End of year awards

TimRiggins

Seen that the MMA hour are doing theres tonight. Took the categories off them. What does everyone think?

Male fighter - Robbie Lawlor - I know he lost to Big Rigg, but to come back with two wins and then to beat Johnny deserves alot of credit. Went from fight camp to fight camp and finally top the strap. What a year for him and what a story.

Fight - Matt Brown v Erick Silva, what a war that was. Love Matt Brown and thought his fight against Lawlor was incredible as well.

Round - Hendricks v Lawlor II Round 5 - The intensity, the will to win and two men throwing in a round 5 showdown for the second time. Robbie just kicked into life in the last 2 minutes and that won the fight for him.

Event - UFC Fight Night 46: McGregor v Brandao first time seeing a UFC event live and what a night it was. Incredible experience.

Walkout - McGregor v Brandao. The place went nuts.

Knockout - Cowboy Cerrone v Martins, nothing like a highlight reel head kick.

Submission - Ovince St Preux v Krylov. Never really seen anything like that before from St Preux. Countering a Guilltoine with a Von Flue choke

Prospect - Joe Duffy. Because he's Irish and I really think he has all the tools to do very very well in the UFC if he gets the chance.

Most improved - Yoel Romero. Knew he had the wrestling pedigree but his all round game is excellent now.

Comeback - Pendred v Mike King. Could have been stopped in the first round to be fair.

Upset - TJ Dillashaw beating Renan Barao

Coach - John Kavanagh. First time going into a new year where we can honestly say we'll see alot of Irish and mostly SBG fighters in the UFC in 2015.

Gym - American Top Team. Finally got that world title that so badly craved. Amount of UFC fighters they have is staggering, and they'll have another world title in 2015 imo.

Story - I know he beat Paddy Holohan, but Chris Keldas buying tickets for the event and less then a week stepping in to beat Paddy was special imo.

Moment - Lawlor getting the decision against Hendricks.

Story to watch in 2015 - I'm looking forward to seeing how the Bantamweight title will end up. Dillashaw, Cruz, Faber and Barao to throw up some great fights in 2015.

Fighter of the year for 2015 - Conor McGregor, was only going to ever be one answer really.

Mellor

I'll throw up my full answers later. Agree with a lot of yours.
But had a bit of a smirk at this one.

TimRiggins wrote: »

Submission - [/B]Ovince St Preux v Krylov. Never really seen anything like that before from St Preux. Countering a Guilltoine with a Von Flue choke

The clue is in the name

Wrongway1985

Male fighter Donald Cerrone

WMMA fighter Carla Esparza drops Invicta belt to take part in TUF wins the competition and becomes first Strawweight champ

Fight Lawler v Hendricks 1

Round UFC178 Romero V Kennedy R3, This could in fact make Fight or Story too even but I'll leave it here.....Kennedy almost takes out Romero at the end of round 2, Romero delays getting off stool Kennedy can be seen moaning about what he is doing, Romero eventually gets up comes back and KO's Kennedy in R3!!

Event UFC181/UFC Dublin

Walkout Conor McGregor in Dublin

Knockout Hunt walkaway KO to Roy Nelson/Samman headkick v Gordon

Submission OSP v Krylov

Prospect Kelvin Gastelum

Most improved Al Iaquinta/Dos Anjos

Comeback In a fight Cathal Pendred v Mike King

Comeback Dominic Cruz

Upset TJ Dillashaw dispatching Barao/ Tiburcio taps out Waterson

Coach Bang Ludwig

Gym Team ATT

Story Robbie Lawler

Moment The Irish clean sweep at UFC Dublin!!

Story to watch in 2015 See if a stadium show in Dublin transpires, The failure/success of 0-0 fighter CM Punk

Fighter of the year for 2015 Conor Mcregor /Khabib Nurmagomedov

p to the e

Male fighter - Would probably agree with Robbie Lawler after his stunning year but just to throw the cat amongst the pigeons I have to say Donald Cerrone. Successful in four out of four fights in 2014, three of which get him "...of the night" bonuses, all against tough opponents. 2014 gave him the scalps of Edson Barboza, Adriano Martins, Jim Miller and Eddie Alvarez. His next fight is just outside 2014 (January 3rd) which could possibly earn him a title shot.

Fight - Matt Brown v Erick Silva. There was a few wars this year but this one stands out for me as the craziest.

Round - Rd 1 of Dillashaw vs. Barao. Dillashaw did the impossible and shook the champ in this vicious opening round.

Event - UFC Fight Night 46: McGregor v Brandao. Hard to see this being beat.

Knockout - Mark Hunt doing the business on Roy Nelson's chin. Close second has to be Werdum KOing Hunt.

Submission - The only submission I reviewed, tried and tweaked (and still do) repeatedly from the moment I watched it is Mitch Clarke's D'Arce choke on Al Iaquinta. Next to that has to be Ben Saunders showing the world the use of the omoplata.

Prospect - Michael Page will be big for Bellator in 2015.

Most improved - Werdum went from being a purely Jiu Jitsu guy to an all round MMA fighter. Rafael Cordeira did wonders with Werdum's striking over the last few years but his improvements were fully show cased this year.

Comeback - After a layoff of three years Dominick Cruz returned to show everyone why he was the king of Bantamweight for so long.

Upset - Will Brooks beating Michael Chandler to claim the Bellator lightweight title. Nobody told him he was supposed to lose.

Story - Cat Zingano and her comeback

Moment - Hunt KOing Nelson and walking off was a pretty spectacular moment.

