight tournament and championship in 2011. His win over Eddie Alvarez, in what was one hell of a fight, was also one of the biggest upsets of the year. Chandler is young, but he had a terrific year.

Nick Diaz

Nick Diaz has been a beast for a while now, but 2011 really saw him rise into the upper echelon of the sport. Always a tough fighter, he really blossomed this year with some big wins. In 2011 he had two finishes and a decision victory over a legend. His fights with Cyborg Santos and Paul Daley were awesome displays of striking and of his chin. And, his win over BJ Penn finally showed that Diaz could hang with the best. He had a very good looking year.

Frank Mir

Mir has been a bit iffy in the past few years, but he had a good 2011. He picked up a very solid win over Roy Nelson and then did the unimaginable by submitting, and breaking, Big Nog's arm. That is one hell of a souvenir to have in his trophy case.

Shinya Aoki

Shinya Aoki had another great year. He picked up 4 wins, 3 of which were by submission. He neck cranked his way to victories over Lyle Beerbohm, Rich Clementi, and Rob McCullough. He also picked up a nice decision victory over Satoru Kitaoka en route to defending his Dream Lightweight championship.

 

[jmt225]

I want to be a biased fanboy and vote for Nick Diaz, but I have stay honest and realize this award should go to either Dan Henderson or Jon Jones.

Both of those guys had an unbelievably great 2011. You had Jones winning the Light Heavyweight Championship and being the first in years to successfully defend the belt twice, and then you had Hendo who at 41 had without a doubt the best year of his career.

That said, there are arguments that could be made against both of these guys. With Jones, one of his wins was over Ryan Bader, who pretty much sucks shit, and when he won the title... it was against a Shogun who was coming off a year long layoff and looked awful. Then with Henderson you have a TRT taking old man who's biggest win, in my opinion, was stopped prematurely, and his 2nd biggest win should have been a draw.

However, Jones still has those two title defenses to close out the year, and they were against GREAT fighters, and he finished the both of them (as well as finishing Bader and Shogun, which needs to be mention). And whether it was stopped early or not, Dan Henderson still got a W over Fedor Emelianenko, which speaks for itself. His FOTY candidate with Shogun in which he was the victor and his knockout win over the highly talented and underrated Feijao were both huge accomplishments as well.

All that said, unless someone can convince me otherwise, I'm leaning more towards Jones here. I mean, to fight 4 top 10 ranked guys and finish them all in a fucking year is mind-blowing. Not to mention he was never in serious danger in any of those fights. What Henderson did last year was impressive, but man... Jones' year has to go down as one of the best in MMA history.

 

[Khalifa]

I also wanna side with JMT and say Nick Diaz because I love the guy and he had an awesome year. However you just cant go past Jon Bones Jones. This kid is a phenom and nobody will stop him. He is so unique with his style that you can't predict what he is going to do. He made easy work of Rampage, defeated Machida with some devastating blows and beat a machine in Shogun very very easily. His elbows are his man weapons and you know that he is going to throw them but you just don't know when and how.

I really don't see this kid getting stopped anytime soon bar injury. He has the combination of speed and power in his strikes as well as a awesome BBJ submission game. EVERY single person enjoys watching his fights and thats why he is 2011's Fighter of the Year.

 

[JWGunslinger]

As much as I would love to say Dan Henderson here, I have to go with Jon Jones. Although Hendo had an impressive year taking the SF title, defeating one of the greatest of all time in Fedor Emilianenko and then put on one of the greatest fights of all time with Shogun. But Jones was just as impressive when he beat top contender Ryan Bader and then a few weeks later demolished Shogun to become the youngest LHW champion in UFC history, and after doing that he defended his title twice before the year's end when he subbed two men who had never been subbed in their UFC careers in Rampage and Machida. Even though I am not a fan of Jones nobody can dispute the fact that this young man is definitely legit and is an incredible fighter, 2011 was without a doubt the year of Jones.

 

[Fizzy]

Anybody who doesn't say Jon Jones is a blind hater. Beating four top ten guys in the course of a year, three of which are among the greatest LHW's of all time, all while being 24 years old and training only for a few years is a feat that may never be replicated. Not only did he beat three of the best LHW's of all time, he brutally finished every one of them. Shogun didn't look terrible, Jones made him look terrible. This is tied for the most impressive year of any martial artist of all time and this year, nobody else even has an argument.

 

[Uncle Phatso]

Bones impressed me more than anyone this year. I'm a huge Mir fan, and who doesn't like Hendo. But what else is there to want, Jones is untouchable at this point. The way he is showing his right now, it's looking like we might have more of a monster than Gsp or spider on our hands.

I love his wrestling, and his arm length just makes him a brutal fighter. It's going to take a giant killer to knock him down.