who wins Breakthrough Fighter of the Year

[Jipa]

Bendo
Ronda
Rory
Gus

 

[coltpassport]

Hendricks

 

[Gio]

Ronda hands down. No one else comes close. She is certainly deserving

 

[OodlesofNoodle]

Casting my vote for Hendricks, the guy squared off with some longstanding staples of the division and did more than hold his own. Rory Mac certainly cemented himself as a top tier welterweight when he trounced BJ, but Hendricks shutting down Fitch and Kampmann right out of the gate impresses me a great deal more.

 

[PunchParty]

breakthrough to me means almost unknown to becoming known.ronda,nate and bendo
are definitely not that.matt brown has been around for a while.rory has been a prospect
for a couple of years.weidman and hendricks are more like it.

 

[Warrior99]

Now that I think about it I think Matt Brown could be a strong candidate for this award too, I'd truly be happy for him if he won it because he'd deserve it, 4-0 in 2012 while gaining the biggest win of his career against veteran and contender Mike Swick, especially since 2 years ago he was on the verge of being cut from the UFC.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Rhonda

 

[RaskeDanzig]

Chris Weidman

 

[Dontfight]

Bar

 

[Le9547]

Ronda hands down. No one else comes close. She is certainly deserving

Unfortunately

 

[Sherm]

I'm going with Ben. He went from being one of many to winning 3 title fights in 2012.

 

[Cotillion]

Hendricks.

Easily over Rory.

Rory.

Easily over Hendricks.

 

[youngsteinel]

Rory.

Easily over Hendricks.

Johny had bigger wins this year, in his defense. I have Gus over Hendricks because Hendricks win over Fitch was on the 30th of last year technically.

 

[nmeuvdast8]

Rousey for sure - she brought the excitement back in Women's MMA. not since Gina Carano has there been buzz of Women's MMA

but I would love for it to go to Matt Brown - 4-0 this year with 3 of those wins coming via finish and his latest win was against a known fighter.

 

[Cotillion]

Johny had bigger wins this year, in his defense. I have Gus over Hendricks because Hendricks win over Fitch was on the 30th of last year technically.

its breakout fighter of the year, not fighter of the year.

 

[generalyum]

Hendricks

 

[Alexandergreat3]

Prospect that made himself more known and less overlooked

Thank you for clarifying! :icon_chee Well, in that case, hmmm... I'd say it's Hendricks in terms of actually winning some impressive fights against top 10 opponents.

I'd say Rory is up there as well, not because he dominated a ranked WW, but because he dominated a fighter with good name recognition in BJ Penn.

In addition, this question is a bit tricky to answer, because lately, there is this new trend where fighters are making themselves "more known" by doing a lot of talking rather than by fighting. :icon_twis

 

[HeexX]

Gustafsson has gone from relatively unknown to have convincingly beaten Vladdy (If you'd count that fight, was on 30th December 2011), Thiago Silva and Shogun Rua.

Johny Hendricks has had a good run too, beating Fitch (that one also being at 30th dec though. and Kampmann by very early KO and a split versus Koscheck.

If you only count strictly 2012, Gus probably has it. Beating Shogun and Thiago convincingly over 3 rounds should mean more than a split and early KO IMO.

 

[BallStone]

Anton Kuivanen!!!

 

[HeexX]

Anton Kuivanen!!!

Losing a unanimous and winning a split versus pretty much no namers won't get you far.