2013 Awards: Men’s Fighter of the Year

Men’s Fighter of the Year: Demetrious Johnson

The “safe” pick for this award is probably Chris Weidman, but Johnson eeked it out for us, having defeated three quality challengers and putting the icing on the cake by stopping Joseph Benavidez by KO in the first round.  Not only that, but Johnson was the top-ranked Flyweight for the entire calendar year.  He is well on his way to surpassing the three-headed Japanese dragon (Yamaguchi, Urushitani, Kojima) in the All-Time Flyweight rankings.  Some would argue that he has shot past them already, but for us, he needs more tenure in the division.

2nd Place: Chris Weidman

Many will doubt one of his wins against Silva and some would doubt both, but you can’t argue that he scored two official wins over one of the top two or three greatest fighters in the history of the sport.

3rd Place: Cain Velasquez

Solid contender “Bigfoot” Silva and easily the next-best in the division, Junior dos Santos, really had nothing for Velasquez in the two 2013 matchups with the champion.  Velasquez is now one of the top several Heavyweights in history and it will be interesting to see how close he can come to the legendary Fedor.