O mundo do MMA volta suas atenções, na madrugada de quinta para sexta, para o The Palms Casino and Resort, em Las Vegas, palco da edição anual do World MMA Awards, o Oscar da artes marciais mistas que envolve lutas até novembro.
Há dez brasileiros concorrendo a prêmios nas 22 categorias, e o evento terá início a 1h30min da manhã. O escolhido para ser o mestre de cerimônias foi ninguém menos que Chael Sonnen, o maior rival de Anderson Silva e fonte inesgotável de polêmicas, que incluem como alvos Lyoto Machida, os irmãos Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Júnior Cigano, a ring girl Arianny Celeste. Numa de suas últimas “tiradas”, Sonnen disse que a musa do Octagon tem o mesmo QI das placas que carrega.
O palco para mais provocações está armado, já que o arquirrival Anderson, atual campeão dos pesos médios do UFC e que concorre em duas categorias (Lutador do Ano e Nocaute do Ano, sobre Vitor Belfort no UFC 126), confirmou presença na premiação e embarcou noite passada para Las Vegas.
Lyoto kicks Randy Couture: the knockout may win an award tonight. Photo by Esther Lin (publicity).
Late this Thursday night the attention of the MMA world turns to the Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, where the annual World MMA Awards, the Oscar of mixed martial arts, will unfold.
The master of ceremonies will be none other than Chael Sonnen, Anderson “Spider” Silva’s greatest nemesis, who provides an endless stream of controversy, having targeted Lyoto Machida, the Nogueira brothers, Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Junior Cigano, ring girl Arianny Celeste. In one of the more recent of his tirades to stir up controversy, he said that the ring girl had the IQ of the number she holds up.
Now the stage is set for further provocation, as archenemy Anderson, the reigning UFC middleweight champion, has been nominated for two categories (Fighter of the Year and Knockout of the Year, against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126), and he took off for the awards ceremony in Las Vegas last night.
Check out who all are in the running to win the different categories at the MMA Awards:
Fighter of the Year
Dominick Cruz, Nick Diaz, Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Jon Jones
Revelation of the Year
Donald Cerrone, Daniel Cormier, Phil Davis, Demetrious Johnson, Brian Stann
Fight of the Year
Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber (UFC 132), José Aldo vs. Mark Hominick (UFC 129), Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard (UFC 125), Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley (Strikeforce), Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann (UFC Live 3)
Submission of the Year
Chan Sung Jung on Leonard Garcia (UFC Fight Night 24), Pablo Garza on Yves Jabouin (UFC 129), Richard Hale on Nik Fekete (Bellator 38), Vinny Magalhães on Viktor Nemkov (M-1 Challenge 25), Tito Ortiz on Ryan Bader (UFC 132)
Knockout of the Year
Patricky Pitbull on Toby Imada (Bellator 38), Cheick Kongo on Pat Barry (UFC Live 5), John Makdessi on Kyle Watson (UFC 129), Lyoto Machida on Randy Couture (UFC 129), Anderson Silva on Vitor Belfort (UFC 126)
Comeback of the Year
Marloes Coenen on Liz Carmouche (Strikeforce), Cheick Kongo on Pat Barry (UFC Live 5), Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira (career), Tito Ortiz (career), Joe Warren on Joe Soto (Bellator 27)
Entrance of the Year
Yoshihiro Akiyama (UFC 133), Vitor Belfort (UFC 133), Dave Herman (UFC 131), Mark Hominick (UFC 129), Jason Mayhem Miller (DREAM 16)
Female Fighter of the Year
Marloes Coenen, Zoila Gurgel, Sarah Kaufman, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate
Referee of the Year
Herb Dean, Big John McCarthy, Dan Miragliotta, Josh Rosenthal, Mario Yamasaki
Ring-girl of the Year
Arianny Celeste, Kelli Hutcherson, Brittney Palmer, Chandella Powell, Mercedes Terrell
European Fighter of the Year
Michael Bisping, Alexander Gustafsson, Joachim Hansen, Alistair Overeem, Dennis Siver
Coach of the Year
Rafael Cordeiro, Eric Del Fierro, Cesar Gracie, Greg Jackson, Shawn Tompkins
Gym of the Year
Alliance MMA, BlackHouse, Jackson’s MMA, Roufusport, Xtreme Couture
Personality of the Year
Bruce Buffer, Jacob Stitch Duran, Joe Rogan, Bas Rutten, Bert Watson
Technical Equipment of the Year
Bad Boy, Hayabusa, Jaco, Sprawl, Venum
Media Source of the Year
Inside MMA (HDNet), MMA Fighting, MMA Live (ESPN), MMA Junkie, Sherdog
Leader of the Year
Scott Coker, Lorenzo Fertitta, Marc Ratner, Bjorn Rebney, Dana White
Promotion of the Year
BAMMA, Bellator, Dream, Strikeforce, UFC
Clothing Brand of the Year
Affliction, Bad Boy, Form, RVCA, Tapout
Equipment Brand of the Year
Bad Boy, Everlast, Hayabusa, Rival, Venum
Journalist of the Year
John Morgan, Gareth A. Davies, Josh Gross, Ariel Helwani, Ben Fowlkes