2014 MMA Year End Awards

2014 MMA Year End Awards

January 4, 2015

By Ryan Porzl

 

 

It's that time of year where I give out my choices for what I believe is the best and worst in Mixed Martial Arts. I will pick the best and worst in MMA. To paraphrase Siskel and Ebert, these are the choices that these newsletters would pick if they were as smart as I am. Speaking of Siskel and Ebert, my worst awards will be done with the same rules as they used for worst movie which is I won't pick on obscure, little known fighters and companies no matter how bad they are. I'll pick on the big visible companies including since they're more likely to be seen by more people and therefore, cause more suffering. I also think it's only fair to inflict insults and give them the same amount of pain they gave us with their performances.

 

 

 

Another important note before beginning. Understand one thing which is that this is an MMA Awards article. When I say "MMA", I mean MMA. I'm not going to be Sherdog or the World MMA Awards and claim to give MMA awards but 90% are UFC choices.

Fighter of the Year- Robbie Lawler (UFC)- This was a tough one as I was also high on Emanuel Newton from Bellator and Marcin Tybura in M-1. However, I have to go with "Ruthless" based on his success, his busy schedule, and his career coming full circle after twelve years. Lawler's near impossible comeback is the stuff that we see in movies and don't believe it could happen in real life. During 2014, Lawler was a machine as he was very busy with four fights this year and going 3-1 overall. While his first fight this year was a close loss to Johny Hendricks, he quickly bounced back by defeating and putting on clinics over top welterweight Jake Ellenberger and the resurgent Matt Brown. Saving the best for last, his fourth fight saw him rematch Hendricks and in a very close decision, he emerged victorious and claimed the UFC Welterweight Championship. Finally, Lawler receives this award for winning the title and becoming UFC Champion which was something many fans and experts predicted upon the beginning of Lawler's first run in the UFC back in 2002.

Fight of the Year- Emanuel Newton vs. Linton Vassell (Bellator MMA, Bellator 124/October 24th)- This was a fight that flew past the radar and it's a shame because fans missed out on a great fight. For most of the fight, Vassell took it to Newton as he was constantly able to get the fight to the ground and outgrapple him. There were even some scary periods for Newton as he was trapped in a few submissions only to keep escaping. As the fight wore on, Newton also seemed to fight very foolishly as he wouldn't listen to his corner and kept trying to get the fight to the ground instead of keeping it standing. Call it ego. Call it brillance. You can definitely call it effective as Newton took Vassell to the later rounds, got him tired, and he would turn the tables in the fifth as he got the fight to the ground and submitted Vassell with a rear-naked choke. This fight had the ingredients for a classic. It had action, it had drama, and it had an amazing come from behind win for the champion. What more could you want?

Knockout of the Year- Timofey Nastyukhin over Eduard Folayang (ONE FC, ONE FC: Warrior's Way)- This was yet another close one as I thought for months my pick would be Derek Anderson over Brandon Girtz from Bellator. In my five years as an MMA fan, I've seen many great knockouts but this has to be one of the most beautful and brutal knockouts I've ever seen. Basically with less than two minutes left in the fight and no one dominating, Nastyukhin would seal the win by landing a picture perfect flying knee that connected with Folayang's jaw. From there, Nastyukhin hammered the final nails to the coffin by following with a punch and then two soccer kicks with Folayang going limp. Just a nasty sequence that will make even MMA fans a little uncomfortable but the "just bleed" fans will be in heaven.


Submission of the Year- Ben Saunders' omoplata over Chris Heatherly (UFC, UFC Fight Night 49/August 23rd)- This is an obvious choice but once again it was close as I was leaning towards Raquel Pennington's bulldog choke. However, I pick it likely for the same reason others have and that is because this was the first time a fighter successfully pulled off an omoplata submission in the 21 year history of the UFC. Also, given I just mentioned that this is the first time in UFC's 21 year history that someone successfully pulled an omoplata off should be all you need to know that this move is extremely difficult to pull off. Quite a way to make your retrun to the UFC isn't it?

