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4th Annual Them's Fightin' Words Awards: Comeback Fighter of the Year


Elsalvajeloco

4th Annual Them's Fightin' Words Awards: Comeback Fighter of the Year  

11 members have voted

  1. 1. Which fighter came back with vengeance in 2016?

    • Angela Hill (ALLIANCE MMA)
      5
    • Khabib Nurmagomedov (AMERICAN KICKBOXING ACADEMY)
      1
    • Cub Swanson (JACKSONWINK MMA)
      1
    • Dominick Cruz (ALLIANCE MMA)
      2
    • Cezar Ferreira (MMA MASTERS)
      0
    • Gegard Mousasi (TEAM JUROJIN)
      2

This poll is closed to new votes


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The nominees...

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Angela Hill (ALLIANCE MMA)
Bouts:
W-KO1 vs. Alida Gray (Invicta FC 15: Cyborg vs. Ibragimova, January 16, 2016)
W-KO2 vs. Stephanie Eggink (Invicta FC 16: Hamasaki vs. Brown, March 11, 2016)
W-DEC5 vs. Livia Renata Souza (Invicta FC 17: Evinger vs. Schneider, May 7, 2016)
W-DEC5 vs. Kaline Medeiros (Invicta FC 20: Evinger vs. Kunitskaya, November 18, 2016)

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Khabib Nurmagomedov (AMERICAN KICKBOXING ACADEMY)
Bouts:
W-TKO2 vs. Darrell Horcher (UFC on Fox 19: Teixeira vs. Evans, April 16, 2016)
W-SUB3 vs. Michael Johnson (UFC 205:  Alvarez vs. McGregor, November 12, 2016)

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Cub Swanson (JACKSONWINK MMA)
Bouts:
W-DEC3 vs. Hacran Dias (UFC on Fox 19: Teixeira vs. Evans, April 16, 2016)
W-DEC3 vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (UFC Fight Night 92: Rodríguez vs. Caceres, August 6, 2016)
W-DEC3 vs. Do Hoo Choi (UFC 206: Holloway vs. Pettis, December 10, 2016)

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Dominick Cruz (ALLIANCE MMA)
Bouts:
W-DEC5 vs. T.J. Dillashaw (UFC Fight Night 81: Dillashaw vs. Cruz, January 17, 2016)
W-DEC5 vs. Urijah Faber (UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Bisping II, June 4, 2016)
L-DEC5 vs. Cody Garbrandt (UFC 206: Holloway vs. Pettis, December 10, 2016)

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Cezar Ferreira (MMA MASTERS)
Bouts:
W-DEC3 vs. Oluwale Bamgbose (UFC on Fox 19: Teixeira vs. Evans, April 16, 2016)
W-DEC3 vs. Anthony Smith (The Ultimate Fighter 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia Finale, July 8, 2016)
W-SUB2 vs. Jack Hermansson (UFC Fight Night 100: Bader vs. Nogueira, November 19, 2016)

Mousasi-Belfort.jpg

Gegard Mousasi (TEAM JUROJIN)
Bouts:
W-DEC3 vs. Thales Leites (UFC Fight Night 84: Silva vs. Bisping, February 27, 2016)
W-TKO1 vs. Thiago Santos (UFC 200: Tate vs. Nunes, July 9, 2016)
W-TKO2 vs. Vitor Belfort (UFC 204: Bisping vs. Henderson II, October 8, 2016)
W-TKO1 vs. Uriah Hall (UFC Fight Night 99: Mousasi vs. Hall II, November 19, 2016)
 

2013 Winner: Robbie Lawler - AMERICAN TOP TEAM
2014 Winner: Anthony Johnson - BLACKZILIANS
2015 Winner: Demian Maia - DEMIAN MAIA JIU-JITSU

Award voting will close 1/18 at 3:00 p.m. CST.

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Only one of these dudes cameback to become a champion.  It was really only between Cruz and Khabib for me, but I used a title run as the tie breaker.  Mousasi and Swanson were really good, but not getting a title shot good.  I missed all of Hill's fights, and Ferreira is just a dude who won some fights after a couple losses.  

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6 minutes ago, supremebve said:

Only one of these dudes cameback to become a champion.  It was really only between Cruz and Khabib for me, but I used a title run as the tie breaker.  Mousasi and Swanson were really good, but not getting a title shot good.  I missed all of Hill's fights, and Ferreira is just a dude who won some fights after a couple losses.  

For those not privy to alot of the UFC prelim fights, Cezar Ferreira basically saved his MMA career moving to MMA Masters. The dude's chin was horrific, and he was more or less destined to be cut because all he was known for was being Vitor's homeboy. Also getting knocked clean out everytime he fought. Since leaving Blackzilians early last year, he has actually looked like a decent middleweight as opposed to a chinny dude who shouldn't be on the UFC roster at all. I think his most impressive win was Anthony Smith, who I think is finally coming into his own as a fighter. Can Ferreira be a top 10 middleweight? Probably not, but he looks like an UFC middleweight now instead of somehow I doubt would've even cut it in Bellator prior to changing gyms. 

