The 2009 World MMA Awards conclude this Wednesday, Dec. 30, with a red-carpet, black-tie ceremony that airs live on Versus.com at 10:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. PT local time).The event, which celebrates and honors MMA's best of 2009, then airs via delay on the regular Versus cable station on Jan. 6 (9 p.m. ET/PT), Jan. 7 (midnight) and Jan. 9 (2:30 p.m.). Each broadcasts runs one hour.
The 2009 World MMA Awards ceremony, a star-studded affair organized by Fighters Only, takes place at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
In addition to dozens of the MMA industry's top fighters and executives, the awards show also features celebrity presenters and guests, such as MMA fans Holly Madison and Wilmer Valderrama, as well as comedian John Heffron, who hosts the event.
Winners in 19 different categories – ranging from Event of the Year to Knockout of the Year to Promotion of the Year – will be revealed at the upcoming ceremony. The night's biggest award, Fighter of the Year, will go to either Mike Brown, Brock Lesnar, Lyoto Machida, Georges St-Pierre or Anderson Silva.
MMAjunkie.com is a finalist for Best Media Coverage, and MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter/Dallas Morning News blogger John Morgan is a finalist in the Best MMA Journalist category. (For more, check out the complete list of 2009 World MMA Awards finalists.)
The World MMA Awards were created in 2008 to recognize and celebrate the achievements of people who make MMA such a great sport. The 2009 World MMA Awards trophies were created by artist Will Ragland and cost $2,000 each to produce.
About this Photo
This is a super high resolution photo. Use your mouse to zoom in and see a startling level of detail. This image is currently (as of 12/2009) the largest spherical panoramic photo in the world. It is 192,000 pixels wide and 96,000 pixels tall. That’s 18.4 billion pixels, or 18.4 gigapixels! When it’s printed, it will be 16 meters (53 feet) long at regular photographic quality (300dpi). It was shot in early October 2009 from the top of the Zizkov TV Tower in Prague, Czech Republic. A digital SLR camera and a 200mm lens were used. Hundreds of shots were shot over a few hours; these shots were then stitched together on a computer over the following few weeks.
Read more about how this panorama was created on our blog here. If we don't answer all your questions, please leave a comment and we'll try to answer it later!
Microsoft has found that support calls for Windows 7 are half of what the company originally expected. It speculates the change may be because users have turned to two of its new online resources: Microsoft Answers and Twitter.
While the United States Marine Corps and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are both organizations made up of warriors, their missions are executed on different battlefields: UFC fighters battle for belts and titles, and Marines fight for stars and stripes. For more information on becoming a Marine, visit http://bit.ly/8QWKPn.>