Story of the Year- Bjorn Rebney out/Scott Coker in at Bellator- It had been speculated for months but it seemed with each passing month and denials from Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney, it looked like it wouldn't happen. Then on June 18, 2014, after months of speculation, the rumors would finally become reality when Bellator and Viacom announced the departure of Rebney and the arrival of former CEO of Strikeforce Scott Coker taking his place. To say the very least, this has caused a wave of mixed reactions. Some praise it because of Coker's previous success, Bellator attempting to take that next level, and the fact that Rebney was growing more unpopular. On the other hand, others hated it as they saw it as a man who was forced out of his creation and the tournament format that they loved and had a sports feel was being eliminated in favor of the traditional system. Regardless of which side you stand on, there's no doubt your curious to see what is in store for Bellator and what they have in store for the fans in 2015 and beyond.

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year- Liam McGeary (Bellator MMA)- I can't think of any prospect who have looked as impressive in 2014 or even looked better than Liam McGeary. 2014 saw McGeary take that next step and has been a beast. Not even the bright lights on national TV or competing in Bellator tournaments shook him as he bulldozed through the competition. He entered Bellator's Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament and blitzed everyone near him. He annihilated fellow undefeated prospect Mike Muchitelli in 22 seconds. He blasted journeyman Egidijus Valavicius in two minutes and ten seconds. He then won the tournament by defeating Kelly Anundson with a submission of the year candidate inverted triangle choke. Overall, McGeary fought three times in 2014 but his entire time in a cage was only seven minutes and nineteen seconds. McGeary will now see himself challenge Emanuel Newton for the Light Heavyweight Title in 2015.


Comeback of the Year- Jadamba Narantungalag (ONE FC)- This was another close one as I was leaning towards Joe Warren for many months. However, as I looked at Naratungalag and recommended him for my Memo to the World MMA Awards, I realized he was a better choice. Narantungalag truly had not only the comeback of the year but one of the most inspirational of the year. On April 27, 2013, Naratungalag lost to Koji Ando at Legend FC 11 due to an ankle injury. The loss saw Naratungalag lose his LEGEND FC Lightweight Title and his eight fight win streak snapped. Worst of all, LEGEND FC would close shortly following this event. With no home, an ankle injury, a win streak broken, no title, and turning 38 years old, Narantungalag ended 2013 with a bleak future. Then in 2014, he turned everything around. In the spring, he signed with ONE FC and within months become their #1 featherweight by defeating first ever featherweight champion Honorio Banario and then Koji Oishi to win the ONE FC Featherweight Championship. After leaving 2013 with an uncertain future, Naratungalag would leave 2014 competing a bigger promotion, creating a new win streak, and more importantly, as a champion by holding a more prestigious belt.

Robbery of the Year- Diego Sanchez over Ross Pearson (UFC, UFC Fight Night 42/June 7th)- This will be no surprise as we're only going into 2015 but this is already an odds on favorite to win robbery of decade. I don't think I've ever seen a fight where I and many fans along with Journalist scored the fight clearly for one and at least two judges scored it for the other. I personally don't see other than home state favortism how anyone could score that fight for Sanchez. Pearson had the better strikes and Sanchez couldn't get the fight to the ground. There was no place and no point during the fight where Sanchez was winning the fight. Sadly, this fight continues to solidify Sanchez's status as the King of the Robberies. After getting gift decisions over Martin Kampmann and Takanori Gomi, Sanchez really outdid himself with the Pearson fight. Congratulations to the Dream for three peating this award.


Beatdown of the Year- Vyacheslav Vasilevsky over Ramazan Emeev (M-1 Global, M-1 Challenge 51/September 7th)- This fight can be a worthy contender for fight of the year but it takes this award. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky defeated Ramazan Emeev to win the M-1 Middleweight Championship but along the way made a statement all over Emeev's face. For nearly four complete rounds, the two landed their offense but as the fight wore on, Vasilevsky's offense began to rough Emeev up. By the time it was over, Emeev had blood dripping off his nose, a huge purple swelling under his left eye, and looked like he had a hard time opening his eyes. Also from the looks of it, it wouldn't be surprising if broke his orbital bone in his left eye as well as his nose.

