2017 MMA Year End Awards

2017 MMA Year End Awards
January 22, 2018 
By Ryan Porzl

With the year coming to an end, it's time I give my year end awards for what I considered both the best and worst in Mixed Martial Arts.



Fighter of the Year: Kyoji Horiguchi (Rizin)- After a fairly successful UFC run (his only loss was to Demetrious Johnson which obviously isn't anything to be ashamed of), Horiguchi returned to home in Japan and to no surprise, made his home in the up and coming Rizin. Horiguchi has always been talented and he showed off all his skills this year from knockout power to ground work to submissions to great footwork to explosiveness. He also performed extremely well by going 5-0 this year and over good competition as well as he defeated former DEEP Flyweight Champion Yuki Motoya in his debut before moving up to bantamweight to compete in Rizin's 2017 Bantamweight Grand Prix where he defeated former DREAM tournament winner Hideo Tokoro in the first round, undefeated Peru FC & Curitiba Top Fight Featherweight Champion Gabriel Oliviera in the second round, up and comer Manel Kape in the semifinals, and Pancrase Bantamweight Champion Shintaro Ishiwatari in the finals. Horiguchi also receives this award for being a natural bantamweight only to move up and win a tournament against bigger competition as well as his schedule competing five times in one year while fighting three times in 48 hours all against pretty good competition.

Female Fighter of the Year: Rose Namajunas (UFC)- Expecting someone else? Namajunas is an obvious choice and for good reason. After showing potential for awhile but usually coming up short when it mattered most, Namajunas was determined not to be denied in 2017 and she wasn't. Namajunas went 2-0 this year scoring a big win over top women's strawweight fighter Michelle Waterson to get back to her winning ways and then scored the big win in November when she made history by defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217 to become the UFC Women's Strawweight Champion while handing Jedrzejczyk her first loss. Two great wins, both by finish, won the title, and was the first to beat the undefeated title holder. What more could you ask for?

Knockout of the Year: Francis Ngannou over Alistair Overeem (UFC 218 12/2)- This was such a memorable and brutal knockout. You usually can't go wrong with a heavyweight delivering a knockout and this was an example as Ngannou nailed such a brutal shoryuken that Overeem not only was unconscious but pictures of it look like Ngannou uppercutted Overeem's soul right out of his body with Overeem's body looking like an empty shell by the time he fell to the canvas.

Submission of the Year: Demetrious Johnson over Ray Borg (UFC 216 10/7)- I was almost tempted to go with the Boston Crab submission from Final Fight Championship given it was probably a first but I had to join the choir. This could go down as this decade's version of Ryo Chonan's legendary flying scissor heel hook. In a fight that was saw his routine performance which is dominating his opponent all fight long, Johnson scored the win by suplexing Borg before transitioning out of nowhere into an armbar. The submission was unique, different, and the transition required perfect timing and skill to pull off.

Fight of the Year: Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Johnson (UFC The Ultimate Fighter Redemption Finale 7/7)- Talk about a fun war with Gaethje entering the Ultimate Fighting Championship in style. These two laid it all out there, never played it safe, and never got boring. I also give Gaethje a lot of credit as this was his UFC debut and people would usually want to enter a new promotion with a win and prove they're for real. Normally, you think maybe Gaethje would get nerves or play it safe but nope. Gaethje didn't care if this was his debut or not as he fought like he always does and was determined to make a statement in his debut which made this better.

Event of the Year: UFC 217 (UFC)- Granted, I didn't see as many events in 2017 as I would've wanted but from what I've seen, UFC 217 gets the award. Being in a building like Madison Square Garden definitely helps as it creates a great atmosphere. The title fights delivered and we got some great action with almost every fight ending in a finish. Perhaps more importantly, so much history was made. UFC 217 saw not one, not two, but three title changes which is something that rarely happens. We saw the return of one of the most beloved and respected fighters in MMA history in Georges St-Pierre who returned after a four year absence while we saw the undefeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk finally suffer her first defeat. We saw Rose Namajunas win a title she'd been pursuing since she competed in the first fight to crown the UFC Women's Strawweight Champion in 2014, TJ Dillashaw regained the UFC Bantamweight Championship which was the championship many thought he shouldn't have lost when he lost it to Dominick Cruz in 2016, Georges St-Pierre became the fourth man to win a belt in two weight classes. Whether it be good fights, finishes, and history, UFC 217 had it all.

