The 411 MMA Year-End Awards: Part Three – The Breakout Fighters of 2016

Welcome back to the MMA Top 5, year-end awards edition! What we are going to is take a topic and all the writers here on 411 MMA will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, and the end, based on where all of these topics rank on people’s list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It looks a little like this…

1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd – 3
4th – 2
5th – 1

At the end we tally the scores and get our overall top 5! It’s highly non-official and final, like WAMMA. From best and worst fight to best fighter and KO of the year, the staff will come together to share out best. Thanks for joining us, and lets get down to work.

1. Cody Garbrandt – This year, Cody went from a 7-0 24-year-old fighter to becoming the man who knocked off Dominick Cruz and is now the reigning UFC bantamweight champion. Heading into his first PPV main event fight, he had knocked out his last three opponents, (most recently disposing of Takeya Mizugaki in 48 seconds). In the spring, he handed Thomas Almeida his first loss in a fight between two undefeated prospects. At UFC 207, he dominated Cruz for most of their five round fights, knocking him down several times and has all the tools to be a champion for years.

1. Cody Garbrandt – I said it last year, my biggest qualification for breakout star is who went the furthest, and no one went further than Cody Garbrandt in 2016. He started the year as a promising but unranked prospect and closed it by defeating the best bantamweight in MMA history to become the UFC champion. I’m not sure there were too many fighters with better years in general, much less basically unknown prospects.

1. Cody Garbrandt – Garbrandt started the year as a pretty unassuming prospect for the bantamweight division. We knew he was a product of Team Alpha Male, but other Alpha Male products have gotten a ton of hype before to not pan out or to fail numerous times at the contender level. Garbrandt then proceeded to go 4-0 in 2016. He started the year as a prospect, and ended it as champion. He rattled off three straight first-round knockout wins. It was enough to earn a title shot at Dominick Cruz at UFC 207. Despite being a sizable underdog, Garbrandt put on a masterful performance and defeat the greatest bantamweight fighter in history. No one had ever done to Cruz at bantamweight what Garbrandt was able to do. But the reason he’s the breakout is really because again, he was just a prospect at the start of the year, but broke out with his string of quick knockouts and quickly made an impact in his division. I think few expected him to dominate and crush Thomas Almeida like he did earlier this year. Almeida was another hot prospect for bantamweight who was getting recognition for his knockouts. 2017 looks to be a very interesting year with Garbrandt on top of the bantamweight division.

1. Cody Garbrandt – How can Cody Garbrandt not be the breakout fighter of the year? No fighter in 2016 started the year out as a prospect and climbed the ladder to be crowned a UFC Champion at the close of the year, with the exception of Cody Garbrandt. And he did it all with such dominance—going 4-0 with 3 first round knockouts. And he didn’t just beat the most dominate bantamweight champion to this point in MMA history with a lucky one punch knockout. Nope. Garbrandt went on to outclass Dominick Cruz at his own game to win the bantamweight strap. I’ll tell you what, not too many people expected Garbrandt to win the belt, let alone make it this far in such a short time. Garbrandt is the real deal and it’s exciting to think of what 2017 will bring for the young man if he keeps up his ways.

1. Cody Garbrandt – Not only did highly touted prospect Cody Garbrandt go 4-0 in the year, but he beat Dominick Cruz, a man many thought would not lose for a long time, and not many gave Cody Garbrandt a chance to be the man that would beat the king. But he did, not only proving that he could compete on Cruz’s level, but also dominating him to win the title. Garbrandt going 4-0 in 2016 to go 11-0 overall, three via stoppage and also winning the title to close out the year secured him the award with ease in my mind.

5. Yair Rodriguez – 5 points

4. Doo Ho Choi – 9 points

T2. Jimmie Rivera – 15 points

T2. Amanda Nunes – 15 points

1. Cody Garbrandt – 25 points

THE 2015 411 MMA AWARDS:
* The Biggest Stories of 2016: Zuffa Sells UFC to WME-IMG for $4 BILLION – 29 points
* The Most Disappointing Fighters of 2016: Johny Hendricks – 28 points
* The Breakout Fighters of 2016: Cody Garbrandt – 25 points
* The Worst Fights of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 19th)

* The Best Submissions of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 23rd)
* The Best Knockouts of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 24th)
* The Best Fights of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 25th)
* Fighter of the Year: TO BE DETERMINED (January 26th)