MMAjunkie.com reader poll: Who is the 2011 Fighter of the Year?

Each year MMA pundits and media sources reflect on the previous 12 months of in-cage action and announce the fighter they consider to have accomplished the most.

MMAjunkie.com decided to instead poll our readers to vote on the fighter they believe deserves the title of 2011 Fighter of the Year.

Tens of thousands of votes were cast, and as was perhaps to be expected, one fighter rose head, shoulders and "Bones" above the competition.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (15-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) earned a whopping 64 percent of the vote and is now MMAjunkie.com's 2011 Fighter of the Year.

In truth, it's hard to argue with the results of the vote. Jones had one of the best years in both UFC and MMA history, earning three-straight stoppage wins over former UFC champions.

Jones was considered perhaps the sport's top prospect 12 months ago, and after wins over the previously undefeated Ryan Bader and former titleholders Lyoto Machida, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, some say he's the top pound-for-pound fighter in the game.

In 2011, Jones also became the first light heavyweight since Chuck Liddell to defend the UFC's 205-pound belt more than once.

So clear was Jones' dominance over the past calendar year, the second-place finisher, Dan Henderson, received just 16 percent of the vote. "Hendo," of course, capped his year off with a "Fight of the Year" candidate at November's UFC 139, where he proved victorious in a five-round thriller with Rua.

But that wasn't Henderson's only highlight of 2011. He moved up to heavyweight to earn a TKO win over MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko and also claimed Strikeforce's 205-pound title with a March victory over Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante before ultimately defecting from the promotion.

UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos and top welterweight contender Nick Diaz each earned seven percent of the vote. UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva scored four percent of the response, and UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz earned one percent, as well.

The final one percent selected the "other" response.

So what do you think? Did the readers get it right? State your case in the comments section below.

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