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

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

This installment will focus on the UFC Underachiever of the Year, which will be handed out to the fighter who has had the most disappointing year 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 underachievers from the first half of 2011.

5. Willamy Freire

After winning 11 consecutive fights and defending the Shooto Welterweight Championship, 23-year-old Willamy Freire was signed by the UFC as a very promising prospect.

Freire, who had a win over Patricky Freire during his undefeated streak, trained with some of the best in the world at Nova Uniao and was expected to make noise in the UFC's lightweight division. 

However, Willamy was defeated by Waylon Lowe in his UFC debut and subsequently released from the organization.

4. Chris Lytle

After winning all three of his fights in 2010, Chris Lytle was looking to make a late-career run at a welterweight title shot.

Initially, Lytle was scheduled to meet Carlos Condit at UFC 127. However, an injury forced Condit out of that fight, which allowed UFC newcomer Brian Ebersole to step in to fight Lytle.

Despite being heavily favored against the 30-year-old journeyman, Lytle was confused by Ebersole's unorthodox attack and suffered a loss in a unanimous decision.

3. Ryan Bader

After a strong year in 2010, which saw him defeat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Keith Jardine, Ryan Bader was widely considered as one of the brightest young fighters in the light heavyweight division.

At UFC 126, Bader met a fellow rising star in Jon Jones. While it's hard to fault Bader for losing to Jones after seeing how easily the eventual champion dethroned Mauricio Rua, many expected Bader to put up much more of a fight than he did.

Recently, Bader was given a chance to bounce back from his loss to Jones with a fight against a fading Tito Ortiz. Although he was expected to handle Ortiz with ease, Bader was rocked and submitted in the first round.

2. George Sotiropoulos

In 2010, George Sotiropoulos became one of the top contenders in the lightweight division by defeating Joe Stevenson, Kurt Pellegrino and Joe Lauzon.

While many believed Sotiropoulos was deserving of a title shot, he was given a perceived step in the opposite direction with a fight against Dennis Siver at UFC 127. Still, Siver was able to stuff Sotiropoulos' attempts to take the fight to the ground en route to pulling off an upset.

Then, at UFC 132, Sotiropoulos faced Rafael dos Anjos, who was expected to be a sacrificial opponent of sorts to get the Australian back on track. On the contrary, dos Anjos scored one of the msot brutal knockouts of the year with a looping hook to the chin of Sotiropoulos.

1. Josh Grispi

Josh Grispi had originally been scheduled to fight for the UFC Featherweight Championship at the beginning of 2011. However, an injury forced Jose Aldo out of that title fight, and Grispi was given a fight with Dustin Poirier.

Grispi, who had been considered one of the brightest fighters in the featherweight division, was completely dominated by Poirier for three rounds.

After that setback, Grispi was given a winnable fight against George Roop. However, Grispi was once again bulldozed and was finished by a body shot in the third round.

Now, Grispi could very well be fighting for his job in a fight against Matt Grice at UFC 136.

Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. Sean has also had his work featured on UFC.com. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSmithMMA.