July is a tough month for sports, with baseball being the only real active sports league to tide us over until football hits, but luckily as MMA and the popularity of the UFC has grown, we get to enjoy early July as International Fight Week comes and blows the fight world away. In July we also have the MLB All-Star game for some home run fun, and months after Hollywood’s yearly awards shows, sports gets their turn with the ESPYs. So maybe July isn’t too bad after all. (It Might be Mr. Irrelevant, though.)
This year, the UFC is getting nice ESPY representation beyond the usual categories of Best Fighter, where three UFC fighters will be up for five potential awards. We have Conor McGregor up for two awards: Breakthrough Athlete and Best Fighter. Robbie Lawler is going against McGregor for Best Fighter (he’s also up against GGG and Canelo Alvarez). And Holly Holm is up for awards in Play of The Year for her UFC 193 KO of Ronda Rousey, and Upset of The Year for the same fight.
There’s a damn good chance Lawler or McGregor nab the Best Fighter award, even if that’s a close one with Alvarez and GGG both being stiff competition, and Holly Holm, in my opinion, is a lock for Best Upset, even going against Roberta Vinci defeating Serena Williams at the U.S. Open. McGregor probably deserves Breakthrough Athlete, but this might be the Cubs’ year, and everyone loves Jake Arrieta.
(Via UFC)
