Watch the 2011 Bazzie Award Results

This past Monday, HDNet.com broadcasted the eagerly anticipated end-of-year Bazzie Awards 2011, honouring the best that MMA (mixed martial arts) had to offer from the best fighters, submissions and best knockouts of the year.

Hosts Kenny Rice and Former UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) heavyweight champion Bas “El Guapo” Rutten, of whom the award was named after, were joined by former UFC ring card girl Natasha Wicks to hand out the most distinguished prizes for the 2011 MMA calendar year, the Bazzies.

Let’s take a look at the 2011 Bazzie Awards and some of the most astounding feats achieved by some of the most exquisite combatants on the planet.

9. Fight Team of the Year

Black House MMA is a team consisting of some of the best exponents in mixed martial arts today.

Notable Fighters:

UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva, UFC featherweight champion Jose “Scarface” Aldo, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, Antônio “Minotauro” Rodrigo Nogueira and Antônio “Little Nog” Rogério Nogueira.

Black House MMA were also the recipients of the 2011 World MMA Award for Gym of the Year and are rightly deserved of this the Bazzie Award.

If there was any other outfit that was worthy of the aforementioned prize, then it would have to be the Jackson Winkeljohn MMA gym, which is home to UFC champions welterweight Georges "Rush" St. Pierre and light heavyweight Jon "Bones" Jones.

8. Comeback of the Year

Frankie “The Answer” Edgar won his trilogy battle with Gray “The Bully” Maynard in scintillating fashion at UFC 136.

StIll, I would've picked Cheick Kongo’s improbable come-from-behind victory against Pat “Hype or Die” Barry as the Bazzie winner.

Second spot would’ve been a tie between Edgar vs. Maynard and Nick Diaz vs. Paul “Semtex” Daley.

Still, congratulations are definitely in order for Edgar.

7. Breakthrough Fighter of the Year

Strikeforce heavyweight and NCAA Division I standout Daniel “DC” Cormier had his name engraved in the Bazzie Award from the get go.

His demolition of Antonio “Big Foot” Silva in the semifinals of the Strikeforce World Grand Prix has raised his stock to no end.

Next up for the rising MMA star is Josh “Warmaster” Barnett in the SWGP final.

Win or lose, the UFC beckons for the highly talented, AKA trained, fighter.

6. Female Fighter of the Year

With both Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Strikeforce bantamweight champion Meisha “Takedown” Tate only making one appearance this year, Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey is worthy of the honor of Female Fighter of the Year.

Rousey made her professional MMA debut in March of 2011 and is 4-0 in all competitions, all coming by way of submission.

As an amateur, she has a record of three submissions in as many fights.

Worthy of note is the fact that the seven wins all came by way of armbar submission.

It’s safe to say that subs are her forte.

5. KO Kick of the Year

I’m sure Anderson “The Spider” Silva won this award due to the fact that not only is he the UFC middleweight champion, but because he also has the moniker of No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world attached to his name.

Still, it was a great front kick to upend Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort.

Others that could’ve easily taken the award home are Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida’s flying front kick to dispatch Randy “The Natural” Couture at UFC 129 and Dan “Drago” Spohn’s first-round, nine-second knee knockout of Dane Bonnigson at Bellator FC 51

Nonetheless, with five nominations and three flying knee KOs to their name, the Bellator Fighting Championships have shown that they’re a force to be reckoned with, apropos amazing knockouts.

4. KO Punch of the Year

Cheick Kongo missed out on the Bazzie Comeback of the Year award, but he couldn’t be denied in this category.

What seemed like a foregone conclusion with regards to Kongo’s demise at the fists of Pat “Hype or Die” Barry, suddenly turned in favor of the Frenchman—Kongo arose from the depths of certain defeat to unleash a do-or-die punch to put Barry to sleep.

3. Bazzie Awards 2011: Submission of the Year

Jung “The Korean Zombie” Chan-Sung successfully executed the first ever twister submission in the UFC against Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis.

Needless to say, that submission also won him Submission of the Year at the 2011 World MMA Awards.

On the other hand, Pat “Paddy Mike” Curran’s Peruvian necktie submission of Luis “Baboon” Palomino at Bellator 46 is a worthy contender and thus deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Jung’s twister.

I can’t fault the judges on this one.

2. Fight of the Year

No disrespect to the other contenders, but Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan “Hendo” Henderson was rightly named Bazzie Fight of the Year.

In a back-and-forth matchup at UFC 139, and with both combatants on the brink of defeat, they somehow were able to conjure up that innate ability (that only a few warriors possess) to prevail against all odds, it was that inborn warrior that got them through the fight.

And even though Henderson was declared the winner at the end of the night’s proceedings, Shogun was not far behind, as they were both guilty of  wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Hell, it was emblazoned on their psyche that night.

1. Fighter of the Year

Jon “Bones” Jones recently won the Charles “Mask” Lewis Fighter of the Year at the 2011 World MMA Awards.

Adding the Bazzie to his collection is just the icing on the cake for what has been an astonishing and exemplary year for the young phenom.

Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva, et al. were never going to be in the running, as Bone Jones has had the whole of MMA and the UFC on lockdown with his subliminal performances all year-around.

At UFC 126, he easily eliminated the not-so-threatening Ryan “Darth” Bader, to book his place as the No. 1 contender to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s UFC light heavyweight title.

Bones went on to destroy Shogun en route to capturing UFC gold.

He followed that up with two successful title defenses against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida—defeating both via submission.

This year alone, Jones has had four winning fights, upending a champion and two former UFC light heavyweight titlists.

What more is there to be said about the phenom that is Jones?

Great 2011, see ya in 2012.

For more information, follow Nedu Obi on Twitter.