(PRESS RELEASE) -- LOS ANGELES – Recognizing the year’s best fights, fighters and moments in mixed martial arts, AXS TV’s INSIDE MMA broadcast its annual MMA award show the 2014 Bazzie Awards tonight. The seventh annual Bazzie Awards named UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw male fighter of the year and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey female fighter of the year in addition to other eight awards given out on the evening.
Rice and Rutten handed out awards tonight for fight, upset and breakthrough fighter of the year; AXS TV FIGHTS rising star; and knockout punch, kick and submission of the year. For the second straight year, INSIDE MMA announced the “Prime Cuts” award honoring this year’s best INSIDE MMA viewer submission, as voted on by the viewers.
In addition to the annual awards honoring the best in MMA, INSIDE MMA correspondent Ron Kruck compiled the biggest MMA fails of 2014 in this video segment called “The Not-So-Bazzies”: bit.ly/1JPWP4X
Here is the complete list of the 2014 Bazzie Award winners and nominees (winners in bold):
MALE FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
T.J. Dillashaw (winner)
Justin Gaethje Jose Aldo Donald Cerrone Fabricio Werdum Conor McGregor
FEMALE FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Ronda Rousey (winner)
Cat Zingano Jessica Aguilar Miesha Tate Carla Esparza
KO PUNCH OF THE YEAR
Damacio Page over Brian Hall – Legacy 36 (winner)
Emanuel Newton over Joey Beltran – Bellator 124 Abel Trujillo vs Jamie Varner – UFC 169 Dan Henderson vs Shogun Rua II – UFC FN 38 Anthony Johnson vs Mike Kyle – WSOF 8 Roy Nelson vs Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera – UFC FN 39
KO KICK OF THE YEAR
Luis Santos over Alfredo Morales – XFC International 3 (winner)
Bruno Miranda vs Kwang He Lee – Road FC 16 Veronica Macedo over Chrissy Audin – Say Uncle Fight Night 2 Andrey Koreshkov over Justin Baesman – Bellator 118 Donald Cerrone vs Adriano Martins – UFC on FOX 10 Alexander Volkov vs Mighty Mo – Bellator 116
SUBMISSION OF THE YEAR
Liam McGeary over Kelly Anundson – Bellator 124 (winner)
Eduardo Dantas over Anthony Leone – Bellator 111 Luke Rockhold over Tim Boetsch – UFC 172 Richie Martinez Japanese Necktie over Edward Darby – Xplode Fight Series Ovince St Preux over Nikita Krylov – UFC 171 Joseph Benavidez over Tim Elliott – UFC 172
PRIME CUTS (VIEWER SUBMISSION OF THE YEAR)
Nikko Glasper vs Tommy Sthair – Nemesis Fighting Alliance (winner)
Wayland Comanche vs Cody Biehl – Vendetta in Vanderbilt William Hainey vs Johnny Davis – Spartyka Fight League Team Muhammad Ali vs Russian Top Team – Team Cage Fighting Josh Fremd vs Jeremy Sakuta – Gladiators of the Cage Christine Stanley vs Katie Anita Runyan – Xplode Fight Series
UPSET OF THE YEAR
T.J. Dillashaw over Renan Barao – UFC 173 (winner)
Will Brooks over Michael Chandler – Bellator 120 David Branch over Yushin Okami – WSOF 15 Johnny Eduardo over Eddie Wineland – UFC FN 40 Bobby Green over Josh Thomson – UFC on FOX 12
BREAKTHROUGH FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Justin Gaethje (winner)
Will Brooks T.J. Dillashaw Luke Rockhold Fabricio Werdum
AXS TV RISING STAR OF THE YEAR
Damacio Page (winner)
Boston Salmon Luke Sanders Cody East Alexandre Pantoja
FIGHT OF THE YEAR
Johny Hendricks vs Robbie Lawler – UFC 171 (winner)
Matt Brown vs Erick Silva – UFC FN 40 Chris Weidman vs Lyoto Machida – UFC 175 Henderson vs Shogun II – UFC FN 38 Pat Curran vs Daniel Straus – Bellator 112 Jose Aldo vs Chad Mendes II – UFC 179
ABOUT AXS TV FIGHTS
AXS TV Fights presents more LIVE mixed martial arts and kickboxing events than any other television network with 40+ LIVE world-class fight cards each year. "The Voice" Michael Schiavello and UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich call all the action as champions, challengers, and top prospects take center stage every Friday night at 10pE/7pP. AXS TV Fights can be found online, on Facebook and on Twitter. AXS TV is widely distributed in the U.S. via AT&T U-verse, Charter, Comcast/Xfinity, DIRECTV, DISH, Suddenlink, Verizon FiOS, and other cable, satellite and telco providers. The network is also carried in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.