2014 CMCS Awards

CagedMinds_CombatSportsNews_A

2014 was the first full year for cagedminds.com to be covering combat sports and I thought I would cap off our first full year with the CMCS (Caged Minds Combat Sports) Awards for 2014. .

These awards are based on my sole opinion.

NM Boxing Awards

2014 NM Boxing Knockout of the Year

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
January 26th. Return of the Warrior Angelo Leo def. Micheal Herrera by KO 0:48, R1. Other nominees for this award were Brian Mendoz, Brandon Homles, and Alex Holguin.

 

2014 NM Boxing Match of the Year

DSC_3096
October 4th, Fright Night Cristian Cabral (5-1) def. Shawn Gallegos (19-3) by (59-55, 58-55, 58-56) unanimous decision.   Other nominee was January 26th, Return of the Warrior- Matthew Baca vs. Michael Gallegos

 

2014 NM Female Boxer of the Year

10577089_830716256947747_2340712073927380573_n
Right now she may just be an amateur but Sharahya Moreu was the 2014 Ringside World Champion. Other nominees for this award were Monica Lovato and Brenda Gonzales both went 2-0 as pros in the ring this year.

 

2014 NM Male Boxer of the Year

1555285_726610537358320_1575201852_n
In 2014 Brian Mendoza went 3-0 defeating Daniel Gonzalez by 1st rd TKO, Jesus Lopez by 1st rd KO, and took a 4-rd unanimous decision from Lazaro Jay Dominguez. Mendoza just eked out the win for this award over his teammate Fidel Maldonado Jr. (2-0-0,1 nc ) & Brandon Holmes (3-0).

 

 New Mexico Amateur MMA Awards

2014 NM Amateur Submission of the Year

DSC_3747
October 17th, Legacy FC 36, Slade Ring def. Adrian Lopez with a slick arm trapped rear naked choke the flat out smoothest slickest submission seen in the 505 all year. The tap came at 1:49, of the 1st round. Other Nominees for this award were Elias Proce, Brent James, Allison Price.

 

2014 NM Amateur MMA Knockout of the Year

1525539_760726113946762_1975371579_n
March 29th, Triple A MMAIV: Redemption at the Rock, Javier Cepeda with a right hook turned out Kip Lewis’s lights and made his opponent face plant. The fight was officially called at 1:24, R1. Other nominees for this award were Charlie Williams and Jesus Escobedo.

2014 NM Amateur MMA Fight of the Year

DSC_9854
July 27th Triple A MMA VIII: Rivals- Marquis Smith def. Slade Ring by 29-28 unanimous decision. Other nominees in for this award were May 26th, King of the Cage Future Legends 23-Luis Castillo (0-0) vs. Jesse Sandoval (0-1), from the same event Sherwin Price (0-0) vs. Abrahm Loya (0-0)

 

2014 NM Female Amateur MMA Fighter of the Year

DSC_0977
In 2014 Nicco Montano went 2-0 submititng Leann Acosta by armbar at King of the Cage Future Legends 23 and scoring a TKO of Allison Price at RFA 18

 

2014 NM Male Amateur MMA Fighter of the Year

DSC_6030
Luttrell’s MMA’s Javier Cepeda went 4-0 in 2014 with 3 finishes a 2nd rd TKO of Sammy Mendoza, a 1sr rd KO of Kip Lewis, a 1st rd submission of Anthony Valenzuela, and a 1st rd TKO of Jesse Tafoya.

 

NM Pro MMA Awards

NM Pro submission of the year

DSC_2072
September 12th, RFA 18, Able Cullum returns to the cage after 3 years away survives a submission attempt from Ulysses Gomez changes position and scores the win by forcing his foe, a fellow BJJ black belt to tap-out at 1:29, of rd 1; to a Guillotine choke. Other nominees for this award were Brenda Gonzales & Harvey Park

 

NM Pro MMA Knockout of the Year

DSC_4771
October 17th, Legacy FC 36, surviving a knock-down Damacio Page collected himself threw a double jab with his left and then blast Brain Hall with a huge over hand right that had Hall out before he hit the mat. In the process of scoring the KO at 1:48, of R1; Page also captured the Legacy Flyweight Title.

 

NM Pro MMA Fight of the Year

10176080_760795813939792_724112548_n
March 29th, Triple A MMA 5: Redemption at the Rock. For me this events main event a back and forth war with plenty of blood between former KOTC Champion Angelo Sanchez & TUF Latino vet and current UFC Featherweight Gabriel Benitez. The fight was not seen by many but those are people who missed out in an epic encounter that was not match through this calendar year.

