Mixed Martial Artist of the Year

[jmt225]

Jose Aldo

• Organization: WEC
• Titles: WEC Featherweight Champion
• Career record: 16-1
• 2009 record: 4-0
• 2009 results: TKO win over Rolando Perez (WEC 38), TKO win over Chris Mickle (WEC 39), TKO win over Cub Swanson (WEC 41), TKO win over Mike Brown (WEC 44)
• 2009 accomplishments: After scoring first-round TKO wins over Perez and Mickle, Aldo needed just eight seconds to top Swanson, earn a title shot and win the event's "Fight of the Night" award. In fact, the fast-rising Brazilian earned three of the KO awards in 2009 alone. Aldo, who topped Brown to earn the WEC featherweight title, is now 6-0 in the WEC with six knockout wins and is widely regarded as one of the sport's top-10 pound-for-pound fighters.

Brian Bowles

1. Organization: WEC
2. Title: WEC Bantamweight Champion
3. Career record: 8-0
4. 2009 record: 1-0
5. 2009 results: KO win over Miguel Torres (WEC 42)
6. 2009 accomplishments: Although he fought just once in 2009, Bowles made the most of it and upset Torres for the WEC bantamweight title. As a 3-to-1 underdog, Bowles ended Torres' remarkable 17-fight win streak and picked up a "Knockout of the Night" award with the win. None of his eight career wins have gone the distance.

Fedor Emelianenko

1. Organization: Strikeforce
2. Title: WAMMA Heavyweight Champion
3. Career record: 31-1
4. 2009 record: 2-0
5. 2009 results: KO win over Andrei Arlovski ("Affliction: Day of Reckoning") and TKO win over Brett Rogers ("Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers")
6. 2009 accomplishments: Emelianenko viciously knocked out a top-three Arlovski at Affliction's final show and a top-15 Rogers in Strikeforce's heavily hyped debut on CBS. A planned bout with top-five Josh Barnett fell apart soon before Affliction's demise this summer, and though talks between the fighter and the UFC took place afterward, Emelianenko eventually signed with Strikeforce, which marks his first extended stay with a U.S.-based promotion. The 2009 Russian Athlete of the Year has now posted 27 consecutive victories, though a win in an August exhibition grappling match with Gegard Mousasi doesn't factor into the record.

Lyoto Machida

1. Organization: UFC
2. Title: UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
3. Career record: 16-0
4. 2009 record: 3-0
5. 2009 results: KO win over Thiago Silva (UFC 94), KO win over Rashad Evans (UFC 98), unanimous-decision win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (UFC 104)
6. 2009 accomplishments: After viciously knocking out Silva to earn a title shot and Evans to win the belt (and picking up "Knockout of the Night" awards with both wins), Machida became the first UFC 205-pound champ in two years to make a successful title defense. Despite the controversial win over Rua (who many felt had won the fight), it was a breakout year for Machida, who used the two early-year KOs to put behind him a reputation as a boring, decision-prone fighter that dogged him during his first few fights in the UFC.

Gegard Mousasi

1. Organization: Strikeforce
2. Title: Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, DREAM Middleweight Champion (vacated)
3. Career record: 27-2-1
4. 2009 record: 3-0
5. 2009 results: Submission win over Mark Hunt (DREAM.9), KO win over Renato "Babalu" Sobral ("Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg"), TKO win over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou ("Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers")
6. 2009 accomplishments: After vacating his DREAM middleweight belt to compete in heavier weight classes, Mousasi entered the eight-man DREAM "Super Hulk" tourney (as the lightest of the eight open-weight competitors) but had to bow out after a first-round submission of Hunt due to an injury. However, Mousasi then signed with Strikeforce and knocked out Sobral for the Strikeforce light heavyweight title and then scored a TKO win over Sokoudjou in a CBS-televised non-title bout. He's now won 14 consecutive fights and 22 of his past 23.