Story of the Year: Money Fights and their damage on the UFC- It seems like a lifetime ago that Dana White would brag that the UFC was the place where "the best fight the best three times a year". Money fights are sadly common in combat sports with promoters at times mostly preferring fights that are easier to sell instead of the best battling it out for supremacy. It's one of the biggest reasons people and analyst point to boxing's decline a decade before and sadly it's creeped in the UFC. 2017 saw UFC champions more focused on fights that paid more instead of fighting the top of their divisions and the UFC went along with most of it. Conor Mcgregor entered the year coming off winning the UFC Lightweight Championship but instead of defended that title, Mcgregor instead pursued a boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. which he got and lost. Ultimately, Mcgregor never fought once in the octagon in 2017 effectively creating a logjam. UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping spent his entire title reign more focused on earning the most money as he avoided top contenders throughout his title reign and took money fights including against aging legend Dan Henderson last year while his one and only fight in 2017 was against former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre despite the fact St-Pierre hadn't fought in four years while never once competing in middleweight. Along with these fights happening, you also had Tyron Woodley expressing interest in money fights against St-Pierre and Mcgregor while new bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has been fixated on facing flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson despite never having one competed in flyweight. One thing UFC desperately needs in 2018 is to get control of this or else money fights will damage their reputation.

Upset of the Year: Brent Primus over Michael Chandler (Bellator NYC 6/24)- I know the one most are choosing is Namajunas/JJ fight and though a good choice, I thought of one better. While it is true Primus won due to injury, I still have to choose this one because who honestly thought Primus had a chance? Yes, Primus is a good prospect but going into the fight, he was only 7-0, hadn't fought in fourteen months, and didn't have a win over any of Bellator's top Lightweights or over a "name". While Chandler did lose because of an injury, it's still an upset given all the things going against Primus and very few expected Chandler to lose especially by injury.

Beatdown of the Year: Khabib Nurmagomedov over Edsen Barboza (UFC 219 12/30)- Going into UFC 219, Nurmagomedov needed not only a win but to make a statement as he hadn't fought in a year and he suffered a bad weight cut which prevented him from facing Tony Ferguson to crown an Interim UFC Lightweight Champion. Safe to say, Nurmagomedov did just that as he trashed Barboza for fifteen minutes, taking him down many times, and raining down punishing blows. Barboza is a great fighter but you wouldn't know that if you weren't an MMA and this was the only time you saw him.

Robbery of the Year: Gegard Mousasi over Alexander Shlemenko (Bellator 185 10/20)- I didn't see many "robberies" this year or ones that were very outrageous so there wasn't an obvious one. Still, I chose this because it was still a robbery even if it wasn't one of the worst one like last years Carvalho/Manhoef or Sanchez/Pearson from 2014 or Sanchez/Kampmann from 2011. The controversy was over the second round as Mousasi easily won round one while Shelemenko won round three with all three judges believing Mousasi did enough to earn the round but he really didn't. Shlemenko was mostly in control and landed better shots while preventing Mousasi from taking it to the ground. Mousasi didn't start to gain the upper hand until 90 seconds left in the round and he wasn't able to do that much. In the end, I wasn't the only one as Bellator commentator Jimmy Smith gave the fight to Shlemenko as did six out of ten MMA media outlets. It's one thing if a round is super close but this wasn't a case as Mousasi didn't do much for most of it and by the time he did, it should've been considered too late.

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Darrion Caldwell (Bellator)- Since his debut back in 2014, Caldwell had been considered one of Bellator's top prospects and it seemed to be a matter of when instead of if he would be a champion. Other than a speed bump where he lost the first Joe Taimanglo fight, Caldwell looked awesome scoring wins and even dominating wins over former Bellator Bantamweight tournament Rafael Silva and former two divisional champion Joe Warren. After years of being a "prospect", Caldwell finally achieved his true potential when he defeated the two time Bellator Bantamweight Champion Eduardo Dantas to win the championship. Though he only fought once this year, it was that fight where Caldwell made it to championship status and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was worthy of his hype.

