Kingdom MMA 2013 Awards: Domestic Fighter of the Year

Kingdom MMA Domestic Fighter of the Year Award 2013: Brett Johns

by Ben Heather @benheather

The main reason we set up this website was to help promote the amazing talent which the UK and Ireland has and so this award is one of my personal favourites.

2013 has been a great year for MMA throughout the world and domestic MMA has been no different. Cage Warriors has been on fire this year, this week Cage Warriors 63 will be their fourteenth event of 2013 and the quality of the fighters and the fights that have taken place has been incredible. Also, BAMMA have chipped in with a couple of events this year and although they have not put on the quantity of cards that Cage Warriors have the events they have staged have been just as good again showcasing the talent we have in the UK and Ireland. All you have to do is look at the current roster of British and Irish UFC fighters who have signed in the last couple of years and chances are they have fought for one of these two organisations.

There is nothing I love more than seeing our athletes in this case fighters showcasing their skills to the world and we have picked what we feel are the cream of the crop in 2013.

At the start of the year not many casual fans knew the name Luke Barnatt let alone had seen him fight. That being said, they do now. Luke has had a good year by starting the year in the TUF house and being picked first overall by Chael Sonnen before making his full UFC debut and winning twice this year including a very impressive submission win against Andrew Craig at UFC Manchester. Next up for Luke is a fight on the UFC's return to London in March '14 where he will square off and try to keep his record undefeated against Mats Nilsson.

Also making big waves in the UFC and picking up a pair of victories in the octagon was Ireland's Conor McGregor. He started the year (OK it was last year but only a by a few hours) by becoming a two weight Cage Warriors champion as he captured the lightweight title in his home town of Dublin on New Years Eve 2012. Then signed for the UFC making a very impressive debut by Knocking out Marcus Brimmage and securing the KO of the night bonus. He then followed that up in August by getting a unanimous decision win over Max Holloway. Unfortunately for McGregor he got injured in that fight and it ruled him out for the rest of the year but I am sure we will see big things from him in 2014.

Conor's team mate Cathal Pendred has also had a very impressive year and deserves a lot of respect. He started the year as challenger for the Cage Warriors welterweight title at Cage Warriors 52 where he faced then champion Gael Grimaud, he won that fight via unanimous decision to become the new champion. Next up Cage Warriors set him the challenge former UFC fighter Che Mills at Cage Warriors 55. Cathal controlled the fight from start to finish and it was only Che's corner throwing in the towell that prevented the one sided beating from continuing. Like Conor the second half of the year Cathal has not been back in the cage but I am sure you will all see a lot more from him on your Tv's in 2014 alongside BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar....

Brett Johns has also had a perfect year going 4-0 in 2013. He started the year with a submission victory in February before following that up with a TKO victory at Cage Warriors 54 then in September came the highlight of his short career so far. Brett was included in the Cage Warriors tournament for the bantamweight title and fought twice in one night in his home nation of Wales to become the new champion.

Another young fighter who has really made his mark this year is Arnold Allen. Arnold like Brett only became a professional fighter last year and has taken his record to 6-0 with four impressive wins this year. In his last three fights he has also stopped each of his opponents and in the process increasing his reputation as one to watch for the future. At just 19 years old Arnold certainly deserves a lot of credit for the year he has had and always backs up his reputation as an explosive fighter who will fight anyone, anywhere.

Although each of the above fighters certainly deserve the award there can only be one Winner and that is: Brett Johns.

As I have already said 2013 has been a great year for Brett Johns. He has shown he can finish fights this year by finishing his first two opponents of 2013. He showcased his submission skills by finishing Joe Orrey via armbar in his first fight of the year. Then at Cage Warriors 54 went on to finish James Macalister by TKO. Brett won that fight with great ground control before finishing the fight with some brutal ground and pound. Although he won that fight by TKO my personal highlight was when Brett locked in a standing d'arce choke in the first round but couldn't quite get the finish.

Then on September 14th at Cage Warriors 59 Brett was included in the Cage Warriors Bantamweight Championship tournament, a two fight four man tournament to crown the new Cage Warriors Bantamweight champion. The format was a semi final fight which consisted of 2x 5 minute rounds and if required a third overtime round. Then in the final the two winners of the semi finals would meet in a 5x 5 minute round fight to crown the new champion.

Brett went in to the night as a massive underdog and as part of the prelims for the night was first matched up with David Haggstrom in his semi final. That fight ended up going in to the third round but Brett was announced the winner via unanimous decision. In the other semi final James Pennington defeated Kris Edwards but was unable to proceed to the final due to an injury which meant that Jordan Desborough who had also already fought beating Timur Mercanoglu via second round TKO was promoted to fight for the title. Now Brett was going in to a 5 round title fight for the first time in his career against a guy he had not even prepared for. After fighting for all five rounds meaning Brett had fought 8 five minute rounds on the same night. When the decision was announced Brett was crowned the Cage Warriors bantamweight champion.

For any fighter to go a full calendar year undefeated having fought 4 times is impressive enough but to do so the way Brett Johns has deserves a lot of respect for this reason we have named him our domestic fighter of the year 2013.

Congratulations Brett you have been crowned Kingdom MMA’s 2013 Domestic Fighter of the Year – Brett Johns Kingdom MMA we salute you.