I waited for the last event of the 2016 calendar year to end before making my decision on fighter of the year especially considering that two of the fighters in the running were competing at that event. When all was said and done I was left with five fighters, all of which you can make a compelling argument for fighter of the year. You have the two fighters that just competed and won at UFC 207, Cody Garbrant the new bantamweight champion, and the reining defending women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. Then you have Michael Bisping, who most people myself included, thought was nothing more than a gatekeeper at this point in his hall of fame career win the middleweight title in stunning fashion back in June. Of course you have the one and only Conor McGregor who became the first ever UFC fighter to hold two different titles in two different weight classes simultaneously. Any one of those fighters would be an amazing choice for fighter of the year. However I decided to go with the biggest guy, well at least from a physical standpoint that is. Stipe Miocic who shocked the world and to be a bit more specific silenced 40,000 screaming Brazilian fans in Curitba Brazil. With one counter right punch that landed on the chin of Fabricio Werdum a new star and champion was born. Not only did Stipe catch Werdum with a picture perfect counter he did so while backpedaling away from Werdum, causing many people to wonder is Fabricio's chin not as solid as it used to be or is Stipe just that dam strong. Many so called MMA experts were still not sold on Miocic, so when September rolled around and Alistair Overeem came knocking, oh yee have little faith. Miocic disposed of Overeem, who many consider the best and most dangerous striker in the heavyweight division, in less than one round. So Stipe started 2016 as a relative unknown, beats the best heavyweight on the planet in three minutes in his home country, goes on to defend the heavyweight crown against a perennial top 5 fighter in less than one round; leaving everyone saying hey this guy Stipe is pretty good. Yes he is. -Mike Straus