MMAjunkie’s 2013 MMA Awards: Chris Weidman named Fighter of the Year

This week MMAjunkie recognizes MMA’s greatest achievements from the past year. We’re honoring fighters in six categories as part of MMAjunkie’s 2013 MMA Awards. MMAjunkie writers and radio hosts provided a list of finalists, and MMAjunkie readers voted for the winners this past week. Today, we close out the awards and reveal MMAjunkie’s Fighter of the Year.

Monday, Jan. 6: Comeback Fighter of the Year – Robbie Lawler
Tuesday, Jan. 7: Breakthrough Fighter of the Year – Travis Browne
Wednesday, Jan. 8: Submission of the Year – Anthony Pettis def. Benson Henderson
Thursday, Jan. 9: Knockout of the Year – Chris Weidman def. Anderson Silva
Friday, Jan 10: Fight of the Year – Jon Jones def. Alexander Gustafsson
Today: Fighter of the Year – Chris Weidman

* * * *

Fighter of the Year

Final voting: Chris Weidman (37%), Vitor Belfort (24%), Demetrious Johnson (14%), Urijah Faber (9%), Cain Velasquez (8%), Travis Browne (5%), write-in Georges St-Pierre (1%), write-in Ronda Rousey (1%), write-in Jon Jones (1%)

It probably tells us something that Chris Weidman won the vote for MMAjunkie’s 2013 Fighter of the Year despite a) not competing at all for the first half of the year, and b) only fighting one person in the second half.

I guess it helps that the one person he did fight (and defeat twice) in that six-month span just happened to be UFC middleweight great Anderson Silva, a legend of the sport who will likely be remembered as one of, if not the best, fighter in MMA history. So yeah, pretty good year for Weidman.

It didn’t start off so great, though. After cementing his status as a serious contender with a second-round KO of Mark Munoz in July of 2012, Weidman ended that year injured. His Long Island home had been torn up by Hurricane Sandy. His big future plans had been put on hold. After withdrawing from a planned bout against Tim Boetsch at UFC 155, he underwent shoulder surgery in late November 2012 and began his 2013 still in recovery mode, with then-middleweight champ Silva seemingly more interested in cross-divisional super-fights than title defenses.

In other words, even the undefeated Weidman had a few reasons to be bummed out as the year kicked off. He couldn’t have known that by the time it was over, he’d have two stoppage victories over an MMA great, or that each would add some unique weirdness all its own to his career highlight reel.

The first one at UFC 162 was just good clean fun. Silva clowned around as Weidman closed in, and pretty soon the champ was asleep on the mat. Score one for Weidman, though naturally we had to see it again just to be sure we weren’t imaging things. The second one at UFC 168 wasn’t so fun. It ended with Silva screaming in agony on the mat, and the crowd at MGM Grand Garden Arena groaning along with him once they saw his broken leg dangling uselessly beneath him after Weidman checked a second-round leg kick.

It wasn’t the way anyone wanted to see the fight end, but, in its own way, it was decisive. Those two wins together cemented Weidman as the legitimate UFC middleweight champ, the successor to the man who had reigned atop the division for so long.

For that feat, Weidman deserves the distinction of 2013’s Fighter of the Year in our eyes. He may have spent less than 13 minutes in the cage against only one opponent, but you can’t say he didn’t make the most of it.

Runner-up: Vitor Belfort

In terms of sheer physical dominance, it’s hard to beat the year Belfort had. He fought three top opponents – Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold, and Dan Henderson – and knocked them all out with devastating displays of power, speed and skill.

So why did he come in second? Depends who you ask. Maybe it’s due to lingering questions about his controversial use of testosterone-replacement therapy. Maybe readers felt that Weidman’s two wins over Silva trump Belfort’s three wins over three different contenders.

Whatever the reason, you can’t say Belfort didn’t have a great year, even if we might not all agree on what it means or how much credit he deserves for it. And if he doesn’t like coming in second to Weidman, there’s good news on the horizon. If the UFC has its way, he’ll soon get a chance to avenge this loss at the polls with a win in the cage.