The List: Bisping, Cerrone, Garbrandt, Holloway, McGregor, Miocic or Nunes for 2016 Fighter of the Year?

from MMA Junkie on Jan 03, 2017
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For too long, our writers’ hyper-specific arguments have been confined to the private corridors of the Internet. Welcome to The List, where we take our instant-message bickerings, add a little polish, and make them public. Today, we look back at the candidates for our 2016 “Fighter of the Year” award – and we enlist your help.

A group of our editors, writers and radio hosts have made their cases below for a group of seven fighters up for the year’s biggest honor. Read the pitches below. Then be sure to vote for your pick for “Fighter of the Year” in the poll at the bottom of the post. On Wednesday, we’ll announce the winner.

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Michael Bisping

Mike Bohn: Stipe Miocic’s takeover at heavyweight was nice. Cody Garbrandt’s run from unranked to champion was remarkable. Even Amanda Nunes’ smashing of the two of the most notable female fighters in MMA history was ultra-impressive. UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC), however, had a special kind of year that included him beating arguably the greatest fighter ever in Anderson Silva, and then proceeding to avenge two of his most devastating career losses – one of which won him UFC gold.

Although Bisping just skimmed by Silva in February, he was still able to top “The Spider” in what many considered one of the worst stylistic matchups of his career. Silva’s counter-striking game was thought to be the perfect answer to Bisping’s volume-striking. And while the Brazilian nearly damaged Bisping to a fight-ending degree, “The Count” still came out on top.

The 37-year-old then went on to finally get a UFC title fight in his 26th octagon appearance, the latest into a career of any fighter in UFC history. Moreover, it all happened on just 17 days’ notice in a UFC 199 title fight with Luke Rockhold in June. Despite Rockhold utterly decimating Bisping less than two years prior, the Brit blasted Rockhold for a first-round knockout win in arguably the “Upset of the Year.”

Bisping’s 2016 campaign came to a close with a narrow decision win over Dan Henderson, though he still deserves credit for getting revenge. At UFC 100 in 2009, Bisping was on the receiving end of one of the most memorable knockouts in history when he first fought Henderson.

To summarize the much longer explanation recently given for why Bisping was the best fighter of 2016: He beat two future hall of famers and one of the most dangerous 185-pound fighters in the world – at a stage of his career when little was expected of him.

Donald Cerrone

Trent Reinsmith: Donald Cerrone ended 2015 with a first-round TKO loss to then-UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. Two months later, Cerrone returned to the octagon as a welterweight and ran over Alex Oliveira, submitting the Brazilian in two minutes and 33 seconds, earning a “Performance of the Night” bonus in the process, his first fight-night bonus since July 2014.

Cerrone followed that victory with two more “Performance of the Night” bonus-winning victories after stopping both Patrick Cote and Rick Story via TKO.

In Cerrone’s final fight of 2016, which came just short of the one-year anniversary of his loss to dos Anjos, he finished tough vet Matt Brown with a third-round head kick.

The dos Anjos loss could have crushed Cerrone’s confidence. It could have left the 33-year-old thinking his chances at a UFC title had disappeared for good. Instead, “Cowboy” picked himself up, dusted himself off and headed home to the BMF Ranch to retool.

When the welterweight version of Cerrone emerged, he fought with the same take-no-prisoners ferocity that defined his run at 155 pounds. He finished 2016 at No. 7 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings, as well as tied for No. 2 on the all-time UFC wins list.

Cody Garbrandt

Dann Stupp: We’re talking about “Fighter of the Year,” right? As in, who had the most impressive calendar year in the cage? So, how is Cody Garbrandt not the clear favorite here?

Although we’re now focusing on the new UFC bantamweight champion’s thoroughly impressive victory over Dominick Cruz at the recent year-end UFC 207 event, let’s not forget how 2016 began for 25-year-old “No Love.”

As we kicked off the year, Garbrandt was clearly a promising prospect with scary knockout power, but he wasn’t even among the top 15 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings. He wasn’t even an honorable mention.

Garbrandt, though, quickly changed that with a violent string of first-round finishes. He blasted late replacement Augusto Mendes in February. He then headlined his first UFC show and starched highly touted and unbeaten (21-0) prospect Thomas Almeida in a “Performance of the Night” knockout win in May. Then he tore through former WEC title challenger Takeya Mizugaki in just 48 seconds in August.

Then came his biggest win of all: a hard-fought, thoroughly impressive and downright thrilling “Fight of the Night” victory over pound-for-pound great and longtime king of the 135-pounders, Cruz. Sure, Garbrandt isn’t going to win any “Trash-Talker of the Year” awards, but when it comes to “Fighter of the Year,” the new UFC bantamweight champion quickly went from unranked prospect to undisputed king with one of the greatest 12-month stretches in MMA history.

Max Holloway

Steven Marrocco: As Max Holloway recently told MMAjunkie Radio, had he known the effect of 10 seconds of brawling with Ricardo Lamas at UFC 199, he probably would have brawled a little sooner.

