2008 Awards: Breakout Fighter of the Year

The 2008 MMA HQ MMA Awards roll on today as we look at the fighter who had a “breakout” year in 2008 and rose to international prominence.

1. Brock Lesnar - In my opinion, UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is hands-down the Breakout Fighter of 2008. After a single professional MMA fight, Lesnar joined the UFC’s ranks and fought three times in 2008. Getting off to a disappointing start to his UFC career in a submission loss to Frank Mir, Lesnar bounced back from defeat in a big way. Lesnar’s second UFC fight was against Heath Herring this past August and he dominated Herring from start to finish. Next up was UFC Hall-of-Famer and then heavyweight champion Randy Couture at UFC 91. Lesnar stayed composed in such a big fight and TKO’d the MMA icon in the second round to become the UFC heavyweight champion in only his fourth professional fight.
2. Miguel Torres - It’s somewhat ironic to call a fighter with over 35 fights to his name a “breakout” fighter in 2008, but that is exactly the case for WEB bantamweight champion Miguel Torres. Torres fought three time in 2008 ending all of his fights early via TKO or submission and continues to dominate the bantamweight division as WEC champion. Torres’ record stands at 35-1 with his sole loss coming back in 2003. Since the loss, Torres has put together an incredible 16 fight win streak and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.
3. Eddie Alvarez - Some MMA fans started keeping track of Eddie Alvarez as he worked his way through the now defunct BodogFIGHT promotion. The rest of the MMA world caught on in 2008 when Alvarez exploded in popularity working his way to through the DREAM lightweight grand prix. Alvarez won his first four fights of 2008 including victories over Joachim Hansen and Tatsuya Kawajiri and his only loss came on New Year’s Eve to Shinya Aoki in the WAMMA lightweight title fight. Alvarez spent 2008 going from being a relatively unknown fighter to a consensus top five lightweight.

Tomorrow we will hand out the award for Fight of the Year, so come on back and check it out.