ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: HANNAH FERGUSON. Not since Kate Upton went on a terrific roll, simultaneously becoming both a top contender and one of the FCBA's biggest draws. has a fighter set the FCBA on fire more quickly and completely than the lovely blonde Ferguson. Hannah not only won her first seven fights, she also took out champions like Mandy Moore, Blake Lively, and Kaley Cuoco while doing it. And, all of it happened in less than three months, as Hannah didn't even make her FCBA debut until October 9th! Assuming she's not overworked and burned out by management, we fully expect Hannah to have a long and successful career in the FCBA. 

UPSET OF THE YEAR: KARLIE KLOSS vs. SARAH LANCASTER. This may not seem like a big upset now, because Kloss has established her bona fides and is considered a top welterweight contender. But, back in August, Karlie was an unmanaged newbie with two FCBA fights, and her tenth round KO of two-time welterweight champion Lancaster was a shocker. 


FIGHT OF THE YEAR: EMILY VANCAMP vs. CHLOE BENNET. While there were, as always, tons of great fights in the FCBA in 2016, there was only one fight that went seventeen rounds. In fact, there's only been one fight in the history of the FCBA to go seventeen rounds, and it was this back-and-forth affair between two-time former bantamweight champion VanCamp and up-and-comer Bennet. The fight had everything you could want including a dramatic ending.


BEATDOWN OF THE YEAR: HAYLEY ORRANTIA vs. RITA ORA. Usually, this award goes to a fighter who absolutely dominates an opponent over several rounds, but, what Orrantia did to Ora in September, despite lasting less than a full round, was a beatdown of epic proportions. Hayley was all over Rita from the opening bell, pinning her to the ropes and giving her a vicious pounding that sent her to the canvas twice and left her destroyed to the body in two minutes.


KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR: MICHELLE WILLIAMS vs. JESSICA LOWNDES. As always, there were plenty of contenders for this one, but the absolute viciousness of Mishy's fourth-round destruction of Jessica, which came first to the body and then to the head, allowed it to nip those other contenders at the wire.


MANAGER OF THE YEAR: DANIELLE HARRIS. What kind of year did PLP have in 2016? Well, Ashley Benson won six of eight and Troian Bellisario fought her way to number one contender status, but neither of those ladies had the best year in the stable. Lucy Hale won the flyweight belts and beat Shahi, Cole, Kreuk, Hudgens, and Panettiere and finished second behind Shay Mitchell, who didn't lose a single fight at bantam in 2016, beat down Claire Holt, blasted out Katie Cassidy, took the titles from Claire Danes, and then beat Emily VanCamp in her first defense. Yeah, it was a pretty good year at PLP, and Ms. Harris has some hardware coming as a result.

COMEBACK FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: SOPHIA BUSH. Bush began fighting in the FCBA in 2005. By 2010, she was 5-12 career and fighting in a box car with Danielle Harris. She lost. Over the next four years, she fought once, and she lost that one, too. At that point, Bush was 32 years old, had won 5 of 19 career fights and hadn't earned a victory in five years. One could have been forgiven for writing the brunette off. A funny thing happened, though. At the end of 2015, Bush was signed by Alpha Boxing. And, in 2016, her career took off. Bush won seven of eight fights this year and ended Jenna Louise Coleman's twelve-fight winning streak in September, taking the JMD title from Jenna in the process. Bush has now won ten of her last twelve fights and turned her career completely around.


FIGHTER WHO'LL HAVE A BETTER YEAR IN 2017: CLAIRE HOLT. Unless you believe that Holt, who was 15-4 career with two title shots and a three-defense reign at the top of the bantamweight division coming into the year, is finished, you have to believe that 2017 will be better for the blonde. If only because it can't be worse. Claire started the season taking a pounding from Shay Mitchell and it didn't get any better from there. Despite her best efforts, the Aussie hasn't found the winner's circle once in 2016, and, while slumps like these have a way of feeding on themselves, we have to believe things will turn for the better at least somewhat next year.


FIGHTER WHO'LL HAVE A WORSE YEAR IN 2017: KELLY ROHRBACH. Rohrbach blew into the FCBA in February and was Queen of the Ice Hotel four months later. She won her first four FCBA bouts before falling to Serinda Swan in September. And, we don't think any of that was a fluke. Kelly has loads of talent and, at just 26 years old, her best days are clearly ahead. Why, then, is her name mentioned here? It's because she lost management at the end of the year, meaning she's far less likely to get opportunities, especially good ones, in 2017.

AND NOW FOR THE BIG ONES:



FLYWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: CASSIE SCERBO. Um, did Cassie Scerbo just run the table in 2016 in the FCBA's most competitive division? Yes. Yes, she did. And, that table included FOUR former champions and two Hall of Famers! Oh, and she also won the flyweight belts for the first time back in JULY and she's still wearing them despite the best efforts of those two Hall of Famers, Williams and Portman.


BANTAMWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: CLAIRE DANES. Yes, I suspect we all thought we'd be past the point where Danes, who made her FCBA debut in April of 1999, just days after her 20th birthday, would be winning awards like this. But, even at 37, the Hall of Famer is still as good as it gets. She went 5-1 in 2016 and took the bantamweight straps from Evangeline Lilly. She then successfully defended them against Rachel McAdams, Claire Holt, and Alyson Michalka before losing her only fight of the year to Shay Mitchell. Danes will be 38 in April. Can she win this award again? If she does, it wouldn't surprise us.


LIGHTWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: MIRANDA KERR. This was looking like Blake Lively's award as we approached Hallowe'en, but three straight losses by the blonde opened the door for Aussie stunner Miranda, who has won 17 of 18 career fights over four organizations. She went undefeated in the FCBA this year with victims including a pair of former lightweight champions, Rachel Nichols and Brooklyn Decker. 


WELTERWEIGHT OF THE YEAR: AMANDA RIGHETTI. This was a two-horse race between Righetti and Upton. Both welters lost only a single fight in 2016, and, between them, the pair controlled the belts the entire year. But, while Righetti's loss was to Upton and Kate won more fights this year, Amanda wore the belts for three quarters of 2016, beginning the year as champion and remaining so until Upton took the title on the last day of September. So, while it was close, the nod goes to Righetti, who might just add a much bigger accolade to her collection in 2017, induction into the Hall of Fame.