Jake Shields

1. Organization: Strikeforce
2. Title: Strikeforce Middleweight Champion
3. Career record: 24-4-1
4. 2009 record: 2-0
5. 2009 results: Submission win over Robbie Lawler ("Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields"), unanimous-decision win over Jason "Mayhem" Miller ("Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers")
6. 2009 accomplishments: After solidifying himself as one of the world's top 170-pound fighters as the final champion of the now-defunct EliteXC promotion, Shields signed with Strikeforce and found few worthy opponents. So, he moved up to 182 pounds to submit Lawler and then topped Miller via decision to win the Strikeforce middleweight title that had been vacated by Cung Le. Shields has now won 13 consecutive fights. With the CBS-televised Miller fight, a pair of appearances on MTV's "Bully Beatdown," involvement in the upcoming "Fight Life" documentary, and a possible April bout with Dan Henderson, Shields' career prospects have never been brighter.

Georges St-Pierre

1. Organization: UFC
2. Title: UFC Welterweight Champion
3. Career record: 19-2
4. 2009 record: 2-0
5. 2009 results: TKO win over B.J. Penn (UFC 94), unanimous-decision win over Thiago Alves (UFC 100)
6. 2009 accomplishments: St-Pierre put his title on the line and earned his second career win over Penn when the lightweight champ moved up a weight class in January. St-Pierre dominated the fight and earned a fourth-round TKO, though the victory was slightly clouded by "greasing" allegation from the Penn camp. (St-Pierre was never found of any wrongdoing.) Six months later at the UFC's milestone UFC 100 show, St-Pierre dominated Alves, who was considered the clear No. 1 contender, in a lopsided unanimous-decision win. The 2009 Canadian Athlete of the Year continued to make waves outside the cage, as well, with a pair of high-profile endorsement deals with Gatorade and Under Armour.

BJ Penn

1. Organization: UFC
2. Title: UFC Lightweight Champion
3. Career record: 15-5
4. 2009 record: 2-1
5. 2009 results: TKO loss against Georges St-Pierre (UFC 94), Submission win over Kenny Florian (UFC 101), TKO win over Diego Sanchez (UFC 107)
6. 2009 accomplishments: In what was being build as the 'biggest fight in UFC history', BJ Penn went up against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 94. After a hard-fought, highly controversial fight, BJ Penn would lose via Corner Stoppage before entering the 5th and final round. However, BJ Penn would quickly bounce back from the defeat 6 months later, when he would put his Lightweight Championship up against #1 contender Kenny Florian. Though Florian put up a valiant effort, he was unable to take Penn down one down throughout the fight after many attempts, and when the fight finally did go to the ground, Penn submitted Florian in the 4th Round with a rear naked choke. Unsatisfied, and looking to fight again as quickly as possible, Penn accepted a fight against Diego Sanchez for UFC 107, and he would go on to completely dominate 4 and a half straight rounds against Diego, until finally the fight got stopped due to a cut in the 5th Round. Though starting the year off with a loss, BJ Penn proved that he was still the best the Lightweight in the World, by defeating two top contenders in very impressive fashion.

 

[Fizzy]

Givin it to my man GSP. I was in between Fedor and GSP, and I realized GSP fought much higher tier talent, and dominated them. He beat BJ, who is considered to be right up there with him in best P4P fighter in the world, and fucking dominated Alves who was considered a huge threat to him. He showed me that nobody that the UFC has in his weight division can beat him. That to me is much more impressive than a knockout over no chin Arlovski and Bret Rogers.

 

[INDYjon22]

All of these men deserve recognition but only one name truly sticks out to me for the year of 2009. That name is Georges St-Pierre. The man went undefeated and you may say INDYjon he only fought twice, but you need to look at the quality of his opponents and how bad he embarrassed them in those fights.

He took BJ Penn and broke him, completely broke his spirit and won that fight. GSP beat him so bad that Penn's corner threw in the towel, I don't think anyone else has ever beaten Penn that bad, especially when you look at Penn now and how he is fighting.

