We are back with part 2 of our award nominations. This time our Rising Star award. Our rising star award goes to the top pro that fights with one of our partner organizations, Kansas City Fighting Alliance, Driller Promotions, Dynasty Combat Sports, Legion Combat Sports and Midwest Championship Fighting. Fighters on this list are nominated by the promoters, and then voted on by you, the fans, and a select few media professionals across the midwest. Well without further ado here are you rising star of the year Nominees.
Jozette Cotton (8-1)
Cotton, the only woman nominated for an award this year, has had nothing short of a great year. Going 2-0 in 2017 and taking home the 1st ever professional womens lightweight title with her win over Sarah Patterson at Dynasty Combat Sports Septemberfest. Cotton has had an interesting career especially when it comes to weight cutting, but she appears to have most of those issues figured out as she attempts to get down to featherweight (the highest weight class in the UFC) expect to see her make big jumps in 2018 as she looks for that UFC Contract.
Ryan MacDonald (8-0)
Ryan MacDonald, what can we say about this young man? We’ve known him since he was a young amateur and have followed his career ever since. MacDonald had a very emotional year in 2017 as he was given the opportunity to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series, but then had to withdrawl due to the untimely death of his brother. Ryan’s two fights in 2017 were in front of his hometown crowd, where he rung up 2 wins against a couple game opponents one against a tough Tim Bazer 3 weight classes above where MacDonald normally fights. We expect to see a lot from this Rising Star Award Nominee in 2018.
Jason Witt (13-5)
Jason “The Vanilla Gorilla” Witt is by far the most experienced man to be nominated for the Rising Star Award this year, he’s taken a few lumps in his career, and has also fought for Bellator, LFA, VFC and Titan just to name a few organizations. 2017 was a huge year for Witt although suffering a setback early in 2017 on a Bellator card against Justin Patterson, the tough Witt came back and knocked off four guys in a row on his way to a 4-1 record in 2017, and wrapping up his year with a LFA win over Ty Freeman in enemy territory. If you get a chance watch our Meet a Fighter with Jason Witt, as he definately has one of the interesting personalities of anyone we’ve ever interviewed.
Clay Wimer (8-3)
This Colorado native went in to 2017 on a mission to get back on the right side of the win column after coming off 2 losses at the end of 2016. When Wimer stepped into the cage against hometown favorite Mitchell Peterson at Legion Combat Sports 25, not much was expected of him. He came in and Submitted Peterson in the 1st round and got back to his winning ways. Wimer then took a loss and returned to Scottsbluff, NE and put on one heck of a show against a tough Joey Munoz at LCS 26, and took home the LCS Lightweight Strap. Be sure to keep an eye on this kid in 2018 as he looks to make a solid run at the elite level of MMA.
You must log in to post a comment.