Jon Jones Wins Fighter of the Year: The 2011 World MMA Awards

The fourth annual Fighters Only 2011 World MMA Awards was in full swing as it kicked off at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nev., last night.

This was the night the world of mixed martial arts bestowed accolades upon some of the best of the best that MMA had to offer in 2011.

The phenom Jon “Bones” Jones was also in the thick of things, as were some of the industry’s most notable faces and contributors to MMA in the past year.

Let’s take a look at the nominees and winners of the 2011 World MMA Awards.

Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Shawn Tompkins

Shawn “The Coach” Tompkins was an avid mixed martial artist who passed away on Aug. 14, 2011, as a result of a sudden heart attack.

The Canadian native trained the likes of Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort, Mark “The Machine” Hominick, Chris “The Polish Hammer” Horodecki, Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva and Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout.

The Coach, who had a third-degree black belt in Shotokan, was also associated with Xtreme Couture and Tapout Training Centre, where he was an instructor before his untimely death.

Media Source of the Year

"Inside MMA" on HDNet
MMAFighting.com
"MMA Live" on ESPN
MMAjunkie.com
Sherdog.com

Winner: MMAJunkie.com

This was the fourth time in four years that MMAJunkie.com has won the award, thus putting the best of the rest in the shade.

Journalist of the Year

John Morgan
Gareth A. Davies
Josh Gross
Ariel Helwani
Ben Fowlkes

Winner: Ariel Helwani

Helwani, who works for MMAFighting.com (SB Nation) and also hosts “The MMA Hour” podcast, made it two (Journalist of the Year) awards in successive years.

Best Lifestyle Clothing

Affliction
Bad Boy
Form Athletics
RVCA
TapouT

Winner: TapouT

The TapouT brand was founded by Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr., Dan “Punkass” Caldwell in 1997 and has gone from a thousand dollar business to a multi-million dollar enterprise.

They’ve launched their own reality television series called Tapout on Versus and have also signed internet brawling sensation Kimbo Slice to their clothing line.\

They won the title in 2010 and followed suit in 2011.

Best Technical Equipment

Bad Boy
Everlast
Hayabusa
Rival
Venum

Winner: Everlast

Established in 1910, Everlast was primarily an outlet for boxing equipment, however, it can now count MMA as another combat sport associated with its brand.

Like TapouT, they’ve won this particular award in 2010 and 2011.

Best Technical Clothing

Bad Boy
Hayabusa
Jaco
Sprawl
Venum

Winner: Bad Boy

The 2010 winners made it two in a row, and continue to grow with their brand of action and combat gear in the MMA world.

Bad Boy, are also associated with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos and Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort to name a few.

Gym of the Year

Alliance MMA
Black House
Jackson's MMA
Roufusport
Xtreme Couture

Winner: Black House

The 2011 winners is home to some of the world’s best mixed martial artists—UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva, UFC featherweight champion Jose “Scarface” Aldo and former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.

Antônio “Minotauro” Rodrigo Nogueira and Antônio “Little Nog” Rogério Nogueira are also part of the Black House outfit.

Coach of the Year

Rafael Cordeiro
Eric Del Fierro
Cesar Gracie
Greg Jackson
Shawn Tompkins

Winner: Greg Jackson

Greg Jackson, the 2009 and 2010 winner is on something of a roll, beating the likes of Cesar Gracie to notch his third Coach of the Year award.

Needless to say, Jackson has a batch of fighters that could hold court with the best that the MMA world has to offer—current UFC light heavyweight king Jon “Bones” Jones and UFC welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre are just a few of his superstar students.

It should be noted, that the Coach of the Year has now been renamed “Shawn Tompkins Coach of the Year Award” in honour of the aforementioned who passed away nearly four months ago.

Personality of the Year

Bruce Buffer
Jacob "Stitch" Duran
Joe Rogan
Bas Rutten
Burt Watson

Winner: Joe Rogan

The UFC’s own color commentator took the award ahead of such MMA luminaries as Bruce Buffer and Bas Rutten.

