2009 was an amazing year for the world of mixed martial arts. We saw UFC 100 attract one million pay-per-view buys. Mainstream audiences were given their first look at the dominance that is Fedor Emelianenko when he signed then fought for Strikeforce. The UFC broke into more major markets for the first time and has deals in place to make more debuts in 2010. The recipients of the FiveKnuckles awards are winners in a unique and special year. Without further ado, here are the results of the 2009 Fiveknuckles MMA Awards, as voted on by you, the fans.

Fighter of the Year.

The nominees are;

Georges St. Pierre
Fedor Emelianenko
Lyoto Machida
Jose Aldo
Gegard Mousasi

The envelope please.

The FiveKnuckles' 2009 Fighter of the Year is............Jose Aldo!

Jose Aldo fought an astounding four times in '09, winning all four bouts by (T)KO. Three of those victories came in the very first round and one over Cub Swanson was a flying knee finish in just 8 seconds!  The fourth win of his amazing year was a dominant victory over Mike Brown for the WEC featherweight championship. Congratulations to Jose Aldo.

Fight of the Year

The nominees are;

Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida
Tyson Griffin vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Scott Smith vs. Benji Radach
Miguel Torres vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Randy Couture
Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson

And the award goes to .............Nogueira vs. Couture

A classic battle between two of the sport's all-time best, Nogueira and Couture slugged it out in a three round technical war that ended in a Nogueira win by unanimous decision. Nogueira needed to bounce back after a loss to Frank Mir and many people thought "The Natural" was too old to keep fighting after losing his heavyweight title to Brock Lesnar. Both men accomplished what they set out to do. Although Couture ended up with the loss, he sent a message to his detractors that he's far from finished.

Knockout of the Year

The nominees are;

Dan Henderson over Michael Bisping
Fedor Emelianenko over Andrei Arlovski
Nate Marquardt over Demian Maia
Fedor Emelianenko over Brett Rogers
Lyoto Machida over Rashad Evans

The envelope please. The winner is ..........Dan Henderson over Michael Bisping!

This bitter rivalry was born and nurtured during the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter where Hendo and the Count starred as opposing coaches. A war of words continued when the show ended then Henderson was angered by more Bisping sound bites as the British fighters dominated the show. At UFC 100, Henderson landed a right to the jaw of Bisping then a flying right as Bisping was out cold on his back for good measure.

Submission of the Year

The nominees are;

Toby Imada over Jorge Masvidal
Demian Maia over Chael Sonnen
BJ Penn over Kenny Florian
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brian Stann
Frank Mir over Cheick Kongo

The winner of the 2009 Submission of the Year Award is .....Toby Imada over Jorge Masvidal!

As if a flying inverted triangle isn't dramatic enough, Imada pulled this off under extenuating circumstances. It was the semi-finals of the Bellator lightweight tournament. He...