2011 World MMA Awards: Jon Jones voted Fighter of the Year
Posted on December 1, 2011, 12:49 PM by Joey Santosus
The 2011 World MMA Awards went down last night from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fourth annual ceremony, which was organized by Fighters Only Magazine and hosted by UFC Middleweight Chael Sonnen, alongside CBS Sports' Molly Qerim, revealed winners in 22 different categories.
Among those honored were UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon "Bones" Jones, who was voted the Charles "Mask" Lewis Fighter of the Year, as well as the late Shawn Tompkins, nominated for a Special Lifetime Achievement award.
The Complete 2011 World MMA Award winners are as follows:
• International Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Michael Bisping, Alexander Gustafsson, Joachim Hansen, Alistair Overeem and Dennis Siver
Winner: Alistair Overeem
• Gym of the Year
Nominees: Alliance MMA, Black House, Jackson's MMA, Roufusport and Xtreme Couture
Winner: Black House
• Referee of the Year
Nominees: Herb Dean, "Big" John McCarthy, Dan Miragliotta, Josh Rosenthal and Mario Yamasaki
Winner: Herb Dean
• Comeback of the Year
Nominees: Marloes Coenen vs. Liz Carmouche at "Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson," Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry at UFC Live 5, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (career), Tito Ortiz (career) and Joe Warren vs. Joe Soto at Bellator 27
Winner: Cheick Kongo
• Best Technical Equipment
Nominees: Bad Boy, Everlast, Hayabusa, Rival and Venum
Winner: Everlast
• MMA Journalist of the Year
Nominees: John Morgan, Gareth A. Davies, Josh Gross, Ariel Helwani and Ben Fowlkes
Winner: Ariel Helwani
• Coach of the Year
Nominees: Rafael Cordeiro, Eric Del Fierro, Cesar Gracie, Greg Jackson and Shawn Tompkins
Winner: Greg Jackson
• Best Lifestyle Clothing
Nominees: Affliction, Bad Boy, Form Athletics, RVCA and TapouT
Winner: TapouT
• Promotion of the Year
Nominees: BAMMA, Bellator Fighting Championships, DREAM, Strikeforce and UFC
Winner: UFC
• Media Source of the Year
Nominees: "Inside MMA" on HDNet, MMAFighting.com, "MMA Live" on ESPN, MMAjunkie.com and Sherdog.com
Winner: MMAjunkie.com
• Best Technical Clothing
Nominees: Bad Boy, Hayabusa, Jaco, Sprawl and Venum
Winner: Bad Boy
• MMA Personality of the Year
Nominees: Bruce Buffer, Jacob "Stitch" Duran, Joe Rogan, Bas Rutten and Burt Watson
Winner: Joe Rogan
• Female Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Marloes Coenen, Zoila Gurgel, Sarah Kaufman, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate
Winner: Miesha Tate
• Ring Entrance of the Year
Nominees: Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133, Vitor Belfort at UFC 133, Dave Herman at UFC 131, Mark Hominick at UFC 129 and Jason "Mayhem" Miller at DREAM.16
Winner: Jason "Mayhem" Miller
• Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Donald Cerrone, Daniel Cormier, Phil Davis, Demetrious Johnson and Brian Stann
Winner: Donald Cerrone
• Submission of the Year
Nominees: Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia at UFC Fight Night 24, Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin at UFC 129, Richard Hale vs. Nik Fekete at Bellator 38, Vinny Magalhaes vs. Viktor Nemkov at M-1 Challenge 25, and Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader at UFC 132
Winner: Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia at UFC Fight Night 24
• Ring Girl of the Year
Nominees: Arianny Celeste, Kelli Hutcherson, Brittney Palmer, Chandella Powell and Mercedes Terrell
Winner: Arianny Celeste
• Leading Man of the Year
Nominees: Scott Coker, Lorenzo Fertitta, Marc Ratner, Bjorn Rebney and Dana White
Winner: Dana White
• Knockout of the Year
Nominees: Patricky "Pitbull" Freire vs. Toby Imada at Bellator 39, Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry at UFC Live 5, John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson at UFC 129, Lyoto Machida vs. Randy Couture at UFC 129, and Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 126
Winner: Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 126
• Fight of the Year
Nominees: Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick at UFC 129, Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber at UFC 132, Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard at UFC 125, Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley at "Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley," and Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann at UFC Live 3
Winner: Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard at UFC 125
• Charles "Mask" Lewis Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Dominick Cruz, Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva
Winner: Jon Jones
Comments
Hey, its his Destiny
Fighter of the year could have gone to Hendo, Anderson or Jones and I would have been fine with it, all 3 of those guys have done amazing stuff this year but Jones being the youngest champ in UFC history and stopping Bader, Shogun n Rampage is just amazing, good for him that he won. Also, glad to see Cerrone win hes fought some insane number of times this yr and seeing that Hendo/Shogun was too late to be nominated then y wasnt Bendo vs Pettis an option that was a sick fight
I agree Ninja with Cerrone, im glad he was recognized for something.
Dont think spider deserves fight of the year, cos he has only been in 2 fights this year
I HATE JON JONES!!
though you cant argue with jones getting this award, geees hendo must have been close. for a natural middleweight beating some of the best LHW in the world along with the best HW who ever lived at heavyweight. unlucky
Mercedes Tyrell is hotter than Arianny.
Fair to Jones...2012 was his year...well....at least for another week. ; )
We all here running our mouths and Lowkick wasn't even nominated for "Media Source of the Year"???:-( WTF?!?!
ref of the year should be Dan Miragliotta after not stopping the kongo - barry fight imo
Not stopping Maynard - Edgar was far better.