Comeback Fighter of the Year: Georges St-Pierre (UFC)- While it is true St-Pierre has since vacated the UFC Middleweight Championship and it's not known if he'll fight again, he still has to be considered the comeback of the year simply because he came off a four year break, moved up to middleweight which is a division he's never fought in before, and he defeated Michael Bisping to become the new UFC Middleweight Champion which made him the fourth fighter in UFC history to win a belt in two weight classes. It's admirable that St-Pierre took so much time off only to jump into the deep end by not only facing a fighter like Bisping but in a weight class he never fought in before and you have to respect that.

Announcer of the Year: Dominick Cruz (UFC)- Cruz is already a legendary fighter and has been showing over the last few years that he has a second career as an announcer. Cruz has always been reliable as an analyst but he's come off very well as an announcer as he's knowledgeable, intelligent, he offer's that fighter point of view well, and he doesn't come off annoying. He's definitely someone you won't mute or make your ears bleed.

Gym of the Year: AMC Pankration- AMC Pankration isn't the biggest or most "elite" gym but the fighters they have are some of the best in the sport. As has been the case in the past, they entered the year with championship belts and they walked out with their belts. Pankration is the home of UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson who is arguably the best fighter in the world today. The gym also has ONE Bantamweight Champion Bibiano Fernandes who continues to dominate in ONE. Johnson secured two more successful title defenses this year which saw him break the record of most successful title defenses in UFC history with eleven while Fernandes won his one fight this year thus extending his record of most successful title defenses in ONE history with six.

Promotion of the Year: Bellator MMA- While I don't think any MMA promotion blew it out of the water in 2017, Bellator still had a great year. Business wise, they did fairly well outside of their return to PPV as they had more events that grossed one million dollars while continuing to make the UK, Hungary, Italy, and Isreal regular stops. The promotion also scored some great coups as they snatched away top UFC fighters like Ryan Bader, Gegard Mousasi, and Michael McDonald while Rory MacDonald made his long awaited debut. Along with them, the amateur wrestlers that have been signed have also moved along nicely with the exception of Aaron Pico's debut as have the Russian fighters from Fedor's team like Vadim Nedkov, Valentin Moldavsky, and Anatoly Tokov. Bellator also saw the rise of new talents with Brent Primus and Darrion Caldwell both winning Bellator titles while others like Rafael Lovato Jr. and Emmanuel Sanchez have been hastely moving up the ladder. The promotion also had many good fights this year like all the major promotions. Obviously, not everything went Bellator's way with the PPV having a disappointing buyrate, the heavyweight division remained dormant, certain young guys weren't able to take the next stop, and the need to add more depth to some division, Bellator had a pretty good year overall.

Worst Fighter of the Year: Conor Mcgregor (UFC)- I picked McGregor out of principle. Like most people, I've been sick and tired of Mcgregor's games as he seeks big paydays all the while he holds a division hostage. I don't mind Mcgregor doing other things as that's his business but as the UFC Lightweight Champion, he should defending the belt as his top priority. If he wants to do movies or box then he should vacate the title and come back once he's got it out of his system. Right now, it's like Mcgregor loves having the title of champion but doesn't want any of the responsibilities that go along with it.

Worst Fight of the Year: Tyron Woodley vs. Damian Maia (UFC 214, 7/29)- This fight was sad as it was a fight that needed to happen but everyone was nervous about how brutal it could be. Both Woodley and Maia are very talented fighters but Woodley is known to be gun shy and Maia can be dull to watch if he can't use his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Ultimately, the worst of both came out as Woodley was again gun shy and Maia was never able to use his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Add to the fact this was a five round fight and Woodley injured his labrum and you have the ingredients of a disaster. The two did almost next to nothing for 25 minutes as fans booed the fight and the fighters out of the building while even the announcers had to acknowledge how bad it was. Even worse was Joe Rogan saying to Woodley following his win that the fight only had 57 punches which broke the record for fewest punches thrown in a UFC Championship fight. This fight should probably go down in history as not only one of the worst UFC fights ever but one people remember for years & decades to come like how we remember Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn's Detroit Dance.

Worst Event of the Year: UFC 208- This event failed just about every way possible as far as the main card is concerned. Outside of the opening Dustin Poirier/Jim Miller fight which was very good, there wasn't a single good fight here. Glover Teixeira/Jared Cannonier was a dull fight, Jacare Souza/Tim Boetsch was a very big mismatch, Anderson Silva/Derek Brunson was another bad fight while Silva was a far cry from his old self, and the main event between de Randamie and Holm should've been historic but we instead got another dull fight that will only be remembered for the periods where de Randamie came off dirty. It also didn't help the main event was to crown the first Women's Featherweight Champion despite the fact the best woman's featherweight (Cyborg) was nowhere to be found. All in all, this event is probably a blur to most fans and that's for the best.