Promotion of the Year

BAMMA
Bellator Fighting Championships
DREAM
Strikeforce
UFC

Winner: UFC

Let’s be honest, who was actually going to take this award home? BAMMA? Yeah right! Bellator, Dream and Strikeforce? No chance.

As long as the UFC reigns supreme in the MMA stratosphere, they’ll win this award every year for as long as they want to.

Leading Man of the Year

Scott Coker
Lorenzo Fertitta
Marc Ratner
Bjorn Rebney
Dana White

Winner: Dana White

Dana White deservedly took the honours as Leading Man of the Year for his tireless effort throughout the year.

Also the acquisition of Strikeforce and the UFC’s recent debut on Fox 1, I’m sure, in no small part aided his cause.

Ring Girl of the Year

Arianny Celeste
Kelli Hutcherson
Brittney Palmer
Chandella Powell
Mercedes Terrell

Winner: Arianny Celeste

After Arianny Celeste’s twitter war with host Chael Sonnen, some might say was a ruse to ensure she retained the title she’d won on three separate occasions.

Whatever it was, it worked as the UFC ring girl made it four in as many World MMA Awards events.

Entrance of the Year

Yoshihiro Akiyama (UFC 133)
Vitor Belfort (UFC 133)
Dave Herman (UFC 131)
Mark Hominick (UFC 129)
Jason "Mayhem" Miller (DREAM.16)

Winner: Jason "Mayhem" Miller

What Chael Sonnen is to MMA in regards to his motor mouth, Jason Miller is his equivalent with regards to flash brash and chicas champagne.

Miller would be more than at home in the WWE domain that’s for sure.

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year

Donald Cerrone
Daniel Cormier
Phil Davis
Demetrious Johnson
Brian Stann

Winner: Donald Cerrone

Donald Cerrone has done pretty well this year, taking out both Charles Oliveira and Denis Siver, but for my money, the award should have gone to Daniel “DC” Cormier.

DC went from nothing to something in a short time—taking the place of Alistair “The Reem” Overeem (who jumped ship to the UFC) in the Strikeforce Grand Prix, he upended Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in devastating fashion to progress to the finals where he’ll throwdown with submission specialists Josh “The Baby Faced Assassin” Barnett.

Female Fighter of the Year

Marloes Coenen
Zoila Gurgel
Sarah Kaufman
Ronda Rousey
Miesha Tate

Winner: Miesha Tate

The Strikeforce bantamweight champion has been on great form of late—she’s riding a six-fight win streak dating back to October of 2009.

Expect more of the same in 2012 from the face of women’s MMA.

Referee of the Year

Herb Dean
"Big" John McCarthy
Dan Miragliotta
Josh Rosenthal
Mario Yamasaki

Winner: Herb Dean

Over the past year, Herb Dean has been both effective and consistent with his officiating and rightly deserves the accolade.

Though, Dan Miragliotta and Mario Yamasaki would be my second and third choices respectively.

Comeback of the Year

Marloes Coenen vs. Liz Carmouche (Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson)
Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry (UFC Live 5)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (career)
Tito Ortiz (career)
Joe Warren vs. Joe Soto (Bellator 27)

Winner: Cheick Kongo

After Kongo’s improbable come-from-behind victory at UFC on Versus 4 against Pat Barry, comeback of the year is an understatement—comeback for the ages would be more befitting.

Knocked down twice and on the verge certain defeat, the Frenchman fought back to administer his own dose of punishment—knocking out Barry in exquisite fashion.

International Fighter of the Year

Michael Bisping
Alexander Gustafsson
Joachim Hansen
Alistair Overeem
Dennis Siver

Winner: Alistair Overeem

“The Demolition Man,” who recently cut ties with the now defunct Strikeforce company, is slated to throwdown with Brock Lesnar at UFC 141, in what is expected to be a title eliminator for the UFC heavyweight champion currently held by Junior Dos Santos.

Overeem’s last fight was a unanimous decision win over Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum—he’s currently riding a 10-fight win streak.

