Nominations for this year’s award ceremony for the most respected and valuable MMA awards have been announced.
This year’s Fighters Only MMA Awards, or 2019 Achievement Awards, were scheduled to take place on July 8, during International Fight Week in Las Vegas. However, the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic has made this impossible, and the award will take place in late summer or early autumn. The exact date and location will be announced later.
Nominations for the same have been announced today, and an interesting change was introduced precisely because of that date shift. All the fights that took place in 2019, but also in 2020 until the end of June, enter the competition. Thus, this is no longer an award only for 2019, and it is difficult to conclude what the deal will look like in this case, since half of 2020 will be included in this year’s election.
The biggest winner, that is the winner of the nominations, is certainly Weili Zhang. The Chinese woman has been nominated in as many as four different categories and it is believed that the UFC’s Strawweight category champion could reach at least one award. Among the fighters stand out Israel Adesanya and Jorge Masvidal, who were nominated in three categories. The nomination was also earned by Stipe Miocic, for the best turnaround, of course, the one from the fight against Daniel Cormier.
Below the text is a list of all nominations, and you can vote by clicking and registering at THIS link.
Charles ‘Mask’ Lewis Fighter Of The Year
Henry Cejudo
Israel Adesanya
Justin Gaethje
Jorge Masvidal
Douglas Lima
Female Fighter Of The Year
Valentina Shevchenko
Weili Zhang
Kayla Harrison
Cris Cyborg
Amanda Nunes
Breakthrough Fighter Of The Year
Weili Zhang
Alexander Volkanovski
Gilbert Burns
Jorge Masvidal
Petr Yan
International Fighter Of The Year
Weili Zhang
Kamaru Usman
Israel Adesanya
Valentina Shevchenko
Aung La N Sang
Fight Of The Year
Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (UFC 248)
Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington (UFC 245)
Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum (UFC 236)
Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker (UFC on ESPN 12)
Josh Emmett vs. Shane Burgos (UFC on ESPN 11)
Knockout Of The Year
Jorge Masvidal vs. Ben Askren (UFC 239)
Cody Garbrandt vs. Raphael Assuncao (UFC 250)
Anthony Pettis vs. Stephen Thompson (UFC on ESPN 6)
Sean O’Malley vs. Eddie Wineland (UFC 250)
Douglas Lima vs. Michael Page (Bellator 221)
Submission Of The Year
Brent Primus vs. Tim Wilde (Bellator Europe 2)
Bryce Mitchell vs. Matt Sayles (UFC on ESPN 7)
Aviv Gozali vs. Eduard Muravitsky (Bellator 225)
Demian Maia vs. Ben Askren (UFC on ESPN+ 20)
Misha Cirkunov vs. Jimmy Crute (UFC on ESPN+ 16)
Comeback Of The Year
Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier (UFC 241)
Eddie Alvarez vs. Eduard Flayang (ONE Championship 99)
Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Alistair Overeem (UFC on ESPN 7)
Peter Queally vs. Ryan Scope (Bellator Europe 4)
Cody Garbrandt (Career)
Upset Of The Year
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway (UFC 245)
Henry Corrales vs. Aaron Pico (Bellator 214)
Khama Worthy vs. Devonte Smith (UFC 241)
Kai Asakura vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (Rizin FF 18)
Timofey Nastyukhin vs. Eddie Alvarez (ONE Championship 92)
Shawn Tompkins Coach Of The Year
Eugene Bareman
Sayif Saud
Mike Brown
Trevor Wittman
Eric Albarracin
Trainer Of The Year
Andre Hicks (strength and fitness)
Sunz Singh (strength and fitness)
George Lockhart (nutrition)
Bo Sandoval (strength and fitness)
Phil Daru (strength and fitness)
Gym Of The Year
Fortis MMA
Elevation Fight Team
Sanford MMA
American Top Team
American Kickboxing Academy
Referee Of The Year
Herb Dean
Jason Herzog
Mike Beltran
Frank Trigg
Marc Goddard
Ringcard Girl Of The Year
Carly Baker
Jhenny Andrade
Louise McKie
Brittany Palmer
Mercedes Terell
Leading Man
Dana White (UFC)
Densign White (IMMAF)
Martin Lewandowski (KSW)
Nobuyuki Sakakibara (Rizin FF)
Scott Coker (Bellator)
Best Promotion
PFL
KSW
ONE Championship
Bellator
UFC
Personality Of The Year
Jon Anik
Chael Sonnen
John McCarthy
The Schmo
Joe Rogan
Analyst Of The Year
Robin Black
Michael Bisping
Paul Felder
Daniel Cormier
Dan Hardy
Best MMA Programming
Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show
JRE MMA Show
UFC Embedded
Dana White’s Contender Series
Anatomy Of A Fighter
MMA Media Source Of The Year
Sherdog
ESPN
MMA Junkie
The Mac Life
The Athletic
MMA Journalist Of The Year
John Morgan
Mike Bohn
Brett Okamoto
Ariel Helwani
Gareth Davies
Fighting Spirit Of The Year
Dustin Poirier (Good Fight Foundation)
Justin Wren (Fight for the Forgotten)
Robbie Lawler (How to take a loss)
Conor McGregor (PPE donation)
Walt Harris (Return to fighting)
