Photo courtesy: ESPN
ESPN has announced the nominees for this year’s ESPY Awards and this year will feature individual awards for Best MMA Fighter and Best WWE Moment.
Previously, MMA fighters had been grouped into the category for Best Fighter, but this year there will be separate awards for Boxing and MMA.
The nominees for Best MMA Fighter are UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, bantamweight & featherweight champion Amanda Nunes, Israel Adesanya, and bantamweight & flyweight champion Henry Cejudo.
Over the past year, Cormier became the UFC heavyweight champion after stopping Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 last July to end Miocic’s two-year reign as champion. He has since defended the title against Derrick Lewis and is scheduled for a rematch with Miocic in August at UFC 241.
Nunes became a double champion when she defeated Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino at UFC 232 last December with a 51-second knockout. It was Justino’s first loss since her pro debut in May 2005. Nunes will be defending her bantamweight title against Holly Holm at UFC 239 next month in Las Vegas.
Henry Cejudo has the most impressive resume of the four on paper if you are looking at the last twelve months. He defeated Demetrious Johnson at UFC 227 last August by a narrow split decision. It ended the incredible reign by Johnson that dated back to September 2012 and included eleven title defenses. Cejudo followed that win by knocking out then-bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw in a fight for the flyweight title this past January. After the fight, Dillashaw tested positive for EPO and was suspended and stripped of the title. Cejudo moved up in weight and defeated Marlon Moraes earlier this month to become the two-division champion.
Finally, Israel Adesanya has gone 4-0 since July 2018 with victories over Brad Tavares, Derek Brunson, Anderson Silva, and Kelvin Gastelum. The latter fight took place in February and was a classic that will likely win Fight of the Year with Adesanya becoming the interim middleweight champion.
The nominees for Best WWE Moment include Roman Reigns’ announcement that his Leukemia is in remission, Becky Lynch winning both women’s titles in the main event of WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston winning the WWE title from Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, and Ronda Rousey winning the Raw women’s title from Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam last August in Brooklyn.
The nominees for Best Boxer are Saul Canelo Alvarez, Vasily Lomachenko, Terence Crawford, and Oleksandr Usyk.
This year’s ESPY Awards will take place on Wednesday, July 10th at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles and will be hosted by Tracy Morgan.