Looking back, it’s arguable that’s the moment Holloway sealed his candidacy for “Fighter of the Year.” He was well ahead of onetime title challenger Lamas. He didn’t need to risk everything to throw fists without forethought and risk catching one, especially with a nine-fight winning streak and a future title shot on the line. But he did, and Lamas lost that one. Everywhere he goes, people revel in that moment.

These days, Holloway has another accessory that attracts attention: a UFC belt. It wasn’t his choice to hang an interim strap over a bout with Anthony Pettis at UFC 206 in December, and to the rest of the world, it looked like a clumsy effort. He still managed to shine under the spotlight, taking out the ex-lightweight champ in less than three rounds. It was his 10th straight win. Seven of those ended in finishes.

Among active UFC fighters, only Demetrious Johnson has more consecutive victories in the octagon – but Holloway’s finishing rate beats the long-running flyweight champ. And although the 25-year-old fighter faces stiff competition this year for excitement, you never have to wonder whether he’s picking and choosing his opposition. If anyone wants to throw down, they can come see him.

Maybe that’s why he winds up chasing down a lot of opponents. Those who stand and trade do so at their own peril.

Conor McGregor

Ben Fowlkes: I’m not going to start off making the case for Conor McGregor by pointing out that in 2016 he became the biggest pay-per-view star in MMA history. That’s the business of fighting, which is separate from fighting itself. I’m not even going to point out that it’s the year he became the first UFC fighter to simultaneously hold belts in two divisions, because come on, you knew that already.

Instead, I’ll base my case on this: McGregor’s year began with a crushing and humiliating defeat that could have, and maybe even should have, destroyed his whole swaggering aura. The 28-year-old Irishman took on Nate Diaz, a man he mocked on that most hallowed of ground (I refer now, of course, to “the money channel,” CNBC), and then he got exposed.

This is the kind of thing that might send other superstars running for a cabin in the woods – or worse, Hollywood. McGregor did the opposite. He called for an immediate rematch, canceled his movie role (you’re welcome, Michael Bisping), and then redeemed himself in the purifying flames of unarmed combat. Later, just for funsies, he also went ahead and knocked out the UFC lightweight champ with alarming ease.

On paper, fighters have certainly had better years. They’ve had more wins, fewer losses. But who else did what McGregor has done? Who else showed us that a fighter can be a superstar, while a superstar can still be a fighter?

Stipe Miocic

George Garcia: A lot of great fighters produced their best years ever in 2016, but when you sift through stats for “Fighter of the Year,” it’s all about the fine details.

In 2016, no one – and I mean no one – stands taller than UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. Never mind that he really is the tallest of the bunch; he really did have the most incredible year.

In a little more than nine months, Miocic defeated three future hall of famers. Three first-round knockouts. And all he needed was your attention for roughly eight minutes of total fight time. No judges, no questionable ref calls, and therefore, no doubt in anyone’s mind over who was the best fighter that night.

Even more impressive, at the time of his fights, according to the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, the 34-year-old beat the No. 4 fighter (Andrei Arlovski), No. 1 fighter and reigning champion (Fabricio Werdum) and No. 5 fighter (Alistair Overeem). That’s two former UFC champions and a former Strikeforce/DREAM/K1 World Grand Prix titleholder. There were no cupcakes on Miocic’s schedule.

And finally, as we’re splitting hairs here and my colleagues are struggling for facts to top my submission, let me point out that Miocic went into a hostile environment to challenge the champion. He traveled 15 hours to another continent, in a different hemisphere, to fight the champion in his Brazilian hometown of Curitiba in front of nearly 50,000 fanatics in a soccer stadium. That’s gangster.

Amanda Nunes

Fernanda Prates: As far as pure athletic achievements go, it’s hard to argue against any of the names on this list. That includes, of course, champion Amanda Nunes, who needed a combined four minutes and four seconds to plow through Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey while barely even breaking a sweat in order to conquer and defend the UFC’s bantamweight title.

Looking at the numbers, Nunes has done enough to hang among 2016’s best. But if math alone made for greatness, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Nunes’ greatness doesn’t come just from being a superbly skilled fighter, but also from her road toward becoming one. Being great took effort. It took leaving loved ones, teams, cities and ultimately a home country behind. It took turning a gi into a second skin, and giving up the comfort of a bed to sleep on a mat. It took bitter losses and tough reinventions.

It took standing up for herself every step of the way.

The courage that led Nunes to UFC gold didn’t die after she claimed it. After winning the title in the headliner of the monster UFC 200 event, the 28-year-old waited for the world’s ear to declare her love for fellow UFC fighter Nina Ansaroff. Not that being out was ever a big deal – with a supportive family and friends, she had always been free to be who she was. But, as easy as things were for her, Nunes was aware that it was not the case for everyone.

So she took it upon herself to wave an infinitely important, but heavy flag that so many shy away from.

Rousey may have been the no-show leading up to UFC 207, but it was Nunes who seemed like little more than an afterthought on the promotion’s marketing efforts. Once again, “The Lioness” saw herself having to claw her own way to the top. This time, at least, it took only 48 seconds to get there.