Welcome to the 2011 TXMMA Awards – Grappling Edition
It’s been a great year of tremendous growth for the Texas Mixed Martial Arts Scene in 2011. So much so that we felt now was the time to introduce the TXMMA Awards for both the MMA and Grappling communities.
Our goal for these awards is to recognize outstanding performances and contributions within our community statewide over the past calendar year. With this goal in mind, we’ve done our best to work with the community’s recommendations along with our own extensive amount of research and record keeping in nominating what we feel are the most deserving candidates within all categories this year.
While we certainly do not claim perfection on our interpretation and do expect some modicum of controversy since these awards are both objective AND subjective in nature (just like any other awards show), we hope the community will work with us in narrowing it down even further so we can ultimately claim a winner in each category.
2011 TXMMA Awards – Timeline of Events
► December 5, 2011 – Grappling edition finalists released; Voting commences.
► December 16, 2011 – Grappling edition voting deadline at midnight.
► December 19, 2011 – MMA edition finalists released; Voting commences.
► January 1, 2012 – MMA edition voting deadline at midnight.
► January 4, 2012 – Tentative release of Grappling Edition winners.
► January 6, 2012 – Tentative release of MMA Edition winners.
2011 TXMMA Awards – Voting Process
The election process to identify a winner in each category will be conducted via a mixture of confidential panel voting along with a populous fan vote conducted via our TXMMA Facebook Page. This process has been designed to allow for the unbiased election of the top nominees for each of the 2011 TXMMA Award Categories. For a detailed explanation of the election process for the 2011 TXMMA Awards, please click here.
Read on to view the finalists and vote for your choices to win in the 2011 TXMMA Awards!
Best BJJ/Grappling Competitor of the Year
The purpose of these awards is to recognize the best overall grapplers of the year from the state of Texas in each of the respective BJJ Belt ranks, along with overall youth and female divisions.
Criteria for Selection: The amount that each individual competed in grappling events, the level at which these events were at (i.e. local, state, national, international), their level of competition, their titles and overall wins, and how they won are all important factors. The dark horse factors are no matter the match win or lose, what kind of jiu-jitsu did they exhibit? (E.g. were matches very technical, were they smooth, did they use brute strength, etc.) Essentially, did they display a great showing of what grappling is supposed to be?
Finalists
• Daniel Alvarez (Alvarez BJJ / Nova Uniao)
• Bruno Bastos (Octagon MMA / Nova Uniao)
• Carlos Diego Ferreira (Arsenal BJJ)
• Albert Hughes (Genesis)
• Brandon Mullins (Gracie Barra Texas)
Honorable Mentions
Steven Hall (Alliance), Jorge Patino (Gold Team), Tony Tipton (Genesis)
VOTE NOW FOR BLACK BELT OF THE YEAR!
Finalists
• JJ Holmes (Mohler BJJ / Alliance)
• Travis Orr * (Relson Gracie Austin)
• Luis Rubalcava (Arsenal BJJ)
• Jason Sampson (Mohler BJJ / Alliance)
• Jason Soliz (Texas 3rd Coast MMA)
• Robert Yamashita (Elite MMA)
Honorable Mentions
Julian Vega * (Elite MMA), Raul Jimenez * (Team Gaucho / Gold Team)
* split year between purple/brown belt
VOTE NOW FOR BROWN BELT OF THE YEAR!
Finalists
• Michael Foster (Alliance)
• Evert Gutierrez (Zion MMA)
• Jose Angel Llanas (Team Tooke)
• Jeremiah Matthews (Gracie Barra)
• Reed Shelger (Paradigm / GF Team)
• Julian Vega * (Elite MMA)
Honorable Mentions
Nick Schultz ** (BJJ Revolution), Jose Portillo (Paragon), Hayward Charles (Genesis)
* split year between purple/brown belt
** moved out of state
VOTE NOW FOR PURPLE BELT OF THE YEAR!
Finalists
• Matthew Fox (BJJ Revolution Team)
• Cameron Graves (Team Tooke)
• Edwin Lipsey (Team Trinity / Nova Uniao)
• Emmanuel Martinez (Texas Punishment Crew)
• Pedro Migliano (Rillion Gracie)
Honorable Mentions
Isai Cabrera (Gracie Barra), Camron Couch * (Mohler BJJ / Alliance), Jordan Burton (Gracie Barra Beaumont), Bobby Alexander (Team Lutter)
* split year between blue/purple belt
VOTE NOW FOR BLUE BELT OF THE YEAR!
TXMMA WHITE BELT OF THE YEAR
Too many needles in a haystack full of sharp needles. As is such, we’ve decided to make this one a fan favorite award where fans can write to nominate their own choices for this award. Winner will be determined purely by candidate vote.
VOTE NOW FOR WHITE BELT OF THE YEAR!
Finalists
• Rachel Aquino (Paul Thomas BJJ)
• Roman Hernandez (Gracie Barra)
• Cain Menn (Paul Thomas BJJ)
• Levi Mowles (Team Trinity / Nova Uniao)
• Justin Rebolloso (Alvarez BJJ / Nova Uniao)
• Daniel Torres Jr (Team Tooke)
Honorable Mentions
CJ Madrid (Fitness Fight Factory), Andy Cordoba (Gracie Barra), Mark Lozano (Rodrigo Pinheiro BJJ), Jay Gloria (Alvarez BJJ / Nova Uniao), Isaih Calderon (Team Tooke), Jaden Two Lance (Alvarez BJJ / Nova Uniao)
VOTE NOW FOR YOUTH GRAPPLER OF THE YEAR!
