MMABay’s 2011 End of Year Awards – Fighter of the Year
As 2011 begins to ebb away and 2012 draws ever closer, we pause for a moment to look back at what went down over the past twelve months and hand out a few awards, concluding with “Fighter of the Year”…
And the winner is… Jon Jones
What is left to say about the UFC light heavyweight champion? Personally I think “pound for pound” he is the true best fighter on the planet due to his tricky stand-up style, size, strength, dominating wrestling and a submission game to match. Do you really think Anderson Silva could stop his takedowns and survive the kind of onslaught Jones puts on his opponents from the top position? The year started with a battle of young contenders as he took on Ryan Bader at UFC 126. Jones dominated “The Ultimate Fighter” winner from start to finish and eventually submitted him in the second round. He was handed a title shot six weeks later due to injuries throughout the 205 pound division and promptly dominated then champion, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for three rounds before finishing him off with a varied striking arsenal the Brazilian would have been proud of. On to September and former champion, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was his first title challenger and to be honest it was a walk in the park for “Bones”. He kept Jackson at distance and picked him apart, finally taking him down and submitting him in the fourth round with a rear-naked choke. December rolled around and the fourth time Jones would compete in a packed 2011 and this time it was the tricky Karate master, Lyoto Machida. Jones did get tagged in the first round but when he decided it was time to up his game he did so, taking “The Dragon” down, splitting his head open with an elbow before choking him out with a standing guillotine choke. Trust me… believe the hype…
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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