Then he took the man that many people were touting as the future champion in Thiago Alves. He took Alves and beat his ass for 25 minutes. Alves never stood a chance in that fight and we haven't heard from him since.

GSP was a fighting champion in 2009 and destroyed his competition. He did the exact same in 2008 with a devastating TKO victory over Matt Serra with some brutal knees and another ass whooping that he handed to Jon Fitch, that is hard for me to say. Never has GSP looked any better then he did this year and with Dan Hardy next on the hit list the sky is the limit. He is the most dangerous man in all of mixed martial arts, no doubt in my mind.

 

[Mr. TM]

Just check my avatar. The man is undefeated this year, and revenged one of only twolosses in his record, while defeating two of the best fighters in his weight (as BJ should compete at that weight).

I voted him over Fedor who has a good year, but he didnt have athat big opponent to face, like GSP did with Penn. I also want to give a shout out to Bowles, who had the single night shocker of the year, if that is going to be an award.

 

[X]

Givin it to my man GSP. I was in between Fedor and GSP, and I realized GSP fought much higher tier talent, and dominated them. He beat BJ, who is considered to be right up there with him in best P4P fighter in the world, and fucking dominated Alves who was considered a huge threat to him. He showed me that nobody that the UFC has in his weight division can beat him. That to me is much more impressive than a knockout over no chin Arlovski and Bret Rogers.

I was torn before entering this thread, but Fizzy convinced me to go with GSP here. I mean being a big BJ mark I'd love to give him the edge but seeing how he lost to GSP obviously means I can't do that. GSP is actually fighting real talent in that division, whereas you mentioned alot of other fighters on this list have been knocking down bums. I mean if we're going best fighter in the world today, Fedor would be in the argument as well, but I've always been partial the lightweights so I'm going with GSP as well.

Plus he somehow made being French-Canadien badass and intimidating. I was fairly certain that was impossible.

Lyoto also had a GREAT year. He's be a solid vote if we're voting for the biggest impact this year.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I'm going to go with Jose Aldo here.

Aldo, to me and many other MMA fans, was a complete unknown at the beginning of this year, and he flat-out dominated, quickly becoming regarded as one of the top 10 best in MMA, pound for pound. Keep in mind that he's just 21 years old. The knockout of Cub Swanson in eight seconds was without a doubt, a thing of beauty, and his domination of Mike Brown showed that he's a force to be reckoned with. To me, he's one of the primary reasons the UFC should absorb the WEC into the company. They could easily market him as one of the best in the world, and even build PPVs around him, especially where they're having a hard time filling cards with all of the injuries that have taken place.

Jose Aldo. Remember that name as he becomes even more of a force this year... and check out some of his fights while you're at it.

 

[Rizza]

Yea its Aldo for me too. He went 4-0 this year, had a candidate for KO of the year also, went from unknown to king of his division, and in the top 10 p4p list while at the age of 21, he has had a pretty damn good year. Not to mention he beat one of the greatest in Mike Brown, and has 3 KO of the night awards in his last 4 fights. Aldo has impressed me more then anyone this year. If I didn't vote Aldo, I proably would have voted Lyoto Machida, he had a great year also. His KO wins over Evans, and Silva were insane.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

The more I think of it too, the more that you could really make a case for Shogun Rua. After taking a year off due to injury, he came back and avenged his loss to Mark Coleman, knocked out Chuck Liddell in very impressive fashion, effectively ending his career, and it's widely believed by just about every MMA fan that he really defeated Lyoto Machida for the Light Heavyweight Title.

It's the reason why the judging in that fight just infuriates me even now. Shogun would across the board be the MMA fighter of the year if it wasn't for shoddy judging. All of these commissions need to isolate the problem that is going on here and start hiring judges who know what they are watching, and the value of leg kicks. Cecil Peoples himself said he doesn't factor leg kicks into his scoring, because "they certainly don't finish fights".

