epic
Leon Edwards’ head kick KO, Conor McGregor’s teammate’s unseen submission, Glover Teixeria vs Jiri Prochakza, Hasbulla vs Henry Cejudo and Alex Pereira winning middleweight gold – MMA end of year awards
An epic 2022 of knockouts, submissions, brawls, and funny moments is about to come to an end, so it’s time to name the winners of talkSPORT’s annual MMA awards.
Next year is already shaping up to be massive, with Conor McGregor expected to make his comeback from injury, Leon Edwards defending his welterweight title at UFC 286 in London, and a massive middleweight title rematch between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya set to go down.
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Fighter of the Year – Alex Pereira
At the midpoint of 2022, Alexander Volankvoski seemed like a shoo-in for this award after becoming the pound-for-pound number one with wins over Max Holloway and Chan Sung Jung.
However, the Australian hasn’t fought since July as he focuses on bulking up ahead of his lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 on February 12.
Volkanovski’s inactivity has allowed another UFC star to edge him out as this year’s best after he picked up three octagon wins and a world title during the last 12 months.
Alex Pereira started his year with a first-ever decision win, as he dominated Bruno Silva over three rounds to earn himself a number one contender’s fight at UFC 276.
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Poatan then knocked out streaking middleweight star Sean Strickland inside one round to earn himself a title shot against his old kickboxing rival, Israel Adesanya.
After twice beating Stylebender in another sport, Pereira did so again as he rallied to stop the New Zealander in the fifth round of their UFC 281 title fight in November.
The Brazilian winning UFC gold not only because he stopped one of the most dominant champions in the division’s history, but also due to the fact it was just his eighth MMA fight
We now look forward to the 2023 title rematch.
Knockout of the Year – Leon Edwards
There was only ever going to be one fighter taking home this award in 2022 and that’s Leon Edwards after his title-winning knockout at UFC 278 in August.
Rocky was down big on the scorecards heading into the final round of his welterweight title bout against Kamaru Usman, who beat him when they first fought seven years prior.
Against all odds, the Edwards landed a picture-perfect head kick with just seconds left, and it knocked the former-pound-for-pound king out cold.
UFC commentator and popular podcast Joe Rogan called the Englishman’s one-shot KO ‘the best head kick knockout of all time’ and it’s hard to disagree with him.
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Edwards and Usman were expected to fight for a third time at UFC 286 in London on March 18, but Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thomspon recently suggested the UFC is looking for an alternative opponent for the second British champ’s first title defence.
Although Edwards’ scored one of the most epic KOs in UFC history this year, two fighters have every right to feel hard done by for missing out on this award.
Molly McCann’s spinning elbow finish at UFC London in March was the best on offer at the halfway point of the year, but it was closely followed by Michael Chandler’s front kick KO of Tony Ferguson.
Submission of the Year – Luca Poclit
The UFC is often the home of the year’s best when it comes to MMA but in terms of great submissions, you’ve got to look outside the sport’s premier promotion in 2022.
Scottish MMA star Stevie Ray can consider himself unlucky for missing out on this award after catching former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in a modified twister at PFL in June.
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However, he was outdone by the little-known prospect Luca Poclit who put his opponent, Dante Schiro, to sleep with a previously unseen choke at Bellator 285 in September.
The Moldovan, who trains at the same gym as Conor McGregor, was announced the winner by ‘modified arm-triangle' but it has since been revealed that the submission has a different name around his gym because of how frequently he uses it.
“I did it many times in the gym, I admit that I didn’t always succeed, but there are boys who still fell asleep, even during training,” Poclit told talkSPORT.
“Anyway, the most important thing is that I managed to do it in the fight. I don’t know if it has a name, I’ve never seen this fighting technique before, but after the viral videos I understand that everyone calls it ‘Luca-Nator.’”
Fight of the Year – Glover Teixeira vs Jiri Prochazka
The UFC 275 main event between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka really did have everything and it has stood up as our Fight of the Year after leading at the midway point of 2022.
Both men went toe-to-toe for four rounds, exchanging brutal punches and grappling techniques before the fight descended into chaos in the final frame.
‘The Czech Samurai’ was down on the scorecards heading into the final round and seemed to be on the verge of being taken out by Teixeira before mounting the most unlikely turnaround.
Prochazka somehow summoned the energy to reverse the position on the ground and quickly lock up a rear-naked choke submission with just 30 seconds left on the clock to become the new king at 205lbs.
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A rematch between the two was supposed to go down at UFC 282 but Prochazka suffered a serious shoulder injury and he has since vacated his title.
The 205lb strap was on the line when Jan Blachowicz fought Magomed Ankalaev in the makeshift UFC 282 main event but remains vacant after their draw and will be up for grabs again when Teixeira takes on Jamahal Hill at UFC 283 on January 22.
Gilbert Burns vs Khamzat Chimaev, David Onama vs Nate Landwehr, Matt Schnell vs Su Mudaerji, and Stephen Thompson vs Kevin Holland were all worthy of this prize.
However, Prochazka and Teixeira take it home as their fight had the highest stakes of any barnburner that has happened in the past 12 months.
Funniest Moment of the Year – Hasbulla vs Henry Cejudo
UFC star Paddy Pimblett appeared to have 2022’s funniest moment in the bag for hilariously calling out Mark Zuckerberg back in March.
The Baddy locked in the guillotine choke to finish Rodrigo ‘Kazula’ Vargas in their lightweight fight at UFC London before using his post-fight speech to bash the Meta CEO after he was banned from Instagram.
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Pimblett said: “Mark Zuckerberg, lad, I’m going to punch your head in, I am sick of you.
“Sick of you shutting my Instagram accounts down when all I do is help charities and help people with mental health problems. You’re the biggest bully in the world.”
Pimblett was outdone in November when the UFC’s newest signing, Hasbulla, came face-to-face with former dual-weight champion Henry Cejudo for the first time.
‘Triple C’ uploaded a clip from their meeting to Twitter that showed Hasbulla hilariously attacking him during their mock staredown and the footage quickly went viral.
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It isn’t the first time Hasbulla has thrown hands at a big sports star, as he previously got into it with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkaonovski and NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.
And it most likely won’t be the last because he is now signed to the UFC and is sure to be a prominent fixture at their events in the coming years.
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