 

NM Pro MMA Fighter of the Year

For this award I wanted to make it clear I took into account New Mexico based fighters who fought on the regional scene (not the UFC or Bellator MMA)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
In 2014 Damacio Page went 3-0 on the regional scene with all 3 wins coming inside the Legacy FC cage. Page defeated Matthew Lozano by 2nd rd TKO, submitted Elias Garcia by (arm-triangle choke) in R3, and knocked out Brain hall in the 1st rd to win the Legacy FC Flyweight Title. Other nominees for this award were  Andres Qunintana (2-0), Gene Perez (2-0), and Jerome Rivera (2-0)

 

2014 NM MMA Event of the Year

02-08-2014-nm_5001-500x600
February 9th, King of the Cage: Rumble 17 fights, 16 stoppages, Other nominees included May 26th, King of the Cage Future Legends 23, 11 stoppages out of 14 fights, November 2nd, King of the Cage: Duke City, 11 fights 1 decision, Triple A MMA X: Genesis Promotions 1st title bout 8 fights all end in stoppage with only one making it to round 2. October 17th, Legacy 36 2-Title Bouts, 9 fights 6 stoppages

 

Bellator Awards

2014 Bellator Submission of the Year

mcgeary-vs-anundson-rd-1
September 12th Bellator 124 Liam McGeary def. Kelly Anundson by submission (inverted triangle choke) 4:47, R1. Easily the most impressive of 2014 in the Bellator cage due to Anudson’s grappling skill and wow factor.

 

2014 Bellator Knockout of the Year

ko
June 6th, Steve Garcia scored a :39 second Knockout of Cody Walker. My Bellator KO of the year. See below how out walker was as he fell. Other noineems were Daniel Straus and Emmanuel Newton.

2014 Bellator Fight of the Year

mma-bfc-120-brooks-vs-chandler2-850x560
May 17th, Will Brooks his Bellator 120 co-main event Lightweight title bout against Michael Chandler the fight was a back and forth all out war that saw Will brooks win a split decision. The other nominees for this award were Straus vs. Curran III, Curran vs. Freire III, and Warren vs. Dantas

 

2014 Bellator Fighter of the Year

brandon-halsey-belt
Brandon Halsey in 2014 went 3-0 with wins over Joe Pacheco (UD), Brett Cooper (SUB), and became the 3rd Middleweight champion in Bellator’s history with a :35 Technical Submission (rear naked choke) of Alexander Shlemenko. Other nominees for this award were Will Brooks and Liam McGeary

 

2014 UFC Awards

2014 Submission of the Year

ben-saunders-omoplata
Date August 23rd, UFC Fight Night Henderson vs. Dos Anjos. Ben Saunders def. Chris Heatherly Submission(omoplata) 2:18, R1. This was the first Omoplata submission win in UFC history.

 

2014 UFC Knockout of the Year

Hathawaykim-940x670
March 1st, UFC Fight Night Kim vs. Hathaway. Dong Huyn Kim def. Johnathon Hathaway by KO (spinning back elow) 1:02, R3. Other nominees for this award was Mark Hunt, and Roy Nelson.

 

2014 UFC Fight of the Year

031514-UFC-171-Action-CH-G23.vnocropresize.940.529.medium.68
March 15th, UFC 171 main event Johny Hendricks def. Robbie Lawler by (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) unanimous decision to win the vacant UFC Welterweight World Title. Other nominees for this award were Jones vs. Gustafsson  and Aldo vs. Mendes II.

 

2014 UFC Female Fighter of the Year

The-Ultimate-Fighter-20-Carla-Esparza-Octagon-Interview_514851_OpenGraphImage
Carla Esparza who on December 12th, at the TUF 20 Finale became the 1st Woman’s UFC Strawweight World Champion by submitting (rear naked choke) Rose Namajunas , 1:26, R3. To get to the title fight Esparza on TUF 20 in exhibition action submitted Angela Hill, took a majority decision from Tecia Torres, and defeated Jessica Penne by unanimous decision; navigating the house and my eyes seeing a 4-win year. Other nominee for this award was Ronda Rousey.

 

2014 UFC Male Fighter of the Year

alex-garcia-welterweight-bout-mma-ufc-fight-night-49-magny-vs-garcia1-850x560
Neil Magny went a perfect 5-0 in 2014, which was the most wins of any fighter this year and tied the UFC record for most win in one calendar year. Magny showed improvement in every fight and did all he could do scoring wins against the fighter put in front of him. Magny defeated Gasan Umalatov (UD), Tim Means (UD), Rodrigo Lima (KO), Alex Garcia (UD), and Wiliam Marcario (TKO). Other nominees for this award were TJ Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson.

 

Related Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *