It was an excellent year for local MMA in 2009. We saw several of our fighters thrive at the world level, and we saw several rookies take local MMA by storm…much more so than in recent years. I can’t remember another year when we saw seven or eight guys in consideration for rookie of the year…and what that tells me is that local MMA is growing, and the rookies that blew us away in 2009 are going to turn into stars in 2010. Normally we have a few stars locally, and it’s obvious who they are. Now it seems we have 50+ fighters who could be in local main events.

Without any further ado, our Rookie of the Year in 2009 is Rick Hawn. Rick went 5-0 in 2009 and won by KO/TKO in his first 4 fights, all in round 1. In his 5th fight, he won a UD over the very tough and talented Brendan Weafer. Weafer is a stud, has been ranked recently and was talked about by some of the local fans as one of the very best in the area. While there were many local fighters deserving of this award, the win over Weafer put it over the top for Hawn.

Instead of our normal runner up, we’re going to have several of ‘em.

Scott Nichols made his pro debut this year and went 3-0 with a win over Scott Rehm, and that’s impressive for a guy of any age, nevermind a 19 year old kid.

Shawn Galano also made his pro debut this year and went 5-0 with TKO wins. He’s rapidly making a name for himself in the HWT division, and it’s only a matter of time before he fights for a title.

James Boran went 4-0  this year and looked great in all 4 fights. While one of his fights is listed in databases as 2007, it was actually in 2009. Not sure why it’s listed as 2007, must be a typo.

Mike Zichelle went 3-0 this year with 3 TKO’s in round 1, and is one of the more popular local fghters.

Ralph Johnson also had a great year, and while I can only find 3 of his fights, I’m told he’s 5-0. Whether it’s 3-0 or 5-0, he’s been crushing people and is undefeated.

Ross Warriner went 4-0, and is primed for a big 2010.

Great job by all the rookies this year, hopefully they continue to wow us in 2010.

Our Fighter of the Year for 2009 was a BRUTAL category also with so many deserving fighters. Our winner is Rene Nazare. While he “only” had 3 fights in 2009, he beat 3 absolute studs. First was BJJ ace Brian McLaughlin, who came into the fight 5-0. Next up was RF Champion Tony Leate, followed by Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov, who is one of the best wrestlers we’ve ever seen locally. He beat 3 of the best guys he could have beaten, and was impressive in all 3.

We have a tie for runner up this year between Dennis Olson and Lee Beane. Lee has been unstoppable in all of his HWT fights this year, going 5-0 (6-0 overall) all by TKO. Dennis had a great year also, going 4-1 and beating  Mike Littlefield, Ryan Schieding, Jeff Soucie and John Manley. If he didn’t have the 1 tough loss, I have no idea how we would have come up with a winner in this category.

Our Fight of the Year was another tough one to call. We had 4 that could have won it, and it really depends on what you like. Our pick for Fight of the Year is Brian McLaughlin vs. Rene Nazare.

Again, multiple runners up between Ken Stone vs. Jay McClean, Josh key vs. Luis Felix and Chris Grandmaison vs. Aguilano Brandao.

Our Fight Team of the Year came down to 2 schools, South Shore Sport Fighting and Wai-Kru. Both had very impressive records in local shows. Both have fighters doing well in the UFC/WEC, and both have local champions. Honestly, it was too close to call, so I didn’t pick one. They both are deserving, and I can’t pick a winner, so it’s a draw this year.

Our Submission of the Year was easy this year. Saul Almeida hit an inverted peruvian neck tie over Dan O’Keefe. Seriously, most of us wouldn’t know how to set up a peruvian neck tie, let alone an inverted one…and he not only tried it, he hit it for the submission win. It was unreal. You can see the photos pf it here http://wcfphotos.com/main.php?g2_itemId=4200

Runner up was the slick arm bar Jay Fortier hit on Jeff Soucie. It was absolutely filthy, and one of the best arm bars I’ve seen, but I couldn’t have an arm bar as the best submission of the year when someone finished one of the craziest submissions we’ve ever seen.

Our KO of the Year was Jason Bennett’s headkick KO over Brendan Lehman. Headkick KO’s rule, and Jason followed that one up with a stunning KO over Glenn Allaire, so really either one could have won it.

We have a few runners up because I didn’t see all of them and everyone had different opinions on this one. Carlos Lovato’s one punch KO of Kym Sturdivant was described to me by a viewer as “straight up uncomfortable.” Anthony Capone’s KO of Steve Dunn was nominated because of how sudden and brutal it was, as well as how the capacity crowd briefly fell silent as the fan favorite went down. Tateki Matuda’s head kick KO over Aguilano Brandao made the list not because of how brutal it was, but by how big it was. Brandao is known for taking beatings, and coming back to win, and this was the first time he’d been KO’d in nearly 15 fights.

Upset of the Year goes to Josh Laberge when he defeated Chris Simmons. Knowing what we know now, it wasn’t much of an upset, but at the time Laberge was something like 3-4 and Simmons was 6-1 and talked about as the 2nd best 145er in the area behind Ken Stone.

Runner up was Christian Morecraft over Josh Diekmann. Josh came in 10-2 and has been the best HWT in this area for years, and Morecraft had only a few fights.

Most Improved Fighter of the Year goes out to Jay Fortier. He came into the year at 2-4, then dropped a tough one to Tom Moreau to drop to 2-5, then rattled off 4 wins in a row bringing his record to 6-5 overall. 

Runner up goes out to Josh LaBerge. He finished the year strong with 3 straight wins over previously ranked fighters, and he could have easily won this award, as it was another one that was too close to call.

Our Biggest Heart award goes out to Tom Giove for coming from behind twice for 3rd round submissions to keep his RF Title this year. Come from behind wins are always great, but two of them by 3rd round submission in 6 months is awesome.

Runner up goes out to John Manley for pushing the pace, and never quitting in his fight with Dennis Olson. While he took a beating, and was way behind on the score cards, he kept coming, and never stopped trying to win…then threw up. That’s pretty awesome right there. If you have to throw up after a fight, yet you fight it out until the final bell, you’ve got some serious heart.

Our last award is our favorite moment of the year award. While there were so many big things that happened this year, none could compete with the UFC announcing that they were coming to Boston in August 2010. This is exactly what all the guys pushing for regulation were hoping for.

I also want to take a minute to thank a few people. Joe Esposito has been at a ton of show over the past few years, and helps with rules as well as the application of the rules, interpretation of the rules as well as conflict resolution…and he does it for free. Another guy I’d like to mention is John Hagopian. He is the glue that keeps MMA regulation together in NH. Without John, I’m not sure we’d have MMA in NH, and all the growth and expansion of rules, among other things can be tied to John. Matt Peterson is a State Rep in Maine, and he played a huge role in getting MMA sanctioned in ME. Matt is a huge fan of MMA, and hosts the New England Fights Podcast. Ryan Parker plays a huge part in the behind the scenes stuff that takes place at many MMA events, and is always helping out a ton of MMA promotions. Without Ryan and guys like him, the shows wouldn’t be as smooth as they are. I’d like to thank Joe, John, Matt and Ryan for all the work they did this year.

Congratulations to all of the award winners, and runner’s up (or runner ups?). I’m excited for a big 2010 for local MMA, and if any of you have links to pictures, or video of any of the fighters, or fights mentioned above, please post them so the readers can see some of great fights mentioned above.

Thanks guys!