Mixed Martial Artist of the Year

[jmt225]

Please vote for who you feel was the best Mixed Martial Artist of the year 2008. The nominees are below. If you feel I left someone deserving out of the choices, then feel free to choose "Other" in the poll and state the person who you feel should win this category. Thank you for participating.

Anderson Silva​

Spoiler: Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva defended his UFC Middleweight Championship against Pride FC Welterweight champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82 on March 1, 2008 in a title unification bout, winning by submission via rear naked choke in the second round.

Silva also won his UFC Light Heavyweight debut against James Irvin on July 19, 2008 at UFC: Silva vs. Irvin via KO due to strikes in 1:01 of the first round.

On October 25, 2008, Silva fought Patrick Côté at UFC 90 in Rosemont, Illinois. In the third round, Côté landed awkwardly on his right leg while throwing a kick and fell to the mat grasping his right knee and in obvious pain. Referee Herb Dean declared the fight over when Côté could not continue, ruling the bout a TKO victory for Silva. Côté, however, became the first of Silva's UFC opponents to make it into the third round. Silva remains undefeated in the UFC.

BJ Penn​

Spoiler: BJ Penn

The UFC scheduled BJ Penn to fight Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 on January 19, 2008 for an interim lightweight title.

Penn knocked Stevenson down seconds into the first round with a right uppercut, then took Stevenson down, eventually inflicting a serious cut near Stevenson's hairline. In the second round, Stevenson fought more aggressively but was still unable to threaten Penn. Penn worked to back mount and defeated him by rear naked choke at 4:02 of the second round to win the UFC lightweight championship. He celebrated the win by licking Joe Stevenson's blood off of his gloves. With this win, Penn became the second man (after Randy Couture) to win UFC titles in two different weight classes.

The UFC announced that Penn's first title defense would be against former champion Sean Sherk at UFC 84 on May 24, 2008 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sherk only attempted to take Penn down once, in the very first round, with the fighters trading punches and leg kicks for the remainder of the fight. In the closing seconds of the third round, Penn threw a punch that backed Sherk into the cage, and ducking under another punch, he was hit in the head by a left knee from Penn. Sherk went down and Penn continued attacking, but the round ended before the referee stopped the fight. However, Sherk was unable to continue and Penn was declared the victor by TKO (strikes).

Brock Lesnar​

Spoiler: Brock Lesnar

On February 2, 2008, Lesnar made his debut with the promotion in an event titled UFC 81 against former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Frank Mir. Lesnar secured an early takedown, but was deducted a point for hitting Mir on the back of the head. Following another takedown by Lesnar, Mir managed to secure a kneebar and force a submission at 1:30 of the first round. Lesnar was wearing 4XL gloves for the fight, making him the second man in Nevada's combat sports history to wear such gloves after Choi Hong-man. At UFC 82, it was announced that former UFC Heavyweight Champion and UFC Hall of Fame inductee Mark Coleman would fight Lesnar at UFC 87. Coleman was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a training injury, and Lesnar's opponent was changed to Heath Herring. In the early seconds of the first round, Lesnar dropped Herring with a straight right. For the rest of the fight, Lesnar kept the fight on the ground and went on to win by unanimous decision.

Lesnar's next opponent was Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight championship at UFC 91 on November 15. Lesnar beat Couture via a technical knockout in Round 2, becoming the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Fedor Emelianenko​

Spoiler: Fedor Emelianenko

At Affliction's inaugural event, promoted as Affliction: Banned, Emelianenko defeated former two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia via submission at 36 seconds in the first round.

 

[jmt225]

Frank Mir​

Spoiler: Frank Mir

Mir fought Brock Lesnar at UFC 81 on February 2, 2008. Early in the first round, Lesnar took Mir down and, while striking from Mir's guard, landed a couple of illegal punches to the back of Mir's head, drawing a foul and a one-point deduction from referee Steve Mazzagatti. They were stood up and Mir was given a brief recovery period, but Lesnar quickly took Mir down again. When Lesnar escaped an armbar attempt, Mir caught him with a kneebar, causing Lesnar to tap out at 1:30 of the first round.

After the Lesnar fight, it was announced that Mir would coach one of the teams on The Ultimate Fighter's 8th Season.

The season, which premiered on Spike TV on Sept. 17, returned to the two-weight class format. It featured light heavyweight and lightweight fighters. Production on season eight began in late May, with the entire cast announced in September.

Mir fought Nogueira at UFC 92 for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship. Mir won in the second round via TKO due to strikes, showing much improved striking by knocking Nogueira down twice in the first round. This sets up a re-match between Mir and the UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar for the Undisputed Heavyweight title.

Georges St.-Pierre​

Spoiler: GSP

At UFC 83 on April 19, 2008, St-Pierre fought Matt Serra in a match to determine the undisputed welterweight championship during the UFC's first-ever event in Canada, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Instead of striking, St-Pierre pressed the action early with a takedown and kept mixing up his attack, never allowing Serra the chance to mount a significant offense. In the second round, St-Pierre continued his previous actions, forcing Serra into the turtle position and delivering repeated knees to Serra's midsection. When Serra was unable to improve his position or defend against the strikes, referee Yves Lavigne stopped the fight. St-Pierre was gracious to his defeated opponent and asked the crowd to restrain themselves and show Serra some respect. Serra in turn bowed graciously before St-Pierre. The event was historic in that a UFC championship event had never taken place in Canada before. Georges recently finished up jiu-jitsu training at Gracie Barra and Nova Uniao in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in preparation for his bout with Jon Fitch.

In his most recent fight, St-Pierre defeated Jon Fitch by unanimous decision with scores of 50-43, 50-44, 50-44 at UFC 87, retaining his UFC welterweight title. He exhibited clear dominance over a durable Jon Fitch, scoring multiple devastating strikes and taking the former Purdue wrestling captain down seemingly at will. After the fight GSP spoke to Fitch about the growth that his own loss prompted and said that Fitch's experience should be no different.

Gina Carano​

Spoiler: Gina Carano

Carano defeated former Hook N Shoot champion Kaitlin Young on EliteXC: Primetime on May 31, 2008.

Carano's latest fight was against Kelly Kobold on October 4, 2008 at EliteXC: Heat at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida which was broadcast on CBS.

Leading up to her fight against Kobold, there was much controversy over whether or not Gina would make weight for this fight, having fought only once in the past year and not making weight at that time. Gina assured critics that she would be able to make weight since she had hired a nutritionist to help with her dieting. At the weigh-in for the Kobold fight on October 3, 2008, "Gina Carano weighed in at 142.75 pounds on her first attempt. After removing her sports bra, a towel-covered Carano weighed in a second time at 142.5 pounds. On her third attempt without any clothes on, Carano weighed 141 pounds., successfully making weight.

Early on, Kobold was intent on pressing Carano in the clinch, while working for the takedown throughout the fight. Kobold managed a takedown in the second round, but the round ended before she could take meaningful advantage of it. Carano worked her opportunities by hitting Kobold at every turn whenever the fighters separated, while also opening a huge gash on the inside of her opponent’s eyebrow in the first round. At the end of the third round, Carano looked to finish the fight as she unloaded a head kick that landed flush on Kobold’s chin, but Kobold was not knocked out and the bout came to a close.

Carano won by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) and remains undefeated. After she won the fight, she dedicated her fight to her grandfather.

Rashad Evans​

Spoiler: Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans was scheduled to fight Chuck Liddell at UFC 85 as a replacement for the injured Mauricio Rua. When Chuck Liddell pulled out of the event due to an injured hamstring, Evans was matched with James Irvin. When Irvin pulled out after breaking his foot, the fight was removed from the card altogether.

This fight was then rescheduled for UFC 88 where Evans knocked Chuck Liddell out. The finish came at 1:51 of the second round. Evans flashed a jab that he followed quickly with a overhand right. At that moment, Liddell was throwing an uppercut, which came up short. Evans’ punch landed flush on Liddell’s chin.This knocked Liddell out and the fight was stopped immediately by referee Herb Dean. Evans was awarded knockout of the night and a bonus of $60,000.

After the fight UFC President Dana White confirmed in the post-event press conference that Evans would now get an immediate title shot against champion Forrest Griffin at UFC 92.

On December 27, 2008 at UFC 92, Rashad Evans became the first challenger to Forrest Griffin's UFC Light Heavyweight title. In a highly contested bout, the first two rounds saw Forrest Griffin scoring very effectively and in heavy density with leg kicks to Rashad's lead left leg and working well to avoid a clinch or takedown by Evans, leaving the challenger, on most accounts, down by two rounds.

The third round appeared to be more of the same until Rashad caught a Griffin leg kick and landed a right hand that dropped Forrest. Rashad started delivering ground strikes from over Forrest, who he disallowed to close his guard for about 30 seconds. Forrest was able to control Evans' arms for a short period of time until Rashad once more broke the guard. A very sharp right hand immediately rocked Griffin, and Rashad continued with a series of continuous left hands that left the champion unable to defend and forcing referee Steve Mazzagatti to intervene. The official time was 2:46 of the third round.