Commentator of the Year- Sean Wheelock (Bellator MMA)- I'm a fan of Wheelock and Jimmy Smith on commentary for Bellator events. This was a potentially close one as it could've went to Smith. Both are knowledgeable about the sport. Wheelock is good as the Television announcer who can call the action while getting the advertisements in and Smith offers that fighter point of view. Ultimately, I pick Wheelock out of the two because Smith can get annoying when a late stoppage occurs and rants about it. Also, anyone who brings up Igor Vovchanchyn, Akira Maeda, and Fighting Network RINGS is alright in my book.

Gym of the Year- American Top Team- No surprise as ATT picks this award up for the second straight year and for good reason. ATT continues to show they are the premier gym in MMA. While they suffered some setbacks including Bellator title losses from Attila Vegh and Daniel Straus, the gym more than made up for it by ending the year with four major championship and being one of the few gyms to have at least one title in three different major organizations. They lost two but gained two in Bellator as Will Brooks became the interim lightweight champion and followed by being the undisputed lightweight champion while Douglas Lima won the vacant Bellator Welterweight Championship. Meanwhile, Jessica Aguilar became the first WSOF Women's Strawweight Champion while the gym along with Robbie Lawler worked together to each complete a twelve year quest by winning UFC gold. Saving the best for last, Lawler won by a close decision to win the UFC Welterweight Championship. The gym also continued it's streak of major upsets as Will Brooks accelerating his growth by scoring two big upsets over top lightweight Michael Chandler including handing Chandler his first stoppage loss. Finally, with Lawler and Aguilar, ATT leaves 2014 with two fighters that are considered #1 in their respective divisions.

Event of the Year- UFC 178 (UFC)- UFC 178 was an event that had a lot going for it. We saw two inspirational and successful comebacks in Dominick Cruz and Cat Zingano who were both coming off long layoffs and Zingano coming off a tragic period in her life. We saw the continued rise of prospect Conor McGregor as he handed Dustin Poirier his first knockout loss. Eddie Alvarez made his UFC debut in an entertaining fight against UFC and WEC veteran Donald Cerrone. While the main event left something to be desired as it was another day at the office for Demetrious Johnson as he defeated Chris Cariaso who wasn't the most deserving but was givent the shot because that was the hand everyone was dealt. Still, for exciting fights and memorable moments, you can't go wrong with UFC 178.

Upset of the Year- TJ Dillashaw over Renan Barao (UFC, UFC 173/May 24th)- An obvious choice to be sure but a deserving one. TJ Dillashaw has always been a talented kid who most thought had potential to be a champion.....just not in 2014. Dillashaw made the entire MMA world look foolish on May 24th where he came in to challenge top 5 pound-for-pound fighter Renan Barao and proceeded to spend four and a half rounds making the dominant champion look like an amateur as he assaulted him no matter where the fight went and also knocked in down in the first before doing it again and scoring the TKO victory in the fifth. Barao was riding so much momentum going into the fight that he looked bullet proof. The thought was if anyone would beat him, it would either be Urijah Faber or former champion Dominick Cruz. I also score this an upset because Dillashaw scored another upset. Before this win, Team Alpha Male was considered one of the best gym in MMA today. However, they had yet to win a UFC title. The general consenus was among MMA experts that Alpha Male would eventually get a UFC Title but the one to be the first would either be leader Urijah Faber or prospects Joseph Benavidez and Chad Mendes. Not many suspected that Dillashaw would be "the chosen one" to end the UFC drought.

Promotion of the Year- ONE Fighting Championship- No company gained more momentum and growth than ONE FC this year. Not even close. Despite only being in business for only three years, ONE FC has made tremendous growth in such a short time. In 2014 alone, the company crowned their first Flyweight Champion and Middleweight Champion which now only leaves two vacancies which are at Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight. With the arrival of Ben Askren and his Welterweight Title win, the company now has three champions who have serious arguments on being top ten fighters. They expanded their stops by making their debut in Dubai, Taiwan, Cambodia, and mainland China all the while running on a near monthly basis. Another feather to their cap is they became the second non-Chinese MMA company to hold a show in mainland China with M-1 Global as the first. They also brought in many talented fighters this year including Askren as well as many top names from LEGEND FC which shut down in 2013 including former champions like Jadamba Naratungalag, Koji Ando, Yusuke Kawanago, and Ji Xian. They also added some more name fighters as well as potential prospects during the year. Being an Asian company, ONE FC also benefits by having the best rules in MMA with the global rules which allow elbows, knees to the ground opponent, soccer kicks, and better judging as fights are judged in their entirety while the judges look for who comes closer to finishing and delivering damage while referees have yellow cards. This allows fights to be more exciting since fighters can't take advantage of the extremely flawed and awful Unified rules by playing safe or coasting in the third round. 2014 saw ONE FC becoming one of the powerhouses in MMA and one of the big companies to look out for. Hopefully, it'll get better in 2015.

Worst Fighter of the Year- Renan Barao (UFC)- In my years as an MMA fan, I've seen fighters decline or fall from grace. Yet, I don't think I've seen a more ugly fall from grace than Renan Barao. For the first part of 2014, Barao had it all. He became the undisputed Bantamweight Champion, was considered one of the pound-for-pound best fighters, and his #1 fan was UFC president Dana White. Unfortunately, his whole year was a colossal disappointment. His win over Urijah Faber was tainted due to an early stoppage. He got destroyed in his second fight of the year against TJ Dillashaw where he was coming in as a huge favorite. He then failed to make it to his rematch when he passed out and hit his head in the bathtub while trying to cut weight for the fight. Even worse was this occurred the day of weigh-ins and the day before the fight which left the UFC scrambling to find a new main event. Barao went from being one of the company's poster boys to becoming persona non grata because of it as the company wouldn't speak of him for the next few months. In his third fight, he defeated Mitch Gagnon by submission but the performance can be considered disappointing given his status as an elite and Gagnon not even being a top ten fighter. 2014 saw Barao not be able to get a break. Even when he won fights, they weren't impressive looking.

Worst Gym of the Year- Alliance MMA- This is another award where I had my mind made up but then changed it. Originally, I was going to go with Nova Uniao given Renan Barao and Eduardo Dantas' title losses as well as the controversy of the gym's fighters poor attempts at weight cutting. However, as I thought about it, I looked through the gyms on wikipedia and Alliance MMA caught my eye. In fact, as you go into detail surrounding the year Alliance had and you come to a conclusion it was a nightmare. There was no other gym in 2014 that had so much going for it and just stumble through the year. You would have a hard time even finding anything that the gym did right. Sure, the gym had some highlights including Dominick Cruz coming off a three year injury and making quick work of Takeya Mizugaki as well as the rise of Myles Jury. However, that's where the good ends. This year we saw gym founder Brandon Vera released from the UFC after being employed there for years. Michael Chandler lost both fights he participated in, fell from many top 10 rankings, was finished for the first time in his career, and failed to win either the Bellator interim Lightweight Title as well as the real one. Joey Beltran failed to win the Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship. Phil Davis went 1-1 as he lost an upset to Anthony Johnson before scoring an upset of his own over Glover Teixeria. Alexander Gustafsson only fought once this year and missed his title opportunity as well as rematch with Jon Jones because of an injury. Raphael Butler was considered Bellator's top heavyweight prospect but that went up in smoke after going a draw with Nick Rossborough which saw him nearly get finished and get a point deducted for a blatant headbutt in the first only to then grind out the last two round to boos. He then followed that up with a quick loss to Javy Ayala by submission which gave Butler his first loss. Phil De Fries failed to win the IGF Heavyweight Championship. Jeremy Stephens won his first fight this year and then stumbled with a two fight losing streak by years end. Even with Dominick Cruz successfully returning, he still had to forfeit the UFC Bantamweight Championship back in January and he was reinjured by the end of the year. This was just a car wreck of a year for Alliance and it's a shame given the talent involved. I only hope they can pull themselves together in 2015.