Story to watch in 2015 - There's a few here that could be viable: MMA gloves to counter eye pokes, Bellator vs. UFC in the viewer rankings, Palhares physically tearing legs from their bodies , fighter backlash over with new uniform deal,

Fighter of the year for 2015 - I think Cruz will dominate the Bantamweight division again

ASOT

Male fighter - Going completely against the grain here and going to say Rumble Johsnon, Brutal KO of Mike Kyle got him back into the UFC were he absolutely destroyed Phil Davis who was #3 at the time, nearly ended Nogs life with a brutal KO & has pushed himself into title contention. Obviously could stick Cerrone/Lawler in here but wanted to be different.

Fight - Lawler vs. Brown I

Round - TJ Round 1 v Barao basically set him up to win the fight, I wrote him off completely but man that was one of the best rounds iv ever seen.

Event - UFC Fight Night 46: McGregor v Brandao wont be beaten for sheer atmosphere.

Walkout - McGregor v Brandao. My favourite walk out song, beautiful mix.

Knockout - Toss up between Hunts ko on Nelson or Rumbles KO on Nog, I know im showing some major love for Johnson but those uppercuts were scary viewing, think he landed 15 unaswered strikes on Nog including an uppercut while he dropped him. Could have easily added in either of Samman head kick or Beals flying knee.

Submission - Joseph Benavidez locking in a mounted guilotine and making Elliot tap with his feet was amazing.

Prospect - Myles Jury, if i can still call him a prospect? Has serious skills. Big test v Cerrone though.

Most improved - Cerrone, going 2-2 in 2013 to 4-0 against top opposition in 2014 was magical to watch!

Comeback - Cruz after his layoff and getting a finish was just magical, also Samman after all the stuff he went through!

Upset - TJ beating Renan

Coach - Bang Ludwig/John Kavanagh

Gym - Team Alpha Male, what a year it was for them, amazing work out of all the fighters even Danny Castilo got a win or two.

Moment - Conor koing DP, I flew to Ibiza 3 hours later it kick started my holiday tremendously.

Fighter of the year for 2015 - Khabib Nurmagomedov, 2015 will be his year imo.

MagicIRL

Male fighter - Robbie Lawlor. Chap's been around for donkey's years and finally got his prize. Seems like a nice dude, too.

Fight - Matt Brown v Erick Silva. I absolutely love The Immortal and that was an absolute war!

Round - Poirier v McGregor, Round #1 - After all the build up, Conor's hasn't fought this, he hasn't fought that, he hasn't fought a top ranked opponent, he comes out and embarrasses Dustin in the stand-up exchange putting him away in the first round.

Event - UFC Fight Night 46: McGregor v Brandao. As above, it was my first live UFC event and I don't think it'll ever be beaten.

Walkout - McGregor v Brandao. The place went nuts.

Knockout - Joe Duffy's (recent) knee KO against Julien Boussuge at Cage Warriors 74. I thought he'd killed him, he hit him that hard. A side note; I expect to see Joe Duffy sign for the UFC in 2015.

Submission - Ovince St Preux v Krylov. I'd never even heard of a Von Flue choke until OSP pulled it off. Incredible.

Prospect - Joe Duffy. I've seen him fight live back in the Helix this year, and then his sensational CW74 KO (as above) means I reckon he'll be in the UFC sooner rather than later.

Most improved - Kelvin Gastelum. Everytime he fights he seems to be better than before.

Comeback - Pendred v Mike King. To get back up after that beating, and then to choke your opponent out is one thing, but to find out your opponent was also juicing, makes it so much sweeter.

Upset - TJ Dillashaw beating Renan Barao. Going to stick with this one. That was incredible watching.

Coach - John Kavanagh. What he's done with SBG, all the years of hard work to become an overnight success. More power to him.

Gym - SBG Ireland. SBG Ireland might not have a belt yet, but to drag to UFC back to Ireland, and have five fighters, all home-grown, fighting under the UFC banner is incredible.

Story - Aisling Daly finally making it to the UFC after 10-odd years of hard graft at the forefront of women's MMA.

Moment - For me, personally, it was hearing Baba O'Reilly burst out during UFC Dublin.

Story to watch in 2015 - There's a few. Will Dominic Cruz regain control over his division? I say yes. Will Petis retain the LW belt with Khabib Nurmagomedov breathing down his neck.

Fighter of the year for 2015 - Conor McGregor. Will he bring home a belt in 2015? I'm saying yes.

Hoki

Male fighter - Suppose it has to Robbie Lawler, notable mention for TJ & Luke Rockhold who both had fantastic years as well.

Fight - Aldo vs Mendes , great fight with McGregor sat cageside waiting to take on the winner ( as long as Aldo won! )

Round - Varner v Trujillo - Varner had Abel in all kinds of trouble and was so close to finishing him before Trujillo landed a haymaker Ko from nowhere.

Event - Has to be Fight Night in Dublin

Walkout - Mcgregor walking out for his first fight in Vegas against Poirier.

Knockout - Chris Beal's flying knee on Patrick Williams at UFC 172.

Submission - Surely there can only be one winner here ? Ben Saunders omaplata against Chris Heatherly , unreal.

Prospect - Brandon Thatch - hasn't fought all year but is scheduled to fight Wonderboy Thompson in February, i think he will soar up the Welterweight rankings next year.

Most improved - Al Iaquinta (apart from losing to Mitch Clarke when he got caught with a choke having been in control of the fight ) has looked great this year culminating in his fantastic win against Ross Pearson . Surely a Top 10 fighter is next for him .

Comeback - Pendred

Upset - TJ vs Barao , no one saw that coming.

Coach - Rafa Cordeiro

Gym - ATT

Story - torn between Robbie winning the belt & TJ winning the belt

Moment - Dominick Cruz coming back from 3 years of hell to destroy Mizugaki.

Story to watch in 2015 - The amount of times the belts will swap hands in different weight classes. Gonna be the year of the challenger!

Fighter of the year for 2015 - 1.Conor McGregor 2.Brandon Thatch