2009 Bloody Elbow Reader Awards: Breakout Fighter of the Year
by Mike Fagan on Jan 21, 2010 11:13 AM EST
in MMA News
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Candidates for Breakout Fighter of the Year were in no short supply for 2009. Jon Jones. Marius Zaromskis. Cain Velasquez. Mo Lawal. Junior dos Santos. Brian Bowles. Each guy made a solid case for the award.
Yet, among all that talent, one guy stood above the rest.
Jose Aldo began 2009 as a blue chip prospect to keep your eye on. He entered the year with a 12-1 pro record and two victories in the WEC.
In the blink of an eye, he racked up three first round knockouts and found himself knocking on Mike Brown's door. When Brown answered, Aldo ransacked his home and stole his featherweight belt from him.
Full results after the break.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total | |
| Jose Aldo | 26 | 8 | 5 | 159 |
| Jon Jones | 10 | 11 | 10 | 93 |
| Marius Zaromskis | 9 | 9 | 7 | 79 |
| Cain Velasquez | 5 | 4 | 6 | 43 |
| Brian Bowles | 2 | 4 | 7 | 29 |
| Junior dos Santos | 7 | 6 | 27 | |
| Mo Lawal | 3 | 2 | 2 | 23 |
| Bibiano Fernandes | 1 | 3 | ||
| Lyoto Machida | 1 | 1 | ||
| Dan Hardy | 1 | 1 |
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Shit. I’ll edit them in when I get home.
Twitter: @Mike_Fagan_13
http://www.sackmikegoldberg.com
by Mike Fagan on Jan 21, 2010 11:39 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Any win by flying knee is bad ass. Aldo I believe was the best option. From zero to title holder in a year is impressive. (that’s cool if you knew about him before his wec career, I didn’t wanna fight about it?)
1/20/2010- Has been declared BROCK IS BACK BITCHES day B.I.B.B. for short. Im working on making it a national holiday
by II SMASH II on Jan 21, 2010 11:15 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Jose Aldo, no question. Zaromskis would be my second choice… they both fought and won 4 times last year, but head kicking the shit out of some mid-level guys in Japan isn’t as impressive as beating the #1 ranked guy in your division and taking his belt.
All this post needed to say was Jose Aldo. He is that good. I want to see him go up to 155 and fight in the UFC, they sure as hell will need him after Kenny destroys Gomi.
by Polyh3dron on Jan 21, 2010 11:24 AM EST via mobile reply actions
YUP. I’d like to see him beat faber, then beat one of cerrone/ bendo/ varner, then go to the ufc, fight kenny/ daddy/, then belt time. i think its all possible
by Austin Martin on Jan 21, 2010 11:39 AM EST up reply actions
I'd like that
Maybe I’m calling a guy unbeatable a little too soon, but if he beats Faber what’s left at 145 in the WEC. I just don’t see a lot of guys getting past Mike Brown and Brown doesn’t have the tools to beat Aldo.
I said it a few weeks ago
but the next defense should be the winner of Grispi vs. Gamburyan. Or just Gamburyan after one more win and Grispi after two. Worth noting is my belief (based on totally guessing, correct me if I’m wrong) that Aldo vs. Grispi would be the youngest major title fight ever. They are 23 and 21 years old, respectively.
To put that in perspective, if you combine the two then they still are younger than Randy Couture. When Aldo was learning how to combine words into phrases and use a grown up toilet, Grispi’s mother was in her third trimester and Randy was a 25 year old alternate on the US Olympic wrestling team. New generation of fighters, welcome!
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
I don't know, haven't heard any announcements.
He hasn’t fought since July either, which I do not like. As it stands, WEC 47 needs one more main card fight (assuming Nunes vs. Garcia gets main carded, which it totally should be) and apparently WEC joined the Strikeforce/DREAM alliance, since TBA is rumored to fight Chad Mendez. I’d love to see him on that card, especially since there are months between WEC events and he needs to get back in the cage.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
It took me an entire day to write this because all I could think of was, “Aldo, obv.”
Twitter: @Mike_Fagan_13
http://www.sackmikegoldberg.com
by Mike Fagan on Jan 21, 2010 11:47 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
All I could think was this:
Aldo | oblA
Guillotine.
by iiowyn on Jan 21, 2010 8:02 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
"In the blink of an eye, he racked up three first round knockouts and found himself knocking on Mike Brown's door. When Brown answered, Aldo ransacked his home and stole his featherweight belt from him."
People take note, that is some quality writing.
People take note
This is a quality attempt at sucking up
1/20/2010- Has been declared BROCK IS BACK BITCHES day B.I.B.B. for short. Im working on making it a national holiday
by II SMASH II on Jan 21, 2010 12:04 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 4 recs
Seriously?