Worst Announcer of the Year: Mike Goldberg (Bellator), Joe Rogan (UFC), & Mauro Ranallo (Bellator)- These three tie because they're guys who were good at one point but all three are stale and dull at this point. Rogan gets this because of his usual hyperbole and occasional biaseness. Goldberg and Ranallo get it because they're so repetitive as they say nothing but their catchphrases which are annoying at this point and it's even worse cause they just debuted in Bellator so you'd think going to a new environment that maybe they changes things up a little bit but no. All three were good at one point but their time had come & gone and I don't care to hear the same commentary which got old a long time ago. They should at least take a few years off.

Worst Gym of the Year: Nova Uniao- Nova Uniao has a rough year this year with most of their elite fighters suffering big setbacks and losing of titles. Jose Aldo went 0-2 this year as he lost the featherweight championship to Max Holloway and then failed to regain the title from him. Aldo has been one of, if not, the face of the gym for so long and one wonders if Aldo's time has gone by. Meanwhile, Eduardo Dantas barely got by Leandro Higo and then lost the Bellator Bantamweight Championship to Darrion Caldwell. Renan Barao, once a wrecking ball, in the WEC and UFC's bantamweight divisions lost his one and only fight this year to Aljamin Sterling. Up and comer John Teixeira went 0-2 this year in Bellator with losses to Daniel Weichel and Pat Curran. At this point, it seems like Nova Uniao is lost as they lost both their major championship while most of their fighters came up short this year. Maybe 2018 will see them rebound but for now, they're in danger of becoming one of those outdated gyms who weren't able to keep up like a Lion's Den and Miletich Fighting Systems.

Worst Promotion of the Year: UFC- 2017 was a year that it seemed like nothing went right for the UFC. After years of being bullet proof and seemingly invincible, the UFC came off the most vulnerable they've been since the Ultimate Fighter began in 2005 which led to the MMA boom period in America. 2017 saw the UFC suffer declines across the board from attendances to PPV buyrates to TV ratings all the while they saw many top ranked and elite fighters slip through their fingers with Kyoji Horuguchi heading to Rizin Fighting Federation while Ryan Bader, Gegard Mousasi, & Michael McDonald jumped to Bellator. While the promotion got guys like Justin Gaethje, they were more likely to lose one of their top stars then snatch a promotion's top stars. The inmates also ran the asylum and UFC appeared to lose control with Michael Bisping avoiding top contenders for his middleweight title in favor of money fights while Conor Mcgregor didn't fight at all in the octagon but rather fought a boxing fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr which put made the lightweight title dormant. Meanwhile, others have tried to get in on the fun with welterweight champion Tyron Woodley calling for fights against Georges St-Pierre and Conor Mcgregor while new bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is fixated on a fight against flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson instead of defending his newly won title and heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic was out for the last few months of 2017 due to a contract dispute. Meanwhile, the promotion has also been without the few stars they relied on in recent years with Ronda Rousey appearing to be retired while Mcgregor was doing boxing and even when they brought back some of the big names like Jon Jones & Georges St-Pierre, they didn't last long as Jones flunked another drug test while St-Pierre suffered from ulcerative colitis and vacated the middleweight title a month after winning it. The promotion also had USADA headaches that have become almost a joke with all sorts of fighters including greats like Jon Jones and Anderson Silva. UFC also has by far the worst format in MMA as shows drag six hours with endless talking between fights. It takes twenty minutes to get to the first fight on a PPV or FOX show and another twenty between the end of the co-main event and the main event. Maybe it's also me but another issue is that UFC just comes off "tired". You look at other promotions that are slowly growing and not only have great fights but great spectacles that make things come off bigger. UFC just seems like an outdated dinosaur that desperately needs fresh blood and a facelift. We still get Dana White and his antics, Joe Rogan on commentary, Bruce Buffer as ring announcer, the bare bones atmosphere, and Face the Pain as the theme. The promotion comes off so dull and desperately needs a change. They still put on good shows like anyone and have exciting fights but UFC needs to get control and try to freshen things up.