2015 Them's Fightin' Words Awards: Breakout Fighter of the Year

[Elsalvajeloco]

The nominees are....

Thomas Almeida (CHUTE BOXE/MACACO GOLD TEAM)
W-TKO1 (PUNCHES) YVES JABOUIN (UFC 186: Johnson vs. Horiguchi, April 25, 2015)
W-KO2 (FLYING KNEE) BRAD PICKETT (UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor, July 11, 2015)
W-KO1 (PUNCHES) ANTHONY BIRCHAK (UFC Fight Night 77: Belfort vs. Henderson III, November 7, 2015)


Joanna Jędrzejczyk (BERKUT ARRACHION OLSZTYN)
W-TKO2 (PUNCHES) CARLA ESPARZA (UFC 185: Pettis vs. Dos Anjos, March 14, 2015)
W-TKO3 (PUNCHES AND KNEE) JESSICA PENNE (UFC Fight Night 69: Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne, June 20, 2015)
W-DEC5 (UNANIMOUS) VALÉRIE LÉTOURNEAU (UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm, November 14, 2015)

Henry Cejudo (FIGHT READY)
W-DEC3 (UNANIMOUS) CHRIS CARIASO (UFC 185: Pettis vs. Dos Anjos, March 14, 2015)
W-DEC3 (UNANIMOUS) CHICO CAMUS (UFC 188: Velasquez vs. Werdum, June 13, 2015)
W-DEC3 (SPLIT) JUSSIER FORMIGA (UFC Fight Night 78: Magny vs. Gastelum, November 21, 2015)


Albert Tumenov (K-DOJO WARRIOR TRIBE)
W-DEC3 (UNANIMOUS) NICHOLAS MUSOKE (UFC on Fox 14: Gustafsson vs. Johnson, January 24, 2015)
W-TKO1 (HEAD KICK AND PUNCHES) ALAN JOUBAN (UFC 192: Cormier vs. Gustafsson, October 3, 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg5fRNEoDVw
Holly Holm (JACKSONWINK MMA)
W-DEC3 (SPLIT) RAQUEL PENNINGTON (UFC 184: Rousey vs. Zingano, February 28, 2015)
W-DEC3 (UNANIMOUS) MARION RENEAU (UFC Fight Night 71: Mir vs. Duffee, July 15, 2015)
W-KO2 (HEAD KICK AND PUNCHES) RONDA ROUSEY (UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm, November 14, 2015)


Yair Rodríguez (VALLE FLOW STRIKING/IZZY STYLE)
W-DEC3 (SPLIT) CHARLES ROSA (UFC 188: Velasquez vs. Werdum, June 13, 2015)
W-DEC3 (UNANIMOUS) DANIEL HOOKER (UFC 192: Cormier vs. Gustafsson, October 3, 2015)

2013 Winner: Rustam Khabilov - JACKSON'S MMA
2014 Winner: Aljamain Sterling - SERRA-LONGO FIGHT TEAM

Award voting will close 1/10 at 7:00 p.m. CST

[Hail Sabin]

GO JOANNA GO!

[twiztor]

looked at the list of choices.

saw Thomas Almeida, thought "he'll be tough to beat".

saw Joanna Champion, thought "she's gotta be a lock".

saw Holly Holm, thought "damn this was a good year!"

 

gotta go with Joanna.

[DreamBroken]

Thirding the vote for Joanna, who shot to the top and became one of my absolute favorite fighters

[Elsalvajeloco]

This one is a really hard one for me just because I could probably make a legitimate argument for 4 out of the 6. I think Cejudo had a good year, but I think with the right opponents this year, he could put together the best wins any prospect at 125 has ever put together really. That's why I am not so gong ho on him fighting DJ next. Rodriguez showed tremendous upside especially in the fight against Hooker. If he can work with Izzy Martinez on his wrestling, he might be a real threat at featherweight. He's got the offensive side of the game down pretty pat for someone at his experience level.

 

Almeida has looked like more of a monster inside the UFC than he has outside of it. It will be interesting to see what he does against a viable wrestler, but he has the skill to be bantamweight champion one day.

 

Tumenov performed well in a fight he could have easily let slip away against Nico Musoke. He just downright brutalized Jouban, who is another talented young fighter. I don't think the Larkin fight raised his stock, but I ain't selling yet. On the feet, he is technically brilliant even though he does let offense come through.

 

Holm basically went from having a rather pedestrian fight with Pennington and baffling Marion Reneau in sort of a slow affair to basically head kicking a deity. That's zero to sixty in one calendar year in MMA. So if we're going for breakout or breakthrough, she would be up there.

 

I had to go with Joanna not for just the sentimental reasons. She came off a contentious decision to face a somewhat unproven champion. That fight with Esparza could have turned out in a myriad of different ways, but ended the right way for 115. Then after smashing Esparza, she turns in a scintillating performance against Penne. Even though she didn't absolutely machine gun Letourneau, Joanna did show she could fight in a unique way without completely altering how she fights and still put out a win. She showed she was still growing as a fighter. So yeah, I would go Joanna because she has the right resume but also isn't a finished product or as close to one like Holm.

[smitlick]

Joanna for me too.. Like Almeida but wanna see him tested more

[Hail Sabin]

I had Holm as my runner up.

[Jiji]

Not that it matters, but my vote for Holm didn't register.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Added it. It's saying 10 voted, but I'm only seeing 9 now. We got someone's vote floating into space.

[Jiji]

Comeback is on the cards! Thanks!

[Elsalvajeloco]

Some of the honorable mentions for this year that I would pick out are Cody Garbrandt, Makhan Amirkhani, A.J. McKee, Darrion Caldwell, and Alex Oliveira. I probably would put Grasso and Livia Souza in that category as well if they had more fights last year.

[TheVileOne]

I went with Joanna Champion.  I like Holly Holm and all, but I think just having one huge upset doesn't make her Breakout of the Year.  Takes a little more.

 

Holm came into the UFC with the expectation of her being a potential opponent for Ronda Rousey.  Upset of the Year and maybe even the decade, but not a breakout star.

 

Joanna came out of nowhere and won the title when no one expected her, and she basically became the dominant star the women's strawweight division needed.  She injected a lot of energy into the division, which is what it needed.  Carla Esparza just wasn't getting it done.

[Jiji]

She looked far from dominant in the Letourneau fight. Holly Holm took out the most dominant champion in MMA and in such resounding fashion that she became a household name in one night (as far as MMA goes, anyway). 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

JOANNA JĘDRZEJCZYK is your 2015 Them's Fightin' Words Breakout Fighter of the Year.

[smitlick]

She looked far from dominant in the Letourneau fight. Holly Holm took out the most dominant champion in MMA and in such resounding fashion that she became a household name in one night (as far as MMA goes, anyway). 

 

That was one fight though... the other fights she had not so great. In fact its entirely debatable that she should've gotten the shot in the first place.

[Hail Sabin]

Some people also think she lost the decision to Pennington.

[TheVileOne]

She looked far from dominant in the Letourneau fight. Holly Holm took out the most dominant champion in MMA and in such resounding fashion that she became a household name in one night (as far as MMA goes, anyway). 

 

That fight was scored 50-45, 49-46, 49-46.  To me, that's a dominant performance.  Letourneau only really had one good round.  Joanna beat her up everywhere else.

[Jiji]

She won decisively, yep. But people were expecting (rightly) another Penne-esque beatdown and it didn't happen. 

 

As for Holm, I think the fact that she looked so ordinary up until the Rousey fight makes her breakout all the more emphatic.