Ronda Rousey has been nominated for two ESPY Awards. | Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Three Ultimate Fighting Championship titlists -- Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones and Chris Weidman -- have received ESPY nominations for 2014.
An online fan vote on ESPN.com will decide winners in 33 categories, which also include “Best Team,” Best Breakthrough Performance” and “Best Championship Performance,” among others. The ceremony takes place on July 16 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles and airs on ESPN.
Jones and Silva were nominated for “Best Fighter” in 2013, but boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. ultimately captured the honor for a fifth time. The category was changed from “Best Boxer” in 2007 to include MMA. However, a mixed martial artist has yet to win the award since the change, despite the likes of Silva, Jones, Georges St. Pierre, Lyoto Machida, Quinton Jackson and Randy Couture receiving nominations. Jones and Rousey are joined in the “Best Fighter” category by Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Andre Ward.
Meanwhile, Rousey will go head-to-head against the WNBA’s Maya Moore, alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin and University of Connecticut basketball standout Breanna Stewart for “Best Female Athlete.”
Weidman is matched up with a pair of men’s college basketball upsets: the University of Connecticut basketball team’s national championship triumph as a No. 7 seed and No. 14 seed Mercer’s first-round shocker against Duke in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
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