Israel Adesanya bags the male fighter of the year at the 12th World MMA Awards
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“The Last Stylebender” Israel Adesanya bagged the male fighter of the year award at the 12th World MMA Awards. The voting began, way back in 2019 January and closed only during July this year – COVID-19 did its thing! The award ceremony took place on the 27th of December (yesterday) with votes exclusively coming only from the MMA community.
On a night, where a plethora of awards were given, the Nigerian-born-New Zealander won the most notable award, after a fantastic 2019 and 2020, that saw him beat the likes of Anderson Silva, Kelvin Gastelum; beat Robert Whittaker for the middleweight title and then defending it twice in 2020, against Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. Adding to that he also won the International fighter of the year award.
UFC’s complete domination!
Other awards that were handed out are as follows:
- Male Fighter of the Year: Israel Adesanya
- International Fighter of the Year: Israel Adesanya
- Female Fighter of the Year: Amanda Nunes
- Fight of the Year: Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
- Upset of the Year: Alexander Volkanovski defeating Max Holloway
- Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Jorge Masvidal
- KO of the Year: Jorge Masvidal’s 5-second KO of Ben Askren
- Submission of the Year: Demian Maia submitting Ben Askren (Ben twice, on the wrong side!)
- Comeback of the Year: Stipe Miocic defeating Daniel Cormier
- Media Source of the Year: ESPN
- MMA Journalist of the Year: Ariel Helwani
- Refere of the Year: Herb Dean
- MMA Personality of the Year: Joe Rogan
- Best MMA Programming of the Year: The Joe Rogan Experience
- Coach of the Year: Trevor Wittman (Justin Gaethje’s coach)
- Trainer of the Year: Phil Daru
- Gym of the Year: American Top Team
- Fighting Spirit of the Year: Dustin Poirier for his Good Fight Foundation
- Leading Man of the Year: Dana White
- Promotion of the Year: UFC
Amanda Nunes deservedly won the female fighter of the year award. The fight of the year was a no-brainer and poor Ben Askren was featured on the receiving end twice. The awards were mostly dominated by MMA’s biggest promotion – UFC.
Will the Izzy show continue?
Israel Adesanya is most likely to move to the light-heavyweight division next, where he will be fighting for the light-heavyweight title against newly crowned champion Jan Blachowicz. Having conquered the middleweight division to the fullest, a move up is the best way ahead, for the undefeated mixed martial artist.
Do you think the Israel Adesanya juggernaut will continue? Can he grab the fighter of the year award again?
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Gerard Crispin
(3318 Articles Published)