Spire Annual Award Winners

On Friday, the Spire Sanctioning Alliance announced the winners for their annual awards. Spire sanctions the majority of the amateur MMA bouts in the area working with such promotions as Nemesis Fighting Alliance, Cage Championships, Fight Hard MMA, and Rumble Time MMA, among others.

Spire's chief office, Jayson Cooper, announced the winners via the official Facebook page.

"The Spire Awards were created so we could recognized what the fighters, trainers, promoters, and staff have accomplished over the past year," Cooper said. "Its meant to bring the MMA community together and be a friendly competition for everyone to celebrate the year's accomplishments."

Here are the winners for 2012:

Fighter of the Year: Kirk Huff
Coach of the Year: Mike Rogers
Team of the Year: St. Charles MMA
Fight of the Year: Jeff Escobar vs Malcolm Smith
Promotion of the Year: The Nemesis Fighting Alliance
Pro/Am Promotion of the Year: Cage Championships
Rookie Promotion of the Year: Big Time MMA
Breakout Fighter of the Year: Jake Roberts
Pro/Am Event of the Year: Cage Championships 37
Amateur Event of the Year: Nemesis: "Victory Rises"
Fight Card of the Year: Cage Championships 37
Most Improved Fighter of the Year: Shaine Moffitt
Matchmaker of the Year: Patrick Smith
Comeback Fighter of the Year: Fierce Taylor
Submission of the Year: Clinton Kauble (flying armbar)
KO of the Year: Montuelle Prater (Proving Grounds 8)
Judge of the Year: Jason Carr
K1 Bout of the Year: Bo Kunz vs Bil Dwyer
Announcer of the Year: Dave Davis
Ring Girl of the Year: Stefanie Emily
Referee of the Year: Dustin Severs

For more information on Spire please visit their website at http://spiremma.com