Action star Dolph Lungren returns to host the 12th annual Fighters Only World MMA Awards.
“In an especially challenging year to uphold the annual tradition of the World MMA Awards, I am deeply grateful to Dolph Lundgren for hosting our show and working with our incredible production team so the great athletes in the sport of mixed martial arts can receive their well deserved night of honors and recognition, said Rob Hewitt, CEO of Fighters Only. “We are pleased to announce today that CBS Sports Network will premiere the 12th Annual World MMA Awards on Saturday, December 26th at 9:00 p.m. ET, and that the show will go on – as it has – every year since 2008. Happy holidays, stay safe, and we will see you soon for MMA’s biggest night of celebration.”
“What happens when you put Mike Tyson, Dolph Lundgren, Justin Turner and Carrot Top together?” asks Lundren. “We’re not exactly sure, but we’ll find out together when I host the 12th Annual World MMA Awards on CSB Sports Network, Saturday, December 26th at 9:00 p.m.”
Since playing the character Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, Lundgren has starred in more than 70 feature films. In addition to Creed II, he starred as King Nereus in Aquaman, along with Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe and Nicole Kidman.
Following are the Nominees for the Fighters Only 12th Annual World MMA Awards:
Male Fighter of the Year
- Henry Cejudo
- Israel Adesanya
- Justin Gaethje
- Jorge Masvidal
- Douglas Lima
Female Fighter of the Year
- Weili Zhang
- Amanda Nunes
- Valentina Shevchenko
- Kayla Harrison
- Cris Cyborg
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
- Weili Zhang
- Gilbert Burns
- Alexander Volkanovski
- Jorge Masvidal
- Petr Yan
International Fighter of the Year
- Israel Adesanya
- Weili Zhang
- Kamaru Usman
- Valentina Shevchenko
- Aung La Nsang
Fight of the Year
- Weili Zhang vs Joanna Jędrzejczyk (UFC 248)
- Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington (UFC 245)
- Israel Adesanya vs Kelvin Gastelum (UFC 236)
- Dustin Poirer vs Dan Hooker (UFC on ESPN 12)
- Josh Emmett vs Shane Burgos (UFC on ESPN 11)
Knockout of the Year
- Jorge Masvidal KOs Ben Askren (Flying Knee – UFC 239)
- Cody Garbrandt KOs Raphael Assuncao (Punch – UFC 250)
- Anthony Pettis KOs Stephen Thompson (Superman Punch – UFC on ESPN 6)
- Sean O’Malley KOs Eddie Wineland (Punch – UFC 250)
- Douglas Lima KOs Michael Page (Punch – Bellator 221)
Submission of the Year
- Brent Primus SUB Tim Wilde (Gogoplata – Bellator Birmingham)
- Bryce Mitchell SUB Matt Sayles (Twister – UFC on ESPN 7)
- Aviv Gozali SUB Eduard Muravitsky (Heelhook – Bellator 225)
- Demian Maia SUB Ben Askren (Rear-Naked Choke – UFC on ESPN+ 20)
- Misha Cirkunov SUB Jimmy Crute (Peruvian Necktie – UFC on ESPN+ 16)
Comeback of the Year
- Stipe Miocic (Fight/Career – regained title after losing to Cormier in their first fight. Was also losing the second fight until round 4)
- Eddie Alvarez (Fight/Career – losing badly to Eduard Folayang before fighting back and winning via submission. Also lost first fight)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs Alistair Overeem (Fight – Rozenstruik losing until round 5 when he TKO’d Overeem with 4 secs left)
- Peter Queally vs Ryan Scope (Fight – Queally knocked down badly in round 2, but fights back in front of a rampant Irish crowd)
- Cody Garbrandt (Career – Lost three fights in a row before coming back and KO’ing Assuncao)
Upset of the Year
- Alexander Volkanovski def. Max Holloway (UFC 245)
- Henry Corrales def. Aaron Pico (Bellator 214)
- Kama Worthy def. Devonte Smith (UFC 241)
- Kai Asakura def. Kyoji Horiguchi (Rizin FF 18)
- Timofey Nastyukhin def. Eddie Alvarez (ONE Championship 92)
Coach of the Year
- Mike Brown
- Trevor Whitmann
- Eric Albarracin
- Sayif Saud
- Eugene Bareman
Referee of the Year
- Herb Dean
- Mike Beltran
- Jason Herzog
- Marc Goddard
- Frank Trigg
Ringcard Girl of the Year
- Mercedes Terrell (Bellator)
- Jhenny Andrade (UFC)
- Louise McKie (Bellator)
- Carly Baker (UFC)
- Britanny Palmer (UFC)
Best Promotion
- Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
- Bellator
- ONE Championship
- Professional Fighters League (PFL)
Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW)
Analyst of the Year
- Daniel Cormier
- Paul Felder
- Dan Hardy
- Robin Black
- Michael Bisping
Best MMA Programming
- Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show
- Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show
- Anatomy of a Fighter
- UFC Embedded
- Dana White’s Contender Series
MMA Media Source of the Year
- ESPN
- MMA Junkie
- Sherdog
- The Athletic
- The MacLife MMA
MMA Journalist of the Year
- Brett Okamoto
- Ariel Helwani
- John Morgan
- Mike Bohn
- Gareth Davies
Gym of the Year
- American Kickboxing Academy (AKA)
- American Top Team (ATT)
- Elevation Fight Team
- Sanford MMA
- Fortis MMA
Leading Man of the Year
- Dana White, UFC
- Scott Coker, Bellator MMA
- Martin Lewandowski, KSW
- Nobuyuki Sakakibara, Rizin
- Densign White, IMMAF
MMA Personality of the Year
- Joe Rogan
- Chael Sonnen
- The Schmo
- Jon Anik
- Big John McCarthy
Fighting Spirit Award
- Dustin Poirier (Charity work with The Good Fight Foundation)
- Justin Wren (Charity work with Fight for the Forgotten)
- Robbie Lawler (Sportsmanship following loss to Ben Askren at UFC 235)
- McGregor (Charity work with donation of €1m of PPE equipment in Ireland)
- Walt Harris (Fighting Spirit – bravery to return to fighting following step daughters death)
Trainer of the Year
- Phil Daru
- George Lockhart
- Bo Sandoval
- Andre Hicks
- Sunz Singh
