2019 Nose Awards for top MMA performances: Rozenstruik wins breakout fighter

Ariel Helwani is an MMA reporter at ESPN. Follow him on Twitter at @arielhelwani.

Behold the 2019 Helwani Nose Awards.

This is the seventh year in a row that I’ve done this and I have to say that this might have been the toughest year yet.

I agonized over a bunch of these categories for weeks (in particular male and female fighter of the year, coach of the year and fighters of the decade), but in the end, there must be a winner. Yes, I even considered naming co-winners, a la the 1995 NBA Rookie of the Year award, but that felt like a cop-out.

So, here we are with the most comprehensive awards in MMA history.

Watch the show here and check back here for analysis as the winners are announced.

Submission of the year: Bryce Mitchell def. Matt Sayles via Twister (Watch this fight)

It was either this one of Misha Cirkunov‘s Peruvian necktie versus Jimmy Crute. Both just the second in UFC history. No wrong answer here, but the Twister is a little more rare, so I sided with that one.

Round of the year: Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236, Round 5 (Watch this fight)

Adesanya told his corner he was willing to die going into this round. That is legendary stuff, and the final stanza of this incredible battle was just as legendary.

Breakout fighter of the year: Jairzinho Rozenstruik

The Surinamese fighter went 4-0 in 2019 and won all his fights via knockout, including a main event fight versus Alistair Overeem last month. No one knew who he was a year ago and now he’s about to headline another show versus Francis Ngannou. That’s a breakout year.

Poster of the year: Every Rizin poster

This Rizin poster is tremendous pic.twitter.com/whcv9vhuq4

Rizin crushed the poster department last year. Each event was better than the previous one. Impossible to pick just one, but they were the easy pick here with Invicta FC’s batch coming in at number 2.

Honorable Menschen of the year: Justin Wren, Dustin Poirier, Cris Cyborg, Deborah Woodley (with Kamaru Usman), Daniel Cormier, Max Holloway

The six went above and beyond, doing good work in 2019:

Justin Wren’s work with an anti-bullying campaign as part of his Fight for the Forgotten Foundation

Dustin Poirier with his Good Fight Foundation, which has partnered with Fight for the Forgotten

Cris Cyborg helping with water and land initiatives in Uganda, partnering with Fight for the Forgotten

Tyron Woodley’s mother Deborah encouraging an emotional Kamaru Usman after Usman beat her son

Daniel Cormier’s work with the Gilroy (Calif.) High School wrestling team; · Max Holloway’s class in defeat and setting example for son.

Best of the Decade:

Male fighter of the decade – Jon Jones. I struggled with this one a lot because of his PED transgressions, but I settled on Jones (over Khabib Nurmagomedov and Demetrious Johnson) because of the level of competition he faced — and beat — all decade long.

Female fighter of the decade – Amanda Nunes. She started the decade not impressively (at one point she was 3-3 in her last six fights), but ended it by beating every notable name and former champion available. Her shocking knockout of Cris Cyborg in 2018 sealed the deal for me.

Male impact fighter of the decade – Conor McGregor. He became the face of the UFC and the biggest draw in the history of the sport — by far. Easy one.

Female impact fighter of the decade – Ronda Rousey. She opened the door for women to fight in the UFC and then carried the during an incredible run between 2013 to 2015.

Fight of the decade – Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, UFC 165. Not only was this my fight of the decade, I also think it is the greatest UFC fight of all time. Incredible drama from start to finish because Jones looked so invincible at the time and no one gave Gustafsson a chance going in.

Still to come:

Female fighter of the year

Promo of the year

Upset of the year

Coach of the year

Knockout of the year

Male fighter of the year

Comeback of the year

Most improved fighter of the year

Fight of the year

Story, event, crowd and rivalry of the year
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