The UFC reigned supreme once again at the 10th Annual World MMA Awards in Las Vegas, which took place during International Fight Week.
This year, Fighter’s Only Magazine hosted the World MMA awards during the UFC’s International Fight Week leading up to UFC 226. This is the tenth iteration of the award show and there were few surprises in terms of the winners in each category.
The Charles “Mask” Lewis Fighter of the Year award went to UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway. “Blessed” made history by winning his eleventh and twelfth straight victories, both over long-time champion José Aldo. He beat out newly minted UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, who made his twelfth straight title defense in 2017.
Female Fighter of the Year went to new UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas who beat stern competition from long-time featherweight powerhouse Cris “Cyborg” Justino and Bellator flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane. Namajunas also took home the award for Upset of the Year for her victory over Joanna Jędrzejczyk last year to win the title.
The UFC was well-represented, as per usual, at the awards. The UFC took home 13 awards, sweeping every fighter category as well as taking the award for the Promotion of the Year. UFC Octagon Girl Jhenny Andrade also took the award for Ringcard Girl of the Year for the second year in a row.
Justin Gaethje won two awards, winning for both Comeback of the Year against Michael Johnson at the Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale and accepting the award for Fight of the Year against Eddie Alvarez in 2018. In his acceptance speech, Gaethje made sure to praise his coach Trevor Whitman and remarked that both he and Namajunas won two awards and they had a coach who won Coach of the Year.
John McCarthy also was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Notably, McCarthy also won the award for Referee of the Year in what could be his last nomination in the category. He has expressed his interest in focusing on his burgeoning broadcast career as an analyst for Bellator. It is anticipated he could be nominated for Personality of the Year next year as he gets even more experience on the mic.
Winners in Bold 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
Darren Till
Francis Ngannou
International Fighter of the Year
Volkan Oezdemir
Martin Nguyen
Darren Till
Robert Whittaker
Kamaru Usman
Fight of the Year
Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier (UFC 211)
Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero (UFC 213)
Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Johnson (The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale)
Aung La N Sang vs. Vitaly Bigdash (ONE Championship: Light Of A Nation)
Eddie Alvarez vs. Justin Gaethje (UFC 218)
Knockout of the Year
Matt Brown (vs. Diego Sanchez, UFC Norfolk)
Edson Barboza (vs. Beneil Dariush, UFC Fortaleza)
Paul Daley (vs. Brennan Ward, Bellator 170)
Francis Ngannou (vs. Alistair Overeem, UFC 218)
Aaron Pico (vs. Justin Linn, Bellator 183)
Submission of the Year
Diego Brandao (vs. Murad Machaev, Fight Nights Global 38)
Brett Johns (vs. Joe Soto, The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale)
Ali Bagov (vs. Bubba Jenkins, ACB 54)
Brian Ortega (vs. Cub Swanson, UFC Fresno)
Demetrious Johnson (vs. Ray Borg, UFC 216)
Comeback of the Year
Justin Gaethje (vs. Michael Johnson, The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale)
Uriah Hall (vs. Krzysztof Jotko, UFC Pittsburghe)
Nathaniel Wood (vs. Josh Reed, Cage Warriors 86)
Derrick Lewis (vs. Travis Browne, UFC Halifax)
Upset of the Year
Martin Nguyen (vs. Marat Gafurov, ONE Championship: Quest For Greatness)
Darren Elkins (vs. Mirsad Bektic, UFC 209)
Brent Primus (vs. Michael Chandler, Bellator 180)
Rose Namajunas (vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk, UFC 217)
Zach Freeman (vs. Aaron Pico, Bellator 180)
Shawn Tompkins Coach of the Year
Duke Roufus
Trevor Wittman
Firas Zahabi
Matt Hume
Duane Ludwig
Trainer of the Year
Sam Calavitta (S&C coach)
Nick Curson (S&C coach)
Phil Daru (S&C coach)
Tyler Minton (Nutrionist)
Michelle Ingels (Nutrionist)
Gym of the Year
Roufusport
Gracie Technics
Kings MMA
American Top Team
Tristar
Referee of the Year
Jason Herzog
Mike Beltran
Herb Dean
Marc Goddard
John McCarthy
Ringcard Girl of the Year
Angelica Anderson
Carly Baker
Jhenny Andrade
Arianny Celeste
Mercedes Terrell
Leading Man
Martin Lewandowski
Chatri Sityodtong
Ed Soares
Dana White
Scott Coker
Best Promotion
LFA
ONE Championship
KSW
UFC
Bellator MMA
Personality of the Year
Daniel Cormier
Michael Schiavello
Chael Sonnen
Jon Anik
Joe Rogan
Analyst of the Year
Paul Felder
Jimmy Smith
Dominick Cruz
Pat Miletich
Brian Stann
Best MMA Programming
MMA Junkie Radio
The Ultimate Fighter
Sherdog Roundtable
The MMA Hour
UFC Embedded
MMA Media Source of the Year
FloCombat
Bloody Elbow
Sherdog
MMA Junkie
MMA Fighting
MMA Journalist of the Year
Karim Zidan
Brett Okamoto
Chuck Mindenhall
John Morgan
Ariel Helwani
MMA Clothing and Equipment Brand of the Year
Reebok
RVCA
Bad Boy
Venum
Hayabusa