To what end would I need to “suck up”? What could Mike, or any member of the staff here do for me that would entice some sucking up.
Frankly, not to Mike specifically, but I have been critical of some of the staff here in the past, especially in the pro/anti Zuffa disucssions.
Lastly, but most importantly, that was a very nicely written description of the fight and I though he deserved a bit of complement for his effort.
The Ransacking of Mike Brown's Home
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
Disagree
Aldo is obviously a great fighter but please look at his competition other than Brown. Let’s take a look at his 2009 opponents: Rolando Perez 4-4, Chris Mickle 27-14 lost 3 of last 4 fights, Cub Swanson 14-3 but hasn’t fought top competition to get that record. Jon Jones fought and dominated much better competition. Same with Cain Valesquez. I like Aldo but he’s getting too much credit when having only beat one top guy this year.
if by dominated, you mean decisioned two guys, then lost due to DQ( i saw the fight, i know what he did, he still lost because he was dumb), and then submitted the world beater in jake obrien, who has ALSO lost 3 of 4, while NOT fighting the #1 in his weight class and crushing him within 2 rounds, then i guess you’re right.
OH WAIT
by Austin Martin on Jan 21, 2010 1:56 PM EST up reply actions
TO EXPOUND
DID YOU SEE THAT FLYING DOUBLE KNEE? CMONNNNNNNNNNNN
by Austin Martin on Jan 21, 2010 1:56 PM EST up reply actions
You can’t be serious. Are you putting Rolando Perez, Chris Mickle and Cub Swanson on the same talent level as Jake O’Brien, Stephan Bonnar and Matt Hammil? The flying double knee was impressive but it was against Cub Swanson. I think Aldo is absolutely the best in his weight class but he wasn’t breakout fighter of the year.
Also Jake O’Brien three losses were to Arlovski, Bones Jones and Cain Velasquez. That’s top competition.
What makes Cain top competition again?
If he manhandles Nog, I’ll give some ground. When he fights somebody with ANY sprawl whatsoever and still handles them, I’ll agree that he unquestionably deserves to be 10.
And when the argument is that Jones isn’t top competition, you aren’t allowed to say “But this guy lost to Jones, who is top competition.” Just sayin’.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
Dude come on Hamill was out before that elbow even came down. Mazzagatti is an idiot.
by Polyh3dron on Jan 21, 2010 2:15 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Jones beat a washed up Stephan Bonnar, a pre-lim level Jake O’Brien, and got DQ’d due to lack of experience in 2009. Velasquez also beat pre-lim level Jake O’Brien, Decisioned Kongo, and his only really impressive showing was beating Rothwell. Aldo BUZZSAW’d through the WEC’s Featherweight Division and took out MTB. P4P Mike Brown is better than any of the competition that either of them has faced.
And to quote amadeus.
DID YOU SEE THAT FLYING DOUBLE KNEE? CMONNNNNNNNNNNN
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
So does this mean you think Faber will beat Aldo?
by Polyh3dron on Jan 21, 2010 2:07 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
That one top guy was the best Featherweight in the world
If Derek Jeter clubbed a baby seal on earth day while wearing a mink coat and crocodile skin boots while burning tires on an iceberg, the reaction would be "Its OK Derek, you’re a Yankee." -First mammal to wear pants
Yeah its called "Breakout Fighter of the Year"
When you go from fighting no one to consensus best in weight class that’s a massive Breakout. We can argue about the competition but its really where you end up that matters for this award.
Aldo’s sack should by dry by the time you guys get off of it. The level of competition he faced in ‘09 was not that of some of these other guys. I’m not questioning his talent. I’m talking about his 09 wins.
Its also what he did to Brown
He didn’t just flash knock out the best P4P guy. Aldo flat out embarrassed him demonstrating that Brown had no answer.
This x 10.
Seriously, how does curb-stomping the best fighter in your weight class not qualify you for break-out fighter of the year by itself? But to go a bit further, that means Aldo beat the #2, and #19 ranked FW fighters (as well as some unranked fighters; not to mention that Brown was #1 when they fought), while Bones has a DQ loss to the #18 LHW (as well as victories over some unranked fighters).
So if we’re basing things on resume, who has beaten more ranked fighters? Jones = 0, Zaromskis =1, Aldo = 2.
He dominates everyone he got matched up with, then dominated the #1 guy in the division.
That’s the definition of a breakout year.
Bloody Elbow guys: I'm bob0912 on MMA Playground
i hope vujacic gets hit by a truck hauling stray cats that claw his eyes out before using his skull as a brood den.--kalone
by JamesR on Jan 21, 2010 2:20 PM EST via mobile reply actions
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