Fighters Only has officially announced the third annual World MMA Awards is set for December 1, 2010 at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Las Vegas, NV (USA) – Fighters Only, the world’s biggest Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) magazine, announces the launch of its 3rd annual awards today. Devised to celebrate success and achievement within the MMA industry, the World Mixed Martial Arts Awards gives fans across the globe the chance to cast their vote on which athletes, brands, and industry professionals have made the greatest impact on the sport in the last 12 months. Voting will take place across 20 different award categories including Fighter of the Year, Knockout of the Year, and Best Lifestyle Apparel.
“The anticipation for the 2010 awards has been a little overwhelming,” says Rob Hewitt, President and CEO of Fighters Only. “I couldn’t be more thrilled by the potential of this year’s event. Last year’s ceremony opened many people’s eyes: ‘seeing is believing’ so more and more people want to get behind the awards. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who’s supported us in making the World MMA Awards a landmark occasion in the industry’s calendar, and appeal to the fans to let their voices be heard. ”
2009’s incredibly successful event saw a who’s who of MMA walk up the red carpet. The Fighters Only World MMA Awards is set to return even bigger and better with a live ceremony held on Wednesday December 1st 2010 in the exclusive Pearl Concert Theatre inside the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. This black-tie event will be sponsored by Bodybuilding.com, the global leader in online sports nutrition.
Payout Perspective:
Fighters Only has really been the only group to gain any sort of traction and recognition for its annual award ceremony among both the fans and industry people. This has largely been facilitated through the buy-in at Zuffa; a veritable who’s who in the MMA community attended last year’s event, including Dana White, Georges St-Pierre and more.
Perhaps the only criticism laid against Fighters Only is that they’ve pandered too much to Zuffa fights; last year’s awards were dubbed the “Zuffa Awards” by hardcore cynics. However, it’s difficult to fault Fighters Only when the nominees and awards are fan-voted, and upwards of 80% of the MMA we watch on television comes from the UFC or WEC.
Even if last year’s awards did cater mostly to Zuffa, it is still amazing that a non-Zuffa sponsored event was that successful. It was held in Vega, Zuffa turf, and also in America, so it is natural that it would lean more heavily on American MMA content. Also, when an organization has almost every top ten fighter in each weight class inder contract, they should be catered to. The football Hall of Fame certainly caters to the NFL after all, despite all of the indoor and Canadian leagues.