2011 Mid-Year UFC Awards: Top 5 Quotes of the Year

After a long stretch of major MMA events ended with UFC 132, we are now mid-way through the calender year. As we wait for the MMA schedule to pick back up, Bleacher Report will be taking a look at several different mid-year awards.

We begin with the UFC Quote of the Year, which will be handed out to the individual who utters the most controversial, hilarious or meaningful words in 2011. Already, there have been plenty of options for the award, but we had to narrow it down to five nominees.

Here are the top five UFC quotes from the first half of 2011.

5. Chris Leben

"I went out and ate a bunch of candy after I made weight."

After his loss to Brian Stann at UFC 125, word leaked out from Chris Leben's camp that "The Crippler" had been sick heading into the fight. Originally, the news was left at that.

However, Leben was able to shed some light on the whole situation during a pre-fight conference call for his UFC 132 with Wanderlei Silva. Apparently, Leben decided to skip the post-weigh-in and head straight for the Swedish Fish and Skittles.

4. Jacob Volkmann

"Someone's got to knock some sense into that idiot."

After defeating Antonio McKee at UFC 125, Jacob Volkmann stepped aside for an interview with MMAFighting's Ariel Helwani. When asked who he would like to fight next, Volkmann changed his initial answer of Clay Guida to United States President Barack Obama.

Volkmann went as far as calling the President an 'idiot.' The Secret Service did not take kindly to Volkmann's words and decided to pay the fighter a visit at his place of work, where he is a high school wrestling coach.

3. Pat Barry

"He has been kneeing a lot of guys in the groin, a lot of testicle shots and all that. But the upside to that for me is, I only have one and it's really little. It hasn't even dropped yet, so there."

Cheick Kongo has a habit of kneeing his opponents in the groin frequently, a habit that happens so regularly that some have even questioned whether the strikes were intentional.

Heading into his fight with Kongo at UFC on Versus 4, Pat Barry explained that groin shots wouldn't be a problem for him in this humorous quote.

2. Dana White

"I'm sure you heard that Nate Marquardt is out. It's true. He failed his medicals. Not only is he out of this fight, out of the main event on Versus, he will no longer be with the UFC."

Only minutes before he was about to step on the scale at the UFC on Versus 4 Weigh-Ins, Nate Marquardt failed a medical examination and was removed from his main event fight with Rick Story.

Extremely upset with the situation, UFC President Dana White decided to release Marquardt from the UFC with this video he posted on Twitter immediately following the weigh-ins.

Later, it was discovered that Marquardt's failed medical test was due to increased levels of testosterone in his system, which was caused by prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. 

1. Randy Couture

"I think I had all my teeth the last time we had this discussion."

Heading into UFC 129, Randy Couture had made it clear that—win or lose—he planned on retiring after his bout with Lyoto Machida.

Early in the second round, Machida landed clean with a jumping front kick, which dislodged one of Couture's teeth and sent the MMA legend to the canvas.

In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Couture made it clear once again that it would be his final appearance in the Octagon. 

Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter here.