MVP (Female): Megumi Fujii

Runner-up: Tara Larosa

honorable mention: Julie Kedzie, Carina Damm, Roxanne Modafferi

This was a hard one to call. Tara Larosa fought three times in 2007 against very tough opponents and finished every single one of them. Megumi Fujii fought five times and finished four of them in the first round, and extended her unbeaten record to 13-0. Yes Tara did win the Bodog Fight title at 135 lbs & under, but we gave an edge to Megumi because of the three following reasons. At this point no one really knows the value of a BodogFight title, secondly, Megumi is a natural 105 pounder pumping up to 115 and sometimes fighting at 125 lbs & under, and most importantly in the year 2007, Megumi did put an end to an one big story and that story is, who is the best in the world at 115 lb & under?

Since we don't even know when this fight is going to hit the air - here is the finish of the historical fight between Megumi and Lisa!

I am talking about her fight against Lisa Ward. Sure there are Yuka Tsuji and MIKU and Hisae Watanabe out there but the bottom line is that none of these girls do full MMA rules bouts. They fight in Smack Girl and DEEP women's rules bouts, which won't allow fighters to strike to the head on the ground. And considering how Lisa manhandled MIKU who is a current DEEP champion, besides Megumi Fujii and Lisa Ward, who else can be considered as "undefeated" at 115 lbs & under? (Lisa's losses to Mandy Stewart and Molly Helsel were at 125 lbs & under) It was none other than Megumi and Lisa, and this fight turned out to be one of the best technical bouts of all time. The only set back is, literally no one has seen this fight. It's almost retarded that this fight took place in August of 2007 and still it hasn't hit the air space yet. This fight is a historical fight in women's MMA but because of some confused organization, it has literally been sitting in the can, and basically losing value, which maybe is the saddest fact of the year 2007 in the world of MMA. There is no explanation necessary for three honorable mentions. Julie Kedzie by far was the most improved fighter, while Carina Damm won two MVP's in a row at BodogFight (vs. Molly Helsel, and vs. Jessica Aguillar) proving that she is one of the most exciting fighters to watch in today's women's MMA. Roxanne Modaferri also should be included in this list for winning a K-Grace Open-weight tournament. (Defeating a much bigger Marloes Coenen, veteran Megumi Yabushita, and a Korean rookie Hee Jin Lee in one night)

Best Fight (Female): Julie Kedzie vs. Julie Berezikova (04/14/2007)

runner-up: Tara Larosa vs. Kelly Kobold (07/14/2007)

honorable mention: Carina Damm vs. Molly Helsel, Yuka Tsuji vs. Michelli Tavarez, Lisa Ward vs. Masako Yoshida

I must say that the only good thing BodogFight did for the entire MMA industry is that they put a spotlight on women's MMA. No one knows what will happen with Mr. Calvin Ayre's promotion in 2008 so it is also a good thing that Elite XC has Gina Carano, which gives a reason to continue with the women in MMA. In 2007, almost everyone shined on the occasion. All these girls showed that they are tough, and have great MMA skills that can be transformed into an art form. But out of anyone, in 2007, no one has improved more, and no one has capitalized on the opportunities like Julie Kedzie. She was athletic and powerful to begin with but after going under Greg Jackson's care, she is now better than ever. So any of her fights in 2007 can be considered as the best fight of the year but since we can expect to see Julie turning into more of a complete MMA fighter in the year 2008, we picked her best fight when she was still rough and raw. This fight against Julia Berezikova was, simply, a very exciting striking battle, and on top of this, this fight showed the toughness, endurance, flexibility, and a persistence of female athletes that is completely different from what we see in men's sports.

Watch out for this former Dominatrix turned MMA fighter in 2008! HIROKO is one of the bright futures of Japanese women's MMA.

Worst Fight (Female): Gina Carano vs. Julie Kedzie (02/10/2007)

runner-up: Amanda Buckner vs. Hitomi Akano (04/14/2007)

If there were no weight problem, this fight between Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie could have been considered as the best fight of the year. However unfortunately the chaos that took place at the weigh-in just lowered the value of the fight. Sure this captured the attention of viewers, but in fact, in my opinion it turned out to be the best fight of the evening. On top of this, it seems like the fans and the viewers didn't care much about Gina missing the weight by a lot. And that is the reason why we must be reminded here once again that this type of nonsense should not be taking place in professional MMA. This could have been a monumental fight but because of one unprofessional fighter, it became one of the shames of the sport in the year 2007. Quite disappointing, but let's hope Gina would have a great year in 2008 to make up for this.

Amanda Buckner vs. Hitomi Akano was a battle between two of the world's best fighters but unfortunately it was far from being the most exciting fight of the year. This fight was aired in the North American PPV so considering it was an opportunity for women's MMA to showcase itself to the world, this fight was just not there. Buckner was just a step ahead on every aspect and Akano kept chasing but came up basically empty. It was a good hard fighting three-round battle but it was very settled.

Most Improved Fighter (Female): Julie Kedzie

runner-up: MIKU

honorable mention: HIROKO

Julie Kedzie all the way in this category. She just got so much better. Period. Look at her when she got caught by a standing guillotine choke by Amanda Buckner back in December 2006 and look at her now. She is completely different. Julie is now no doubt one of the top fighters in the world at 135 lbs & under and it is because of her dedication and determination, and Greg Jackson's precise guidance. MIKU put her self through a kickboxing tournament in the year 2007 and I believe that made her a better fighter. While maintaining her grappling training MIKU won two out of three kickboxing fights, and later in the year defeated Hisae Watanabe to capture the DEEP title. HIROKO is a former dominatrix turned MMA fighter and just about a year after her pro debut captured the Smack Girl open-weight title. In the very thin Japanese women’s MMA heavyweight category her ability is still yet to be proven but she deserves honorable mention not only because she is a champ but also because HIROKO did very well in attracting the Japanese media to women’s MMA by emphasizing her former profession.

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