The 2020 Heavies Awards - Fighter of the Year - Winner: Deiveson Figueiredo

Tough one but I voted Holland exclusively because of this.

 

Adesanya IS Fighter Of The Year.

He won the world mma award.

 

World MMA Awards are about as legitimate as this thread. It's the opinion of Fighters Only magazine.

 

Want to vote Jan but it's pretty clearly Fig

 

Holland is Breakout Fighter of the Year already. Don't get greedy, Kev.
Jan became LHW champ with two good TKOs. Not bad, Jan.
Do Bronx schooled Ferguson. Yeah, yeah, I know Ferg was comin off a loss and maybe getting beat down will become regualr for him as he seems shot. But guys wrecking Tony is still pretty new, and I rate it highly.

It's got to be Figiuerdo though. Only problem I have with this guy is spelling his last name. Volatile and violent. Flyweight was dead in the water after Johnson and Cejudo left, but Fig brought manlet sexy back. Also, better volume of fights than the other high ranked guys.

Fig is fighter of the year and it isn't all that close imo.

 

Adesanya fought twice in 2020. One was a dominant win over Costa, and the other was a lackluster decision over Romero in one of the worst fights in recent years. Half of Sherdog still thinks he lost that fight. They are wrong, but it goes to show how unimpressive Adesanaya's performance was.

Adesanya's 2019 was really damn good, and iirc he won Fighter of the Year in the Heavies poll last year. But he's not even a contender in 2020 with only one good fight.

As for Khamzat, he's the runner up Break Out Fighter of the Year, which is pretty good for a guy no one had heard of twelve months ago. But KOing Gerald Meerschaert, solid veteran though he is, doesn't get you nominated for fighter of the year. His other wins no one had ever heard of.

 

Oliviera and Jan also only fought twice in 2020.

Oliviera beat Lee, who is 2-3 in his last 5 and Tony coming of a loss and couldn’t even finish him. None of those fights were for a title or against top contender in the division.

Jan beat Corey Anderson and Reyes for the title, but Romero and Costa are more impressive foes and both of those fights were title defences.

Yes Holland has five wins, but one of them was a split decision and his best win is Jacare who was 41 years old and 2-4 in his last 6 before facing him.

Khamzat should be there, not because of who he beat, but how he did it. It seemed like he’s light years apart in skill compared to his opponents. He broke records for quickest turnarounds and biggest strike differential. He also managed to surpass many UFC champs in followers and he did in a months time.

It should be between Figgy ( who probably deserves it the most) and Izzy, Khamzat, maybe Holland.

 

You and I agree on Figiuerdo.

Your argument notwithstanding, Adesnaya had only one very impressive performance in 2020. His other fight, even against a fighter as highly touted as Romero, was an underwhelming and lackluster performance. That's not enough.

 

Adesanya has done more than Jan and Oliviera

 

Career wise? Sure. Fighter of the Year wise? No, he's had one good fight. That's not enough. He's not even in contention.

 

Not this year.

 

All of them had 2 wins this year.

Izzy won 2 title fights, Jan 1 and Charles none.

Costa and Romero are better wins than Reyes and Corey Anderson or Lee and Tony.

 

No, the Romero win was one of the worst wins by any fighter this year. On paper, sure, but in reality it just wasn't a good fight.

We can't reward it as if he did something more impressive than any other fighter this year.

 

Adesanya actually LOST status from the Romero fight. A year ago he was universally considered an exciting fighter.

He had one impressive win, and one of the worst fights of all time.

Blachowicz destroyed 2 top contenders and won the belt. Oliveira dominated 2 top contenders and earned a title shot.

All of this is moot, since Deiveson Figueiredo is pretty obviously Fighter of the Year.

I just can't see someone who participated in that "fight" with Romero as a Fighter of the Year candidate.

 

Of course Izzy is the best fighter of the year. He has proved it more than once and deserves such a name. Eventually the boy showed what he could do, and I think it is fair to honor his hard work. I counted on him from the very beginning, I believed that after each loss I would learn lessons for the future and that's what it was

 

No