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1 minute ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

For those not privy to alot of the UFC prelim fights, Cezar Ferreira basically saved his MMA career moving to MMA Masters. The dude's chin was horrific, and he was more or less destined to be cut because all he was known for was being Vitor's homeboy. Since leaving Blackzilians early last year, he has actually looked like a decent middleweight as opposed to a chinny dude who shouldn't be on the UFC roster at all. I think his most impressive win was Anthony Smith, who I think is finally coming into his own as a fighter. Can Ferreira be a top 10 middleweight? Probably not, but he looks like an UFC middleweight now instead of somehow I doubt would've even cut it in Bellator prior to changing gyms. 

I'm not denying those things, I'm just saying everyone else on the list has actually resurrected their career into a top-10 fighter after being cut, injured, or looking like their career was on the downside.  He just stopped getting mollywopped, which isn't nothing, but isn't nearly as impressive as the rest of the fighters on the list.

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3 minutes ago, supremebve said:

I'm not denying those things, I'm just saying everyone else on the list has actually resurrected their career into a top-10 fighter after being cut, injured, or looking like their career was on the downside.  He just stopped getting mollywopped, which isn't nothing, but isn't nearly as impressive as the rest of the fighters on the list.

Save for Hill, we already knew they were world class fighters though. It isn't that much of stretch to believe that Khabib can beat a solid but coming in on like days notice prospect like Darrell Horcher or that he could beat someone like Michael Johnson. The thing w/ Khabib and Cruz is just staying healthy. Mousasi had that Hall fight from the Barnett vs. Nelson card (IIRC), but I felt like he was due for a run especially with some of the matchups available in the middleweight division. 

I think the context I can provide for maybe both Mutante and Hill is that it's a bitch trying to just stay on roster. Hill certainly got cut too quickly, which ended up actually working to her advantage because you have tougher but still softer touches available in Invicta for her to develop. I feel she can do a lot more than just be a kickboxer w/ power. Mutante's run prior to 2016 was three devastating losses and two wins over two fighters who barely deserved to be in the UFC. Bamgbose is a boom or bust fighter, but I think the wins over Smith and Hermansson are good wins especially considering how barren that middleweight landscape looks once you get past the top 10 and the difficult of putting together wins. Hence, why Mutante is getting someone like Theodorou instead fighting on some Titan FC show now. If he wins that fight, he's probably getting a bottom top 10 or top 15 opponent. That's a hell of a career turnaround if that happens.

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1 minute ago, Hail Sabin said:

Voted Hill since she has been a Monster since joining InVicta FC.

I think it's interesting that Andrade and her team turned down a title shot, but are still interested in a fight with Angela Hill.

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26 minutes ago, Hail Sabin said:

It will be interesting to see when Hill fights in the UFC again will she fight like she did in InVicta or how she did in the past in UFC?

I think it depends on the matchup. Jessica Andrade? I think that's a tough matchup for pretty much everyone. Some of these developing strawweights like Amanda Cooper or Jamie Moyle, I think she can have a ton of success just because she has advanced past that level now. I think she can beat some established names at 115 as well.

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Angela Hill gets my vote for an amazing turnaround this past year. In her UFC run, she seemed like a pushover easy win for Tecia and Rose then came to Invicta and tore things up with impressive knockouts and awesome fights. Two knockouts, winning and then defending the championship all in the year seals it for me. I love Invicta as like the territory system for UFC where fighters that get let go can try to regroup and have that kind of career resurrection.

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6 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I think it depends on the matchup. Jessica Andrade? I think that's a tough matchup for pretty much everyone. Some of these developing strawweights like Amanda Cooper or Jamie Moyle, I think she can have a ton of success just because she has advanced past that level now. I think she can beat some established names at 115 as well.

I think Tecia, Moroz or Aguilar would work as a good matchup to see how see does in her return. Andrade yeah it's a terrible matchup but so far she has smashed every strawweight she has faced.

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tough call. had to go with Gegard Mousasi, with four very nice wins in a row, including avenging his loss from 2015. it's crazy to think that he's only ranked #5 and that he still hasn't had a title shot in the UFC. i would love to see Jacare win the belt and then Mousasi get the first shot, closing out their trilogy. i guess we'll just have to see how this plays out. 

i see Angela Hill is getting a lot of support. i haven't seen enough Invicta for her to get my vote, but i like what i'm hearing from you guys. i definitely need to start getting caught up on that promotion.

Cruz is a tough pick. He obviously came back and won the title in his return bout (against Dillashaw, who has looked fantastic). Then he beat up Urijah Faber again, which is no small feat. But then he had that upset loss to Garbrandt, which hurts him in my eyes. Just couldn't pick him.

Khabib is a beast, and one of my favorite LW fighters. I don't really know how much of a comeback this really is, tho. I mean, yeah, he was off for two full years, but he was right back into kill mode when he got back. It really feels like he never left. maybe that's a sign that he had the best comeback of all.

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