In 2017, MMA didn’t get the service of any of their superstars. The aura of commanding a particular crowd, promoting a fight and backing it up with outstanding performances make huge impacts inevitable.
Jon Jones did make his much anticipated return only to be suspended again, Conor McGregor shifted his focus towards boxing for a while, Brock Lesnar continuing with his WWE contract and Ronda Rousey signed with the WWE. However, missing their service didn’t led to any downfall of phenomenal performances delivered by other fighters.
The World MMA Awards are awards presented by Fighter’s Only magazine to honor exceptional performance in various aspects of MMA. Winners are presented with the Fighters Only silver statuette. The awards will be held on July 3 at the Pearl Theater at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
The 2018 World MMA Awards nominees are below:
Charles “Mask” Lewis Fighter of the Year
Ryan Bader
Rafael dos Anjos
Robert Whittaker
Demetrious Johnson
Max Holloway
Female Fighter of the Year
Julia Budd
Angela Lee
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane
Cris Cyborg
Rose Namajunas
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
Martin Nguyen
Volkan Oezdemir
Brian Ortega
Francis Ngannou
Darren Till
International Fighter of the Year
Volkan Oezdemir
Martin Nguyen
Darren Till
Robert Whittaker
Kamaru Usman
Fight of the Year
Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 211
Rober Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero at UFC 213
Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Johnson at TUF 25 Finale
Aung La N Sang vs. Vitaly Bigdash at ONE Championship 56
Eddie Alvarez vs. Justin Gaethje at UFC 218
Knockout of the Year
Matt Brown vs. Diego Sanchez at UFC Fight Night 120
Edson Barboza vs. Beneil Dariush at UFC Fight Night 106
Paul Daley vs. Brennan Ward at Bellator 170
Francis Ngannou vs. Alistair Overeem at UFC 218
Aaron Pico vs. Justin Linn at Bellator 183
Submission of the Year
Diego Brandao vs. Murad Machaev at Fight Nights Global 58
Brett Johns vs. Joe Soto at TUF 26 Finale
Ali Bagov vs. Bubba Jenkins at ACB 54
Brian Ortega vs. Cub Swanson at UFC Fight Night 123
Demetrious Johnson vs. Ray Borg at UFC 216
Comeback of the Year
Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Johnson at TUF 25 Finale
Uriah Hall vs. Kryztov Jotko at UFC Fight Night 116
Nathaniel Wood vs. Josh Reed at Cage Warriors 86
Darren Elkins vs. Mirsad Bektic at UFC 209
Derrick Lewis vs. Travis Browne at UFC Fight Night 105
Upset of the Year
Martin Nguyen vs. Marat Gafurov at ONE Championship 59
Darren Elkins vs. Mirsad Bektic at UFC 209
Brent Primus vs. Michael Chandler at Bellator 180
Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217
Zach Freeman vs. Aaron Pico at Bellator 180
Shawn Tompkins Coach of the Year
Duke Roufus
Trevor Wittman
Firas Zahabi
Matt Hume
Duane Ludwig
Gym of the Year
Roufusport
Gracie Techniques
Kings MMA
ATT
Tristar
Referee of the Year
Jason Herzog
Mike Beltran
Herb Dean
Marc Goddard
John McCarthy
Best Promotion
LFA
ONE Championship
KSW
UFC
Bellator
Personality of the Year
Daniel Cormier
Michale Schiavello
Chael Sonnen
Jon Anik
Joe Rogan
Analyst of the Year
Paul Felder
Jimmy Smith
Dominick Cruz
Pat Miletich
Brian Stann
MMA Journalist of the Year
Karim Zidan
Brett Okamoto
Chuck Mindenhall
John Morgan
Ariel Helwani
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