Voting is now open for the 12th annual World MMA Awards. Head here to vote for your favourite fighters and MMA personalities.
Fighters Only has extended the nomination period from 12 months to 18 months (1st January 2019 – 30th June 2020) to best account for all global MMA action and performances.
The star-studded, black-tie 2020 World MMA Awards event will be held in October 2020 on a date and location to be announced.
In the lead-up to the big show, we are profiling each of the 12th annual World MMA Awards nominations.
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Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington is nominated for the Fight of the Year in the 12th annual World MMA Awards.
At the tail end of 2019, Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington fought a bloody battle for the UFC welterweight championship at UFC 245.
Usman, the defending champion, and Covington – a former UFC interim champion at 170 pounds – have never seen eye-to-eye during their respective MMA careers and fought like there was no love lost between them.
It was one of the first true grudge-led title fights to materialise in the UFC since Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor and both men fought hard to hurt each other as much as possible.
Despite each man’s extensive credentials as talented wrestlers, neither man resorted to grappling in any sense in the early rounds and were unwilling to concede the centre of the Octagon to the other in this brutal brawl.
Covington started the fight strongly, displaying the kind of striking output and accuracy we have come to expect of him since he out-struck Robbie Lawler in the fight that earned him his shot at Usman’s belt.
But “The Nigerian Nightmare” stood firm and landed strikes of his own on the counter in addition to putting in some nice bodywork to tire his opponent.
The fight was close but took a turn in the third round.
One of Usman’s aforementioned counters caught “Chaos” as he overextended on a missed punch, appearing to break Covington’s jaw.
Somehow, Covington showed tremendous grit to come out and scrap again in the fourth round, arguably taking that round despite such an injury.
But the broken jaw soon caught up with Covington.
Sensing he could be behind on the judges’ scorecards, Usman stepped his striking up another gear in the fifth round. He scored multiple knockdowns, but Covington scrambled back to his feet. Then a final straight right sent Covington back down to the canvas and Usman capitalised on this occasion, raining down ground and pound to force the stoppage.
From start to finish, both men gave it their all in the cage and that’s why it is nominated as a Fight of the Year candidate in the 12th annual World MMA Awards.
Is Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington your Fight of the Year?
Voting is now open for the 12th annual World MMA Awards.
Head here to vote for your favourite fighters and MMA personalities.