Worst Fight of the Year- Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn (UFC, The Ultimate Fighter finale/July 6th)- This fight is my choice due to the same reasons as the David Branch/Paulo Filho fight was my pick for worst fight of the year in 2013. Sure there have been some very bad fights this year, I pick this because it's more than a bad fight. Like the Branch/Filho fight, this was so depressing to watch. At one point, Penn was one of the pound-for-pound best fighters and was a very worthy rival to Frankie Edgar. Those days are over and instead we saw the continued decline of the Penn/Edgar fights as we went from Penn being a big threat to Edgar to being outclassed by Edgar to now being his personal fourth of July punching bag. Penn looked absolutely awful and was nowhere near a threat to Edgar as Edgar got an easy paycheck. There wasn't even any hopeful periods where we saw flashes of greatness Penn used to have. It wasn't Chuck Liddell in his fight with Rich Franklin or Matt Hughes in his fight against Josh Koscheck where they had some moments that made you believe they could pull it off. From beginning to end, Penn got schooled and looked old. It's also just sad how Penn finally saw the light afterwards and admitted that he shouldn't have come back. I also pick this fight for my worst because everyone and I mean, everyone (except the people who didn't see the fight) lost. Fans who saw this lost as they watched an all time great get blitzed into retirement. The UFC lost cause they probably didn't make enough money to justify it and played host to it. Penn lost because he took an unnecessary beating and retired with his head as down as it can be. Edgar was the big loser as he lost a year of his career coaching a season of a stale and tired reality show and then having a televised sparring section. Worst of all, I can't help but feel frustrated by the UFC for doing it. Edgar is one of MMA's elite fighters and at 33 years old, he's in a position where he can't afford to take a year off. By doing TUF and fighting Penn, he lost a year he'll never get back. 2014 should've saw Edgar fight real elite featherweights like Cub Swanson earlier than he did along with Ricardo Lamas, Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, and Chad Mendes. Just a waste.

Worst Show of the Year- Bellator 115 (Bellator MMA)- UFC 177 is probably the most famous case of a "cursed" show in 2014 where injuries and other stuff just happens and nearly cripple the show. However, The UFC was said to have pulled it together and put on a solid show. Unfortunately, Bellator had a "cursed" show too but they were not able to pull it together and that was known as Bellator 115. The first problem was this was one of those Bellator shows where the matchmakers decided to flood the prelims with locals in an effort to sell tickets with heavyweight Josh Appelt being the only one on the main roster. I know it helps Bellator if locals can sell tickets but the prelims don't need to contain nothing but locals. The main card was a disaster outside of the Kelly Anundson/Volkan Oezdemir and Herman Terrado/Justin Baesman fight. For starters, the welterweight tournament semifinal between Andrey Koreshkov and Sam Oropeza was pulled after Koreshkov was stricken with the flu. Meanwhile, a middleweight tournament fight never happened. Originally, it was supposed to be Doug Marshall vs. Dan Cramer but Marshall was pulled due to the fact he was serving a suspension. Then they brought Jeremy Kimball in and he proceeded to miss weight so the fight was cancelled. Meanwhile, the main card was sandwiched between two bad fights. Former middleweight tournament finalist Mikkel Parlo put on a boring grindfest and defeated Johnny Cisneros in a boring decision. Parlo was just coming losing the season nine middleweight tournament finals. So he needed to make a statement that he was still one of Bellator's elite middleweights. Instead, he played it safe and looked terrible. The Main Event was Heavyweight Champion Vitaly Minakov vs. Cheick Kongo. This was another mess as Minakov was deducted a point early on for repeated kicks to the groin including one that occurred literally ten to fifteen seconds into the fight while Kongo was caught grabbing the shorts at times. Meanwhile, both men got tired by the third and put on a sloppy and boring fight with Minakov eventually retaining. It's the type of fight that is a stereotype to heavyweight MMA. While Minakov had never been in a five round fight before and thus not familiar on how to use his energy in those types of fights, this was still a poor showing. For a guy who is billed by some as the next Fedor Emelianenko, this fight made him looked very flawed and not like the dominant former heavyweight king. I love Bellator but this show was one that the company should just pretend never happened.