Finalists
• Danielle Alvarez (Alvarez BJJ / Nova Uniao)
• Fabiana Borges (Gracie Barra North Austin)
• Ariadne Burkhart (Joao Crus BJJ)
• Kelly Faszholz (Octagon MMA / Nova Uniao)
• Lora Hallock (Paragon BJJ)
• Lana Hunter (Carlson Gracie Texas)
• Kristen Summers (Gracie Barra Texas)
VOTE NOW FOR FEMALE GRAPPLER OF THE YEAR!
The purpose of this award is to recognize the best overall tournament of the 2011 year that was held in Texas.
Criteria for Selection: The best tournament of the year should be decided upon based on overall size of the tournament (# of competitors), the level of the competitors, the significance of the tournament, and the overall running of the tournament (i.e. on time, good paced, no major issues, ect.).
Finalists
• Abu Dhabi JJ Pro Trials – TXMMA Recap
• Battle of H-Town 2011 – TXMMA Recap
• Europa Fight World Championships – TXMMA Recap
• Fight 4 Faith Charity Tournament – TXMMA Recap
• Grappler’s Quest at the UFC Expo – TXMMA Recap
• Texas State Championships 2011 – TXMMA Recap
VOTE NOW FOR TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR!
The purpose of this award is to recognize the best BJJ coach in the state of Texas as defined by the 2011 competition season.
Criteria for Selection: This award is meant to recognize the coach whose individual team/academy performed best in the 2011 competition season – defined by amount of overall team victories and the level of those wins. We also want to take a moment to say that there are plenty of top coaches in Texas deserving of recognition, way more than we can put on this list. This award isn’t meant to rank the level of coaches against each other, but rather recognize their team’s accomplishments purely in the 2011 calendar year.
Finalists
• Daniel Alvarez (Alvarez BJJ / Nova Uniao)
• Bruno Bastos (Octagon MMA / Nova Uniao)
• Aurelio Gallegos Jr. (Paragon BJJ)
• Vinicius Magalhaes (Gracie Barra Texas)
• Jordan Rivas (Elite MMA)
Honorable Mentions
Carlos Diego Ferreira (Arsenal BJJ), Tony Tipton/Albert Hughes (Genesis), Jason Ebarb (Texas Punishment Crew), Travis Tooke (Team Tooke)
VOTE NOW FOR TEXAS BJJ/GRAPPLING COACH OF THE YEAR!
This award will decide what the TXMMA Community saw as the most thrilling match of the year.
Criteria for Selection: We chose the matches that got the biggest overall reaction from the crowds. We also picked matches we were present for so there would be video to refer back to with the voting process. Consideration was given to matches in advanced/expert divisions.
Finalists
• Andre Galvao vs Carlos Diego Ferreira (video)
• Pablo Silva vs Gustavo Carpio (video)
• Alex Martins vs. Daniel “Jacare” Almeida (video)
• Jorge Patino vs Jordan Rivas (video)
• Julian Vega vs Albert Hughes (video)
• Tony Tipton vs Jason Soliz (video)
VOTE NOW FOR TEXAS BJJ/GRAPPLING MATCH OF THE YEAR!
This award will decide what the TXMMA Community saw as the biggest upset of the year.
Criteria for Selection: We chose the matches that were deemed upsets as defined by the fact that the result surprised a lot of people. Consideration given to matches in advanced/expert divisions.
Finalists
• Drew Lockwood vs. Huanderson Pavao (video)
• Igor Santos vs. Marcus Hicks (video)
• Pete Runez vs. Jordan Schutz (no video)
• Tony Tipton vs. Jason Soliz (video)
• Jason Sampson vs Travis Orr (video)
• Drew Lockwood vs. Evert Gutierrez (video)
VOTE NOW FOR TEXAS BJJ/GRAPPLING UPSET OF THE YEAR!
The purpose of this award is to recognize the best submission in a BJJ/Grappling match in the state of Texas during the 2011 year.
Criteria for Selection: Not only smooth, but also very technical and worth remembering. This submission should stick out in your mind for many days after the fact. Consideration given to matches in advanced/expert divisions.
Finalists
• Drew Lockwood over Huanderson Pavao – climbing armbar (video)
• Carlos Diego Ferreira over Jared Rosholt – toe hold (video)
• Jason Soliz over Tony Tipton – loop choke (video)
• Chris Hoddy over Jarrod Clontz – guillotine choke (video)
• Robert Yamashita over Reed Shelger – triangle/armbar (video)
VOTE NOW FOR TEXAS BJJ/GRAPPLING SUBMISSION OF THE YEAR!
The purpose of this award is to recognize the best BJJ/grappling referee of Texas during the 2011 year.
Criteria for Selection: Judged by amount of competitions officiated, perceived fairness, diligence on the mats, and overall grappler satisfaction.
Finalists
• Renan Chavez
• Steven Hall
• Fadi Khouri
• Mark Peltier
• Alejandro Siqueira
VOTE NOW FOR TEXAS BJJ/GRAPPLING REFEREE OF THE YEAR!
All fan voting procedures will be conducted via our TXMMA Facebook Page so make sure to LIKE US to keep with this process and everything else going on in Texas combative sports. Also feel free to follow along with us on Twitter and Google+ for even more from the Texas MMA and Grappling Scene!
