Fighter of the Year 2012: Ronda Rousey

The fans have spoken and the votes have been tallied. Your winner for 2012 fighter of the year is none other than the “Rowdy” one herself – Ronda Rousey.

Not only was there no fighter with a more impactful 2012 in MMA, you could argue that no athlete made more of a rise than Rousey in all of professional sports last year.

Rousey put herself on the map in 2011 by winning her first four professional bouts via armbar. In 2012 she armbared the entire map. Rousey took out the top two fighters in her division in the first round of each fight with the finishing move that everyone, including Miesha and Sarah, knew was coming. The thing is, they just couldn’t stop it.

2012 also saw Rousey gracing more magazine covers than any other mixed martial artist, putting the final nail in the coffin of Strikeforce when she signed with the UFC, breaking girls arms and refusing to apologize for it, and most importantly earning a record four, count ’em, four hov-mma year-end awards. In our short four year history Rousey passes Anderson Silva as a five-time HOV-MMA award winner to Silva’s four. The Korean Zombie follows close behind.

So what does the future hold for the 1st Lady of the UFC? She’ll make the 2nd defense of her title as a pay-per-view headliner for the promotions 157th numbered event.  Beyond that, no one knows. One thing is for sure though, these days we no longer have to remind you to keep an eye on Ronda, you already know.

Final Poll Results:

Rousey 33%
Johnson 32%
B. Henderson 16 %
Velasquez 11%
Jones 8 %