 

[jmt225]

Thiago Alves​

Spoiler: Thiago Alves

On April 2nd 2008, Alves knocked out welterweight contender Karo Parisyan in the 2nd round. Alves knocked out former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes at UFC 85, although he failed to make weight due to an ankle injury. Alves was scheduled to face welterweight contender Diego Sanchez at UFC 90 but due to Sanchez suffering a rib injury, Alves instead faced Josh Koscheck.

Alves won the fight against Koscheck at UFC 90 by unanimous decision after dominating all 3 rounds. Alves used his powerful leg kicks to perfection, landing several very heavy kicks to the thigh of Koscheck throughout the fight. He also managed to drop Koscheck on more than 1 occasion during the fight but Koscheck was able to recover quickly enough to avoid a TKO defeat. Alves is now on a 7 fight win streak with winning 9 of his last 10 fights. After defeating Josh Koscheck, Alves has solidified himself as the number 1 contender and will fight the winner of BJ Penn and George St. Pierre at UFC 94 for the welterweight title.

 

[jmt225]

I had to go with Anderson Silva. It was just another year of him showing his complete dominance of the sport.

The Dan Henderson fight was probably his hardest in years. Henderson controlled the first round and looked like he had Silva in trouble a couple of times. However, Spider kept his composure and was able to catch Henderson in the 2nd. Silva showed with that fight that he's not someone who has to finish his fight early on to be able to win, but that he can take a bit of a beating and still remain very dangerous, both on the feet and on the ground.

However, it was the Irvin fight that really is why I voted for him. Irvin is no chump, and for Silva to move UP a weight class and dominate him in the fashion he did... it was just unbelievable.

And while the Cote fight had an uneventful finish, Silva still controlled the fight while it lasted and it was only a matter of time anyway before Silva connected with something big to knock Cote's ass out.

Honorable mention goes to GSP and Frank Mir. Both of those had an incredible year as well.

 

[CCS]

Brock Freaking Lesnar. That's right. Brock has only been in the UFC 1 year and he's already the UFC heavyweight champion. He went from being a unproven rookie novelty act to being a feared legit UFC contender in a matter of months. When i look at the UFC heavyweight division i dont see anyone that can dethrone Brock. He already has great striking power and awesome wrestling skills. Now all he has to do it polish his striking and learn some submission skills and he'll be unstoppable.

 

[Mr. TM]

The man who got a nation interested in Mixed Martial Arts. Georges St-Pierre has been a force for Canada, winning our athlete of the year award here in our diverse nation. Canadians have embraced Mixed Martial Arts, the reason being was GSP's dominant year. He unified the welterweight division titles, and now he is on the verge of facing an opponent fo r his title, and opponent he already has beaten. All I can say is this man had one of the best years ever in MMA, and his outlook is better than ever.

 

[Frank the Frowner]

You gotta give it to Frank Mir.

Many thought that he was finished, and he never got much respect from MMA fans in general. When he faced Brock, many were predicting a Lesnar victory. They completely overlooked the fact that Mir was a former UFC Heavyweight Champion who had to relinquish his belt only because of his motorcycle injury. Yes, he took a pounding from Brock, but he still took advantage of him making a rookie mistake, and he parlayed that into an Ultimate Fighter coaching gig.

When he faced Big Nog, people underestimated Mir, with good reason. Nog had been unstoppable for a while, and he had never really lost. He is/was one of the best in the world, pound for pound. In fact, his only losses had come to Fedor twice, Josh Barnett once, and Dan Henderson once. People don't really put Mir in the same elite category like they do for Fedor and Barnett. It was virtually predicted by everyone that Nogueira would be the one to take on Brock. Not only did Mir beat him, he made him look like shit, and is an interim heavyweight champion.

In my opinion, nobody else, besides Rashad Evans, had as good a year as Frank Mir.

 

[Kasey]

Fedor easily. He took less time to dispose of a former 2-TIME UFC HW champ in less time than it takes me to take a decent piss. None of the others can say that.

 

[imdamiz]

Wish I would have had a chance to vote in this but Frank Mir definetely deserves Fighter of the year: He faced his biggest test to date after his injury (which he thought he would never fight again) in Brock Lesnar, and Lesnar pummeled him but Frank stayed cool under pressure and showing off his amazing Jits and leg locked Lesnar. next Frank coached on TUF which from the sound of it from past coaches disrupts your own training. Finally Frank DOMINATED, a HW Legend in Nogueira, and became the first man to ever finish Nogs. Frank Mir is def the MMA Fighter of the year.