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Previous winners:

2014 - UFC sees money and credit rating decline
2013 - Anderson Silva gets KOed
2012 - UFC 151 is canceled
2011 - UFC signs with Fox
2010 - Fedor finally loses

Conor's run to the belt deserves nomination, IMO. As it's possible he's the biggest star in the sport now.

Conor.

The Reebok deal is probably the most meaningful for the future of the UFC and Rousey losing was the biggest story to the general population (also most heartbreaking for Dana), but I'm going with Jones. He is (or was) the greatest fighter on the planet and he got stripped/suspended in the prime of his career.

Jasen777 wrote:Conor's run to the belt deserves nomination, IMO. As it's possible he's the biggest star in the sport now.

Added that as a sixth option here. Feel free to change your votes.

I think I might go w Conor too. in terms of sheer attention that might only grow.

Then again, the ufc has never screwed up as big as with the Reebok deal. They have alienated a lot of fighters and could see the ramifications play out over the next year or two.

Things we (I) learned: Cain, Aldo, Weidman, Rousey. Destroyers. Dating back into 2014 but really becoming clear this year, all of them were toppled. There is a way in which some champs / fighters are perceived that is evidently not accurate. Those fighters didn't fall from age but from superior fighters. Dos Anjos right now has that sheen of, 'how is anyone going to topple this dude'.

Its why MM has to be fighter of the year.

I wanted Conor nominated, but I think Rousey's fall is the biggest story. She had achieved the most mainstream popularity of any fighter ever (Women's ufc build off of her), only for the seemingly invincible to lose at her peak moment. Compared to that Conor is just another dude. And Reebok and drug issues are more diffuse issues.

Great nominees this year. I voted Rousey because I think it got the most attention, where the other ones may be more interesting, but only to hardcore fans.

I voted for JBJ's fall from grace in the public eye because only the die hards seemed to know he wasn't some goody two shoes, he was the face of the sport around that time, #1 p4p, and in the conversation for GOAT, then he gets tarnished majorly on and off the mat. There are some gnarly characters in this sport, but I still can't remember another case like it where a guy was unseated as UFC/Pride champ not for performance or injury, rather his antics. And they were a combination of sad, funny, and appalling. As a story, it had everything.

But the Reebok deal in the long run could have the biggest implications. Just aren't far enough into it to see. So far it's provided some humor here and there, and been an irritant. Might be the SOY in '16, in conjunction with departures en masse, if that's indeed the result, and the rize of a true competitor.