Submission of the Year

Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia (UFC Fight Night 24)
Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin (UFC 129)
Richard Hale vs. Nik Fekete (Bellator 38)
Vinny Magalhaes vs. Viktor Nemkov (M-1 Challenge 25)
Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader (UFC 132)

Winner: Chan Sung Jung

In March of this year at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis, against Leonard Garcia, the “Korean “Zombie” pulled off the first ever twister submission in UFC history.

It’s safe to say, his submission which also won the Submission of the Night honours was the deciding factor in taking the 2011 title of Submission of the year.

KO of the Year

Patricky "Pitbull" Freire vs. Toby Imada (Bellator 39)
Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry (UFC Live 5)
John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson (UFC 129)
Lyoto Machida vs. Randy Couture (UFC 129)
Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort (UFC 126)

Winner: Anderson Silva

Silva beat off close contestant and Black House training partner Lyoto Machida for the KO of the Year award...just.

After a frantic start at UFC 126, Silva landed a front kick (Steven Seagal trained) to the unsuspecting Belfort, which more or less ended proceedings.

Just over two months after Silva’s front kick knockout of “The Phenom," Machida knocked out Randy “The Natural” Couture with a revised version—jumping front kick.

Fight of the Year

Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick (UFC 129)
Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber (UFC 132)
Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard (UFC 125)
Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley (Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley)
Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann (UFC Live 3)

Winner: Edgar vs. Maynard

If the Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua fight had been held two months ago, it’s a sure-fire bet that both combatants would’ve easily walked away with Fight of the Year award.

Be that as it may, Edgar vs. Maynard’s trilogy war is a worthy winner. Though, the Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley fight could give them a run for their money.

Charles "Mask" Lewis Fighter of the Year

Dominick Cruz
Nick Diaz
Dan Henderson
Jon Jones
Anderson Silva

Winner: Jon Jones

What is to say that hasn’t already be said about the enigmatic and unorthodox phenom that is Jon “Bones” Jones?

Well, for one he’s the recipient of the 2011 Charles “Mask” Fighter of the Year award. He’s also been touted as the probably one of the best mixed martial artists of his generation.

Since he defeated Ryan “Darth” Bader at UFC 126, it’s been one-way traffic for the 24-year-old sensation—he’s dominated and systematically decimated his competition.

He first destroyed Mauricio “Shogun” Rua en-route to capturing the UFC light heavyweight crown, and then he registered Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s first stoppage loss in the UFC via rear naked choke.

Next up for “Bones” Jones is the Lyoto Machida at UFC 140, like those before, expect him to follow suit.
After that, it’s anyone’s guess—a move up to the heavyweight division?

It’s all about choices and at present, Jones has a plethora of them.

Honorary Mention

This list wouldn’t be complete without the host of the Fighters Only 2011 World MMA Awards.

I thought I’d give Uncle Chael (Sonnen) a mention as he’s done so much for the sport of MMA, in particular the UFC.

What you might add?

For one thing, his oratory skills are par excellence.

Here’s a few of his famous quotes:

"

“Anderson Silva, You Absolutely Suck!”

“If I beat you, you leave the Middleweight division. If you beat me, I'll leave the UFC forever.”

“We only had one and that was Chandella [Powell]. The other was the IQ card girl. Arianny [Celeste] kind of walks around and holds up her latest test score. One time when there was a title fight, she got all the way up to five and we were very proud of her.”

[..] “I am a gangster from America. Are you sure you wanna play that game with me? Listen Wanderlei, I will do a home invasion on you. I will cut the power to your house and the next thing you'll hear is me climbing up your stairs in a pair of night vision goggles I bought in the back of Soldier of Fortune magazine. I'll pick the lock to the master room door, take a picture of you in bed with the Nogueira brothers working on your "jiu-jitsu." I'll take said quote unquote photograph, post it at www.dorksfrombrazil.com, password - not required, username - not required. That, Wanderlei, is how you threaten someone. Dummy.”

“I want an easy fight. Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, either of the Silvas, 'Bigfoot' Silva. They all suck. Gimme a Silva.”

"

And that's all, folks.