Worst Promotion of the Year- The Ultimate Fighting Championship- Boy, am I going to get hate for this one but here me out first. Honestly, everybody even the biggest UFC fan knows 2014 was a trainwreck for the UFC. It seemed like nothing went right and it was one problem after another. I pick UFC because of two categories that you can split their problems into. One is stuff that was beyond their control and the second is stuff that was their fault. As far as stuff that was beyond their control, the company and their cards were crippled by injury after injury. At times, UFC would have a good card or main event only to see it go up in smoke due to injury. In fact, UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson, current Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw, and UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler were the only ones to go all year long without a single injury (I won't count Carla Esparza because she became champion in December). Meanwhile, we had Ronda Rousey suffer an injury that kept her out from after the fourth of July to the rest of the year. Renan Barao passed out and hit the tub while trying to cut weight for his rematch with Dillashaw. Aldo injured his back during the summer. Pettis entered the year hurt and along with coaching the Ultimate Fighter, he was out till December. Hendricks missed nine months between his title win and loss. Weidman only fought once all the while suffering two injuries. Jon Jones only fought once with his big fight against Daniel Cormier being delayed to early 2015. Finally, Cain Velasquez never made to the octagon as he entered the year hurt and would get hurt again. This along with other reasons has seen UFC's buyrates plumment to the point where UFC 174 was the least bought UFC PPV in nine years. Even worse, 2014 marked the first time since 2011 that UFC went a full year with no PPV breaking the 1,000,000 mark with the highest being UFC 175 which only drew 545,000. Meanwhile, The FOX specials haven't seen much increase as UFC has maintained an audience but hasn't been able to increase their presence with these broadcast specials. Their Asian expansion has not been successful. Their Singapore debut was not profitable, they closed down their Chinese office, and lost the Chinese race as M-1 Global and ONE FC both ran successful debuts in Bejing while the UFC is still on the outside looking in as they're still stuck only running Macau. Then there's the stuff that is their fault. I'm never a fan of champions coaching the Ultimate Fighter and delaying title fights so I personally was annoyed that UFC had not one, but two champions coach seasons especially champions like Anthony Pettis and Cain Velasquez who were already coming off long layoffs. The company also continued to limp along badly with the Ultimate Fighter show and hold more in different countries. In 2014, The UFC pumped six different seasons including two of the regular show which is absolutely ridiculous. The Ultimate Fighter has now reached it's tenth anniversary and it's clear it's worn it's welcome as it doesn't accomplish anything anymore. Most of the big prospects UFC bring in these days are in multiple companies including minor league companies like Legacy and RFA or top companies like Titan who have "Zuffa Clauses" in fighter contracts which allow fighters to terminate the deal once they get an offer from the UFC. Meanwhile, coaches rarely fight anymore as one or both usually go down. TUF Brazil 3's coach fight never happened as Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen were forced into disgraceful retirements while TUF Latin America's coach fight went down the toliet after Cain Velasquez went down with an injury. The company has also become hyper saturated as they went from monthly events to now running on a near weekly basis. At times, they even run two shows the same day. This basically made it incredibly difficult to follow. Even hardcore fans had a hard time remembering which fight was on which show as there were too much to keep up. This also led to watered down cards as shows are now one or two fight shows which the card lives and dies off of. Sadly, the UFC hasn't learned from past mistakes. Following the debacle of UFC 151, you would think they would learn not to run so many events and stretch themselves so thin but no instead they continue to do it and it haunt them again when UFC 176 lost it's main event and the UFC had to cancel a second PPV in 23 months. Sadly, they still haven't learned as they've announced 45 shows in 2015 which means that's almost a show a week. The result of this schedule has resulted in UFC also setting the bar in regard to their fighters to sea level. "UFC Calibur" meant nothing in 2014 as the UFC has signed just about everyone they could. Some deserved it while others were on the roster despite being past their prime, not ready for prime time, or just not good. Nowadays, you can find dozens of fighters who should be in a company like Titan instead of the UFC but UFC needs to fill cards so guys and girls get opportunities they either aren't ready for or don't deserve it. Because of all these shows, it's become almost impossible for the UFC to sell out shows. The only times they get a full house are either in cities they never ran before like Nova Scotia in Canada or when they debut in a new country like Mexico. It's gotten to the point where UFC can't even regularly sell out their home city of Las Vegas anymore. It's also been rumored that the UFC may have screwed themselves with their Asian expansion due to the American offices and the Asian office not seeing eye-to-eye on how to promote in the continent. It was reportedly because of this that led to the Chinese office shutting down as well the departure of their head of Asia marketing Mark Fischer and other employees.