The 2008 MMA HQ MMA Awards wrap up today with our final and most prestigious award: Fighter of the Year.
- Gegard Mousasi – Gegard Mousasi burst into the mainstream of MMA’s middleweight division in 2008 winning a total of seven fights in the first nine months of the year. Mousasi started off the year by KO’ing “Cyborg” Santos and then moved on to the DREAM middleweight grand prix. Mousasi waltzed through the grand prix defeating Denis Kang, Yoon Dong Sik and Melvin Manhoef on his way to the finals. In the finals, Mousasi KO’d Ronadlo “Jacare” Souza with a brilliant up-kick from his back. Mousasi finished a brilliant 2008 widely regarded as one of the top three middleweights in the world.
- Thiago Alves – After a disappointing suspension for banned substances that kept him out most of 2007, Thiago Alves made the most of 2008 by becoming the No. 1 contender for Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title. Alves defeated three top 10 welterweights in 2008 beginning with Karo Parisyan at UFC Fight Night 13 in April. Alves then took on former welterweight champion Matt Hughes and walked right through him. Josh Koscheck was next up for Alves at UFC 90 with Alves walking away with a unanimous decision victory. Alves explosive style make him fun to watch and his young age means we will get to enjoy seeing him fight for many years to come.
- Eddie Alvarez – Eddie Alvarez would have been our No. 2 ranked fighter for fighter of the year, but he lost a fight to close out the year. Sure that loss was to Shinya Aoki and probably shouldn’t count against him, but a loss is a loss and as such it is a blemish on Alvarez’s 2008 record. Alvarez was a man on fire in 2008 with key victories over Joachim Hansen, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Andre Amade. Alvarez also earned a spot in the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix finals but had to withdraw due to injuries suffered earlier in the night.
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Caesar Gracie
John
Yael Grauer
Dale
Tyler Johnson
felo
Mike
Tony
Shawn
Ben Cartlidge
WARRRRR THIAGO!!!
I am so ready though for the 31st…. I am excited about the MAIN EVENT but I am EQUALLY excited about Silva V Machida… OMG I like both fighters a LOT, but on this one I am more attached to Silva, his style is a bit more exciting to me, he is a Chuteboxer and his role model is Wand.. so yeah he is pretty reckless, which with YOUTH can win fights… lol
hey kansas
did u happen to see the wandy vs rampage fight?i forget who lost again?
@Richard
Old news man, rub it in pal, at least I stick my neck out for the guys I like win lose or draw…
How is “Hendoism” going by the way? He have any luck with former Chuteboxer/Brazilian Anderson Silva or with Jackson either? I forget who lost those fights again?
hendoism is still alive and well matter a fact hes gonna ko franklin next week,if u would of got on sooner i would of rubbed it in sooner,oh but answer me one more question the last time wandy faught hendo who won again? i forgot.
Wand is 1-1 with Hendo…. Hendo is 0-2 in his last two fights… GO HENDO right?! LOL … Rich you pick losers.. at least my top fav’s are exciting to watch and have at least half a chance at winning, Penn, Thiago (both) and Wandy/Shogun, bet you are going for 44 year old Coleman too? lol
WOW,i pick losers.im not knocking wandy at all the guy is a beast,but since coming to the ufc hes 1-2 with a ko win over jardine.and u dumb c*ck in a fight with 2 people anyone has a half chance of winning, but i have to agree that penn is gonna win,but i could care less about a guy that obviously does steroids
you two are like little kids…
i cant wait to see Alves fight for the title, he needs to deal with his weight issue before that day comes but if he wants to be champ i guess he’ll have no choice but to get it done. im not at all convinced that St.Pierre will lose to Penn so im kinda expecting to see Alves vs. St.Pierre down the road, but ether way GSP or Penn vs. Alves would be a hell of a scrap.
Roger Huerta has decided to walk away from MMA to pursue an acting and modelling career…. LOL i guess he feels hes too pretty to be fighting.
Not much more to say about this except that after a year or so when he realizes that acting/modelling isnt what he thought it would be like, he will probaby return to fighting… hopefully…
breaking story!!!! since hearing the news about Huerta, Jorge Gurgel has decided to start a new career as fabulous hair dresser for the stars. lol
bv your joking right? he did?
LOL i wish i was joking Patrick… its sadly true, except for the part about JG hehe that was a joke.
my wife was telling me about this the other day, sucks too because win or lose im a Huerta fan. he said something about fighters not hitting there prime till mid 30s and that he still has time, i hope hes not wrong and ends up letting his prime pass him by…. then again him and bi-curious Jorge could move over to WWF and form the most unstoppable tag-team of all time lol they can be the Ambiguously-***-Duo lol.
i cant see why huerta would walk away unless he has been offered some kind of modeling/acting job?maybe he will be in scorpion king 3?
yea his whole thing about fighters hitting their prime after 30 is pretty ridiculous. The reason its considered their “prime” is because they were actually fighting up until that point, you cant just wait till your 30 then bust out and say ok im in my prime, time to start fighting… makes no sense at all.
Then his other brilliant idea about going to hollywood while hes young then returning to fighting because “it will always be there”. I thought it would be completely the other way around, fight while your young an healthy, then when you get older and amass injuries you retire and move on to something like acting. I dont think his idea of it will always be there is smart either, im sure the sport will still be around and they would welcome Huerta back no matter how long he was gone. But his skills will dwindle as the sport advances without him, his status as a top fighter will be completely gone within 2 years, so if hes thinking about any kind of title shot hes gonna have to start from square 1 again.
This kind of reminds me of Jordan going to baseball, but if he decided to do it in his prime instead of near the tail end of his career. I hope he does well, but i think this is just another 22 year old kid seeing stars and its gonna end up costing him something hes actually gifted at.
i hope Roger all the best with his new career choice and maybe he’ll end up being successful, but i will have a hard time seeing him as much more then a fighter trying to be an actor, like no matter movies Ice Cube is in he will always be the guy who was in NWA to me. and the thing you were saying about hitting your prime is exactly what i was thinking, how are you gonna know your in your prime if your not fighting? then again who knows, im Canada’s best curler i just have to spend the next 8 to 10 years working in a factory and building up my beer belly…. you’ll see lol.