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The 411 MMA Year-End Awards: Part Eight – The Best Fighter of 2015
Welcome back to the MMA Top 5, year-end awards edition! What we are going to is take a topic and all the writers here on 411 MMA will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, and the end, based on where all of these topics rank on people’s list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It looks a little like this…
1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd – 3
4th – 2
5th – 1
At the end we tally the scores and get our overall top 5! It’s highly non-official and final, like WAMMA. From best and worst fight to best fighter and KO of the year, the staff will come together to share out best. Thanks for joining us, and lets get down to work.
5. Luke Rockhold
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Holy Holm
2. Rafael dos Anjos
1. Conor McGregor – There’s no fighter bigger than Conor McGregor right now, in and out of the octagon. He not only proved himself inside the cage, but he beat the two top featherweights in the world to do it. In fact, he only needed 13 seconds to stop the long reigning champion Jose Aldo. In the process, he drew huge PPV numbers and enormous live gates—one being the biggest in Las Vegas in UFC history. He’s generating big business and record revenue for the UFC and he is well on his way to taking the game to a whole new level. 2015 was Conor McGregor’s year by a far margin. Sure, there are other fighters who made big ways in 2015, but nowhere near the rogue wave that was McGregor.
5. Fabricio Werdum
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Holly Holm
2. Conor McGregor
1. Rafael dos Anjos – As of two months ago, RDA has been in the UFC for seven years. How rare is it that a fighter spends that much time in the company before he emerges as the best fighter in a division? Well, we know it just happened. Rafael beat Anthony Pettis at a point when “Showtime” appeared to be so much better than every other lightweight. It was a dominant five-round decision win in which each judge scored each round for dos Anjos. Months later, RDA destroyed Cowboy Cerrone in 66 seconds and enters 2016 as perhaps the most dominant UFC lightweight champion since B.J. Penn.
5. Rafael dos Anjos
4. Luke Rockhold
3. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2. Holly Holm
1. Conor McGregor – Conor McGregor went 3-0 in 2015, he made people actually care about the featherweights, he won the interim title, he then won the proper title and finally he made a metric-fuck-ton of money for himself and the UFC. There really is no other choice for me.
5. Max Holloway
4. Holly Holm
3. Frankie Edgar
2. Rafael dos Anjos
1. Conor McGregor – Conor McGregor trashed Dennis Siver in early 2015 in a fight many assumed was a lay-up for McGregor but the Irishman went on to cement his status as a force to be reckoned with by going on to finish #1 ranked Featherweight contender Chad Mendes at UFC 189 in July, all leading up the historic 13 second KO of long-reigning Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo at UFC 194. Conor McGregor led UFC 194 to the biggest live gate in Las Vegas in UFC history with over $10 million (the second highest was UFC 189, which by no coincidence was also headlined by McGregor). It is already estimated that Aldo-McGregor drew well over 1 million PPV buys. Conor McGregor is well on his way to becoming the absolute biggest star the UFC has ever seen. Bigger than Ronda Rousey. Bigger than Georges St. Pierre. Bigger than Chuck Liddell. If McGregor can keep this momentum rolling, I can’t imagine that we’re very far away from the “Notorious” one headlining a UFC event which breaks the all-time buyrate record of 1.6 million, long-held by UFC 100 in 2009. For both his in-cage performances as well as the buzz and revenue he has generated, Conor McGregor is without a doubt the Best Fighter of 2015.
5. Luke Rockhold
4. Rafael dos Anjos
3. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2. Holly Holm
1. Conor McGregor – While there will always be differing opinions, and others have laid claim to the crown with good years, 2015 was the year of Conor McGregor. He came into the UFC with his brash attitude, making huge claims of dominance, beating champions, winning title and making the big money. And he did everything he said he would. Liddell and Lensar have been long gone, GSP left and Silva was dominated. Rousey lost, and Conor McGregor not only delivered on his promises and won the title, but he became the biggest draw in the sport. Right now this is Conor McGregor’s world and we’re just living in it.
5. Rafael dos Anjos
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Holly Holm
2. Luke Rockhold
1. Conor McGregor – No one else should take up this slot except Conor McGregor. McGregor certainly had a banner year where he went on an incredible run and went on his warpath to the title. 2015 started strong as he took out Dennis Siver. After that, his title hopes were delayed and he ended up getting an arguably tougher match-up in Chad Mendes. It was the type of challenge McGregor had not yet faced before. It was another mountain McGregor climbed. At UFC 194, McGregor capped off the year by taking out the featherweight champion Jose Aldo in 13 seconds. It was unreal. No MMA fighter truly owned 2015 quite like Conor McGregor.
5. Luke Rockhold
4. Rafael dos Anjos
3. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2. Holly Holm
1. Conor McGregor – I don’t think this is even up for too much debate when you consider all of the factors. McGregor went 3-0 in 2015, now beating Dennis Siver isn’t a huge deal but the fact that McGregor drew a monster ratings number for a main event that didn’t start until nearly 1am eastern standard time spoke volumes about his eventual rise to stardom. He followed that up by finishing Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo, drawing substantial PPV numbers in both of those fights, to become the featherweight champion. No one had a better year than Conor McGregor, no one drew more money than Conor McGregor, and no one easily dispatched two of the top three guys in their division like McGregor did. This was his year and it’s not even a close race.
5. Luke Rockhold – 9 points
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – 15 points
3. Rafael dos Anjos – 19 points
2. Holly Holm – 24 points
1. Conor McGregor – 34 points
THE 2015 411 MMA AWARDS:
* The Biggest Stories of 2015: The Rise and Fall of Ronda Rousey – 23 points
* The Most Disappointing Fighters of 2015: Kelvin Gastelum – 18 points
* The Breakout Fighters of 2015: Joanna Jedrzejczyk – 34 points
* The Worst Fights of 2015: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Konstantin Erokhin – TUF 22 Finale – 23 points
* The Best Submissions of 2015: Ronda Rousey (armbar) vs. Cat Zingano, UFC 184 – 28 Points
* The Best Knockouts of 2015: Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor, UFC 194 – 32 points
* The Best Fights of 2015: Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald – UFC 189 – 34 points
* Fighter of the Year: Conor McGregor – 34 points
On behalf of the 411 MMA staff, we thank you for following the awards columns, and hope that you continue to support the 411 MMA section.
