LOS ANGELES, California — The ninth annual OTM Awards will be announced each day next week, starting on Monday, January 9th and ending on Friday, January 13th. We at OTM are very proud to say that we started these awards nearly a decade ago and have watched some of these athletes develop into household names in the sports of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Submission Grappling (No-Gi), and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). To celebrate the growth of these sports, we have added more categories this year and we will be awarding people in different 16 categories in all 3 sports. The schedule of the OTM Awards announcements next week are as follows:
Monday, January 9th: Instructor of the Year, Model of the Year, Comeback of the Year, and Organization of the Year.
Tuesday, January 10th: Breakthrough BJJ Player of the Year, Breakthrough Submission Grappler of the Year, and Breakthrough MMA Fighter of the Year.
Wednesday, January 11th: BJJ Match of the Year, Submission Grappling Match of the Year, and MMA Fight of the Year.
Thursday, January 12th: BJJ Player of the Year (Female), Submission Grappler of the Year (Female), and MMA Fighter of the Year (Female).
Friday, January 13th: BJJ Player of the Year (Male) , Submission Grappler of the Year (Male), and MMA Fighter of the Year (Male).
Previous OTM BJJ Players of the Year: Fredson Paixao (2003), Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (2004) Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro (2005), Marcelo Garcia (2006), Rafael Lovato Jr. (2007), Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles (2008), Roger Gracie (2009), Rafael Mendes (2010)
Previous OTM Submission Grapplers of the Year: Dean Lister (2003) Jeff Monson (2004), Roger Gracie (2005), Chris Moriarty (2006), Xande Ribeiro (2007), Jeff Monson (2008), Braulio Estima (2009), Joao Assis (2010)
Previous OTM MMA Fighters of the Year: Wanderlei Silva (2003), B.J. Penn (2004), Takanori Gomi (2005), Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovich (2006), Anderson Silva (2007), Miguel Torres (2008), Jose Aldo (2009), Nick Diaz (2010).
Previous OTM Female Combat Athletes of the Year: Leonor "Nori" Avellan / Jennifer Locke (2004), Kyra Gracie (2005), Tara LaRosa (2006), Hannette Staack (2007), Gina Carano (2008), Luanna Alzuguir (2009), Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (2010)
Previous OTM Instructors of the Year: Marc Laimon (2004), Renzo Gracie (2005), Carlson Gracie (2006), Cleber Luciano (2007), Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti (2008), Dave Camarillo (2009), Cesar Gracie (2010)