Machida and Anderson Silva ESPY nominations
UFC’s Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva among 2009 ESPY nominees for “Best Fighter” UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and…
UFC’s Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva among 2009 ESPY nominees for “Best Fighter”
UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and UFC middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva are among the four nominees for the “Best Fighter” category for the 2009 ESPY Awards.
An ESPN spokesperson today alerted MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) of the list of nominees.
Silva and Machida are up against boxers Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao in the “Best Fighter” category, which the ESPY Awards added in 2007.
The ESPY Awards, founded in 1993, honor the best achievements, moments and leading athletes of the previous year. Fan voting for the 37 award categories runs through July 11, and the awards ceremony takes place July 15 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The show airs on delay July 19 on ESPN with Samuel L. Jackson as host.
No MMA athletes were nominated for any awards outside the “Best Fighter” category.
Machida and Silva were nominated for the first time. Last year, UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre was the only MMA fighter nominated in the “Best Fighter” category.