2015 Thems' Fighting Words Awards: Fighter of the Year

[Elsalvajeloco]

The nominees are...

 

FRANKIE EDGAR (20-4-1, 2-0 in 2015)

Bouts:

W-DEC3 (UNANIMOUS) URIJAH FABER (UFC Fight Night 66: Edgar vs. Faber, May 16, 2015)

W-KO1 (PUNCHES) CHAD MENDES (The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber, December 11, 2015)

 

DEMETRIOUS JOHNSON (23-2-1, 2-0 in 2015)

Bouts:

W-SUB5 (ARMBAR) KYOJI HORIGUCHI (UFC 186: Johnson vs. Horiguchi, April 25, 2015)

W-DEC5 (UNANIMOUS) JOHN DODSON (UFC 191: Johnson vs. Dodson II, September 5, 2015)

 

LUKE ROCKHOLD (15-2, 2-0 in 2015)

Bouts:

W-SUB2 (REAR NAKED CHOKE) LYOTO MACHIDA (UFC on Fox 15: Machida vs. Rockhold, April 18, 2015)

W-TKO4 (PUNCHES) CHRIS WEIDMAN (UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor, December 12, 2015)

 

CONOR MCGREGOR (19-2, 3-0 in 2015)

Bouts:

W-TKO2 (PUNCHES) DENNIS SIVER (UFC Fight Night 59: McGregor vs. Siver, January 18, 2015)

W-TKO2 (PUNCHES) CHAD MENDES (UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor, July 11, 2015)

W-KO1 (PUNCHES) JOSÉ ALDO (UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor, December 12, 2015)

 

RAFAEL DOS ANJOS (25-7, 2-0 in 2015)

Bouts:

W-DEC5 (UNANIMOUS) ANTHONY PETTIS (UFC 185: Pettis vs. Dos Anjos, March 14, 2015)

W-TKO1 (STRIKES) DONALD CERRONE (UFC on Fox 17: Dos Anjos vs. Cerrone, December 19, 2015)

 

DANIEL CORMIER (17-1, 2-1 in 2015)

Bouts:

L-DEC5 (UNANIMOUS) JON JONES (UFC 182: Jones vs. Cormier, January 3, 2015)

W-SUB3 (REAR NAKED CHOKE) ANTHONY JOHNSON (UFC 187: Johnson vs. Cormier, May 23, 3015)

W-DEC5 (SPLIT) ALEXANDER GUSTAFSSON (UFC 192: Cormier vs. Gustafsson, October 3, 2015)

 

2013 WINNER: CHRIS WEIDMAN

2014 WINNER: ROBBIE LAWLER

 

Award voting will close 1/17 at 10:30 p.m. CST

[glfpunk]

Man, any other time you would look at Rockhold and think "of course." Except for the existence of McGregor. Hard to deny.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Rockhold had a great year last year as well. Perhaps the best year anyone has had that didn't win a championship since Thiago Alves.

Rockhold, if he can stay healthy, has the ability to put together one of the best title runs ever.

[Hail Sabin]

Conor hands down no contest.

[TheVileOne]

Conor McGregor owned this year and he might very well now own part of the UFC.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

Conor McGregor is your 2015 Thems' Fighting Words Awards: Fighter of the Year.

 

That's it for the awards. Thanks to everyone who participated!

[The Natural]

I wasn't able to vote in time but it's Conor for winning an Interim UFC Championship and converting it to Undisputed with how he beat Jose Aldo in 13 seconds in a heavily hyped fight. Nobody saw that coming. 

 

Here's a question, who would you give it to if Notorious is excluded? I'd go for Rafael dos Anjos taking the UFC Lightweight Championship from Anthony Pettis winning all five rounds, beating Donald Cerrone faster than anyone and Lightweight's a deep division.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I would go Dos Anjos over Rockhold just by a hair. People thought Pettis was going to destroy Dos Anjos plus lightweight is just a tough division. If anyone was going to give Weidman problems, it was either going to be between Rockhold, Jacare, and Romero. Turns out it was Rockhold.