The 2020 Heavies Awards - Breakout Fighter of the Year - WINNER: Kevin Holland!

[Ares Black]

All the statistics and logic point to Holland as the obvious choice, but my gut says Khamzat Chimaev is the true breakout star of 2020.

Holland is a future entertaining gatekeeper.(probably)

Chimaev is a future quadruple champ.(maybe)

 

[Ares Black]

Voted Chimaev due to the "Discovery" part in the definition of Breakthrough seeing as i've been watching Holland since 2018, he was even on the main card of UFC 227.

I prefer Holland though as a fighter, and would vote him higher in Fighter of the Year.

Also this^^^^^

 

[Jose Beehive]

Did Burns have a better year than Brandon Moreno in terms of "breakthrough"?

Dude had been cut by the UFC and then came back and had arguably the FOTY against a champ who was expected to crush him by many.. Also imo this fight has reignited an entire division in terms of popularity to casuals.

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

Did Burns have a better year than Brandon Moreno in terms of "breakthrough"?

Dude had been cut by the UFC and then came back and had arguably the FOTY against a champ who was expected to crush him by many.. Also imo this fight has reignited an entire division in terms of popularity to casuals.

I think the problem with the argument for Moreno is a lot of people attribute that to fig and his exciting fighting style

 

[CC27]

Holland had a great year but Chimaev went from nobody to the talk of mma world and is fighting top 3 guy next and will be main event.

He had the biggest breakthrough.

 

[Jose Beehive]

I think the problem with the argument for Moreno is a lot of people attribute that to fig and his exciting fighting style

But a fighter being cut and coming back and not losing in his 5 difficult matchups since returning and drawing with an expected dominant champ has surely raised his status hugely (Granted some fights were in 2019).. That fight was exciting because Moreno made it closer than most thought possible, Moreno was the more exciting fighter in that Title Match imo because he was such an underdog who highlighted some areas of weakness in the dominant Champ we'd only seen against Formiga(when nobody cared).

From Cut to underdog in the 2nd side of the coin in one of the GOAT fights in a title match is more impressive to me than anything else on this list to be honest. If he had done that at Welterweight folks would be jizzing pants.
Moreno was CUT whilst Holland was fighting on Main cards!

Burns beat 2 guys at the end of their careers he was kind of favoured to beat .

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

But a fighter being cut and coming back and not losing in his 5 difficult matchups since returning and drawing with an expected dominant champ has surely raised his status hugely (Granted some fights were in 2019).. That fight was exciting because Moreno made it closer than most thought possible, Moreno was the more exciting fighter in that Title Match imo because he was such an underdog who highlighted some areas of weakness in the dominant Champ we'd only seen against Formiga(when nobody cared).

From Cut to underdog in the 2nd side of the coin in one of the GOAT fights in a title match is more impressive to me than anything else on this list to be honest. If he had done that at Welterweight folks would be jizzing pants.
Moreno was CUT whilst Holland was fighting on Main cards!

Burns beat 2 guys at the end of their careers he was kind of favoured to beat .

Yeah but it’s split right? I mean you’ve got someone like Glover Texeira on a five fight win streak who id qualify as the comeback fighter of the year if you count 2019, but it’s isolated to just this year. I’m not saying Moreno isn’t special because he is, but having the breakout fighter of the year in a division that has the arguable fighter of the year is well....unlikely.

 

[Jose Beehive]

Yeah but it’s split right? I mean you’ve got someone like Glover Texeira on a five fight win streak who id qualify as the comeback fighter of the year if you count 2019, but it’s isolated to just this year. I’m not saying Moreno isn’t special because he is, but having the breakout fighter of the year in a division that has the arguable fighter of the year is well....unlikely.

But you need the context of prior to 2020 to consider the concept of what Breakthrough/Breakout actually means.
"a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development."
How can anything be sudden if theres no 2019, how can anything develop without a past to consider that development from...
Moreno evolved from being cut for losing 2 fights to testing a dude most thought would squish him like a bug, I myself consider draws very highly, I think a draw against a champ is an amazing achievement, especially with the bullshit concept of "You Need to beat the champ" thrown around.

If we only consider 2020 then Israel Adesanya is the breakthrough star, because he's the only one who won a belt twice.

I don't see why it's mutually exclusive to have 2 fighters from one division.

 

[Jackonfire]

Kevin Holland. Also nominated for KO of the year. Five fights. Five wins.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Holland!

 

[BEATDOWNS]

ChimaevGOAT

Didn't you learn from your AskrenGOAT fiasco?

 

[HHJ]

Didn't you learn from your AskrenGOAT fiasco?

I dont give a FUCK.
Go hard or go home.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

I dont give a FUCK.
Go hard or go home.

 

[Doughie99]

For me, easily it's Kevin Holland.
He said "yes" pretty much every time Uncle Dana called him, he was incredibly active, he fought and won 5 times in a year which was probably difficult to train with virus restrictions, he can KO, he can sub, and ......he can TALK!!! Especially during the fight.

I'd like a wireless lav mic on Kevin Holland every fight please.
-- UFC Production crew please can you mic up Kevin H for all 2021 fights?

Wanna hear that in-fight monologue really well!

 

[KGmma]

Khamzat no doubt. Holland had a fantastic year but we've seen him in dire situations do his mystique is kind of gone. Khamzat with those 3 fights in record breaking time and looking like a bulldozer doing it seals it for me.

Where is fighter of the year and f(ight)oty polls?

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

Khamzat no doubt. Holland had a fantastic year but we've seen him in dire situations do his mystique is kind of gone. Khamzat with those 3 fights in record breaking time and looking like a bulldozer doing it seals it for me.

Where is fighter of the year and f(ight)oty polls?

We start pumping out award threads. 1 a day every day for 11 or so days. All of the threads will be stickied at one point so keep an eye out.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

Picked Holland for being active the whole covid era and the number of fights and wins. I'd vote Khamzat no doubt if that December fight with Leon happened and he wins.

This is pretty much what I was going to write out too, so I'll just say "this^^^^"

I think before the KO of Jacare (Holland) this was anyone’s game. But wrapping up such an active year with a ko like that makes this much more straight forward.

...and "this^^^^"
Khamzat would've been in the mix had he been able to smesh Edwards, but without it... he's not even close to Holland'z 2020.

 

[HydraCap3]

Khamzat Chimaev

 

[Post 2 Decision]

Easily Holland. Chimaev will win this though, cause of the hype beating 2 bums and a mediocre fighter.

*One-punched a mediocre fighter that Holland arguably lost to

 

[Jose Beehive]

Who has won this category in recent years?