The people who judge these fights should be more than boxing judges that don't know what they are watching. Ex MMA fighters, officials such as Big John McCarthy, and people who are in the sport (trainers for example) should be assigned to these events.

 

[jmt225]

To me it comes down to Aldo, GSP, and Mousasi.

Guy and Rizza Ric have done a great job explaining why Aldo is a serious contender. In fact, had the UFC got rid of the WEC at the beginning of the year and started showcasing those fighters on UFC shows, there's no doubt that everyone would be picking Aldo as the Fighter of the Year. He's simply been incredible.

Now, Gegard Mousasi's quick knockout over Babula alone is the reason I have to consider him. Seriously, Babalu is no joke, and Mousasi easily destroyed the guy. I was shocked. But then you look at what else he's done. He beat Mark Hunt, a guy who outweighs him by 75 pounds and the person who has come closer to defeating Fedor more so than ANYONE, in a minute. And then there was his fight with Sokoudjou, a great boxer with tremendous knockout power and a guy who beat Lil' Nog in just 23 seconds, who he outboxed and completely picked apart before finishing him in the 2nd Round. And fuck, his year isn't even over as he fights in about 12 hours against Gary Goodridge for Dynamite!! 2009. If he goes on to destroy Goodridge like he should, then he will probably end up getting my vote.

And of course GSP, pound for pound the best in the World. GSP has completely dominated the best of the best in Welterweight for a few years now, and 2009 was just another year of him doing so with those incredible wins over Alves and BJ Penn.

The more I think of it too, the more that you could really make a case for Shogun Rua.

If there was a category for 'Comeback Fighter of the Year', then he would definitely win that. But since there aren't many comebacks in MMA like there are in other sports, then you can't create a category like that.

Anyway, MMArtist of the Year for Shogun? I honestly considered it, but he looked like shit against Mark Coleman, and the fact of the matter is that he lost to Machida. Two fights for 2009, in which one he won but didn't look so good against a mediocre fighter, and the other he looked great jn, but didn't win. That's not Fighter of the Year caliber, IMO.

 

[kokobwareofdog]

As much as I love GSP, (I think he is the best P4P in the world), he only had two fights, so my vote went to Aldo. The guy didn't beat everyone they put in front of him this year, he destroyed them. Lightning quick doesn't even begin to describe this kid. I thought he would have problems avoiding Brown's take downs, especially considering how much Brown cuts to make 145, but he made a believer out of me!

 

[kokobwareofdog]

The more I think of it too, the more that you could really make a case for Shogun Rua. After taking a year off due to injury, he came back and avenged his loss to Mark Coleman, knocked out Chuck Liddell in very impressive fashion, effectively ending his career, and it's widely believed by just about every MMA fan that he really defeated Lyoto Machida for the Light Heavyweight Title.

It's the reason why the judging in that fight just infuriates me even now. Shogun would across the board be the MMA fighter of the year if it wasn't for shoddy judging. All of these commissions need to isolate the problem that is going on here and start hiring judges who know what they are watching, and the value of leg kicks. Cecil Peoples himself said he doesn't factor leg kicks into his scoring, because "they certainly don't finish fights".

The people who judge these fights should be more than boxing judges that don't know what they are watching. Ex MMA fighters, officials such as Big John McCarthy, and people who are in the sport (trainers for example) should be assigned to these events.

I have to disagree on this one. His performance against Coleman was not at all impressive. He couldn't finish a completely gassed natural heavyweight making his first cut to light heavy. He knocked out an aging Iceman, who has been exposed as having a very weak chin at this stage of his career. I love Chuck, but once you get dropped, it gets easier and easier to turn off the lights. And say what you want about the Machida decision, but it still went the distance, and there was still room for doubt. It's not like it was a 50-45 fight. I know we all love what Shogun was in Pride, but he has yet to put on that kind of performance in the Octogan.