Ho-hum World MMA Awards

No real surprises at yesterday’s Fighters Only World MMA Awards. UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre picks up Fighter of the Year, beating out Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, Mike Brown and Brock Lesnar.

Good call. GSP went 2-0 in dominant fashion. Machida also went 2-0, including a title win, but his chances were likely squashed by his “win in name only” against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua even thought that fight fell outside the September-to-September judging period. Silva’s Matrix performance against Forrest Griffin couldn’t erase the memory of the flop-fest that was the Thales Leites fight. Brown went 3-0, including winning the WEC featherweight title and defending it twice, but he lost the belt to Jose Aldo in November (again, outside the judging year but still, this award should go to a fighter still at the top of their game, or so the thinking likely goes). And then there’s Brock Lesnar. He’s just too new to the sport and too disliked by fans to give him Fighter of the Year, especially when GSP can put a polite, pretty face on the event.

Of course, that didn’t stop Lesnar from winning the Breakthrough Fighter award over Shane Carwin, Dan Hardy, Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez. Can’t argue with that – he’s the UFC heavyweight champ, after all.

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos took home Female Fighter of the Year over Gina Carano, Megumi Fujii, Sarah Kaufman and Rosi Sexton. It’s another choice that’s hard to argue with, although I’d hedge that Kaufman would’ve been a fair – of lesser-known – choice. She won three fights in 57 days to start the year but has been waiting for Strikeforce to gets its act together and get her another bout ever since.

I could care less about the different gear-related categories, which probably exist only to bring in sponsors, but I find it very strange that there’s a European Fighter of the Year category yet no Brazilian or Japanese category.

Here are the rest of the nominees and winners:

Gym of the Year
Nominees: American Top Team, Black House MMA, Xtreme Couture, Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting, Wolfslair
Winner: Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting

Coach of the Year
Nominees: Mark Dellagrotte, Greg Jackson, Ricardo Liborio, Greg Nelson, Shawn Tompkins
Winner: Greg Jackson

KO of the Year
Nominees: Rashad Evans vs. Chuck Liddell at UFC 88, Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping at UFC 100, Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans at UFC 98, Nate Marquart vs. Demian Maia at UFC 102, Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin at UFC 101
Winner: Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping at UFC 100

Submission of the Year
Nominees: B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian at UFC 101, Terry Etim vs. Justin Buchholz at UFC 99, Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory at UFC 91, Toby Imada vs. Jorge Masvidal at Bellator 5, Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen at UFC 95
Winner: Toby Imada vs. Jorge Masvidal at Bellator 5

European Fighter of the Year
Nominees: Mike Bisping, Fedor Emelianenko, Terry Etim, Dan Hardy, Gegard Mousasi
Winner: Gegard Mousasi

Fight of the Year
Nominees: Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber at WEC 41, Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale, Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99, Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir at UFC 100, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Randy Couture at UFC 102
Winner: Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale

Best Promotion
Nominees: UFC, Strikeforce, DREAM, WEC, Bellator
Winner: UFC

Leading Man of the Year
Nominees: Dana White, UFC president; Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC CEO; Scott Coker, Strikeforce founder and CEO; Charles “Mask” Lewis, TapouT co-founder; Joe Silva, UFC VP of talent relations
Winner: Dana White, UFC president

Ring Girl of the Year
Nominees: Arianny Celeste, Edith LaBelle, Holly Madison, Natasha Wicks
Logan Stanton
Winner: Arianny Celeste

Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner: Charles “Mask” Lewis

Best MMA Gloves Manufacturer
Nominees: Everlast MMA, Fairtex, Hayabusa, Triumph United, UFC
Winner: UFC

Best MMA Shorts Manufacturer
Nominees: ADX, Hayabusa, Sprawl, Tapout, Warrior
Winner: TapouT

Best MMA Clothing Manufacturer
Nominees: Affliction, One More Round, Silverstar, TapouT, Toe2Toe
Winner: TapouT

Best MMA Brand
Nominees: Bad Boy, Hayabusa, Silverstar, TapouT, UFC
Winner: TapouT

Best Media Source
Nominees: MMAjunkie.com, “Inside MMA” on HDNet, “MMA Connected” on Sportsnet, MMAWeekly.com, Sherdog.com
Winner: MMAjunkie.com

Best MMA Journalist
Nominees: John Morgan, MMAjunkie.com/Dallas Morning News; Gareth A. Davies, Telegraph.com; Joe Ferraro, MMA Connected; Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports; Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports/Wrestling Observer
Winner: John Morgan, MMAjunkie.com/Dallas Morning News