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To stress this is my personal opinion on what has been a great year for MMA overall, from epic events like UFC 290/295/fight night austin to insane bits of media round the sport we love (PFL/Bellator buyout, Ngannou beating fury. However, within the realm of MMA, there are a few awards that i believe need to be given out.
Debut of the year (fighter with best single debut performance):
IMO, even though he went 1-1 the rest of the year, the way Ismael Bonfim TKO'd Terrence Mckinney after dominating him (despite being an underdog) was insane to behold and imo no debut this year has come close, not even Steve Ercegs performance vs David Dvorak.
Breakthrough fighter of the yea (either a fighter who debuted to much fanfare, or one established a new placement in their respective division):
HM's: Ian Garry (though being a cuck hasn't helped him), Steve Erceg, Bo Nickal, Ikram Aliskerov.
Winner: Benoit Saint Denis. I saw this dude live get beaten to an inch of his live by Zaleski dos Santos so the fact that he's comeback from that a division down is pretty incredible. This year, he went 3-0, destroying Bonfim (despite being a hefty underdog) in 1 round, beating up Moises to get a place in the rankings and then headkick KOing Frevola to establish himself as a top 10 contender. Still only 28, and with the way he's improved in the last few years, could prove to be a real problem for the established top 5 at LW.
Worst cockup of the year:
HMS: Ian Garry putting Neil Magny in a child custody battle, Ian Garry getting kicked out of every gym he's trained at, Colby Covington giving the worst performance of his life with Trump front row, forcing him to leave the stadium.
Winner: Kerry Hatley. Ive seen bad decisions but this might top it from a referee standpoint, Turner had pretty much Ko'd green on the feet but Hatley allowed him to land 20 unanswered strikes on bobby green while he was unconscious unable to defend himself. Such damage can drastically change careers in the best of cases and kill a man in the worst (not sure of Hatley had a wager on the first death in a UFC fight but that was shocking).
Comeback fighter of the year:
HMS: Sean Strickland (1-2 in 2022, 3-0 with a title in 2023), Jon jones (3 years out to Hw champ, GOAT shit only), Tom Aspinall (one of the worst knee injuries we've seen to interim HW champ in an 18t months period(.
Winner: Alex Poatan Pereira: was KO'd brutally at the beginning of the year against a man he was 3-0 against to just 7 months later holding the LHW belt and arguably cementing himself as the GOAT combat sports athlete of all time. Also beat a tough Jan blachowicz in the interim, so pretty much did everything Adesanya couldn't do.
Submission of the year (most vicious sub of the year):
HMs: Grasso RNC vs Shevchenko in RD 4 at UFC 285, Yair Triangle vs Josh Emmett at UFC 284, Shavkat RNC vs Geoff Neal at UFC 285.
Winner: Jon Jones guillotine on Cyrile Gane at UFC 285. It wasn't so much the fact that Jon outgripped to Cyril, it was the speed at which he applied it and made cyril tap. I know cyril isn't a grappler but we'd seen him have fairly decent submission defence and offence in some of his prior fights so the fact that Jon was able to get the tap so quick after applying the choke is another reason why he is viewed as the GOAT:
KO of the year (most devastating ko of the year):
HMS: Gaethje getting revenge on Poirier via headkick (so close to being no.1), Josh emmett causing bryce mitchell to convulse on the floor. Tsarukyan Koing Beneil with a right hook, Barboza flatlining Quarantillo with a knee from hell.
Winner: Adesanya sending Pereira to the shadow realm despite losing the fight: i dont care what the judges scorecard said, imo, Alex pereira was easily in control of the rematch vs Adesanya, and had he not ironically tried to end the fight in the 2nd round, we could have seen another simultaneous double champ by the end of the year in hindsight. Fair play to Izzy for capitalising and for brutally Koing the bogeyman who he was 0-3 against. The knockout and more importantly who it was against, is why I think this is KO of the year.
Performance of the year (fighter with the overall best, most dominant performance of the year):
HMS: Strickland UDing Adesanya 50-45 (so close to being no.1), Jamahal Hill UDing Glover 50-45 (underrated, especially given his improvements in TD defence), Cannonier Uding vettori 49-46 (people forget Cannonier set a striking record in this fight), Volk dominating koing Yair in 3rds, Islam Koing volk in the rematch, Grasso subbing Shevchenko and outboxing her to win the title.
Winner: DDP shutting down whittakers game and Tkoing him in the 2nd. I know loads of sherbros will feel that Strickland beating Adesanya (and knocking him down in the first) was a more impressive performance and upset. However, people forget that whilst it was a clear victory to strickland and every round was in his favour, other than the first round, every other round was not a total domination. By comparison, DDP (who was a +300 underdog vs Bobby Knuckles), outgrappled him and almost stopped him in the first, before landing that jab come hook in the 2nd to tko him. And lets not forget who he did it against, one of the best MWs of all time, in his prime, coming off the best performance of his career and who arguably beat Adesanya in the rematch, making him arguably the top MW on earth. the fact that DDP elevated his performance from previous fights to do that against Whittaker makes it the performance of the year.
Fight of the year:
HMS: Moreno vs Pantoja 3, Turner vs Hooker, Barboza vs Yusuff, Shavkat vs Neal, Borschaev vs Sadykhov, Gaethje vs Fiziev
Winner: Makhachev vs Volk 1. Unlike previous FOTY contenders, this fight wasn't a blood and guts war. It literally looked how it was marketed, the no.1 and no.2 lb4lb fighters going at it. Islam elevated his striking to match volk on the feet, and Volks grappling defence nullified islam on the ground. It was so back and forth and to this day, has fans debating who won. One thing that is undeniable, is that it probably is the highest level of mixed martial arts ever seen inside a UFC octagon. Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQef0jJ_k9U
Female Fighter of the year (and upset of the year imo):
Winner: Alexa Grasso: No real debate here. There were few champions in UFC history as dominant as Shevchenko was at flyweight. There had been a long term question as to who was able to dethrone her. The fact that Grasso as a +750 underdog in the first fight, outboxed her and subbed her in 4 rounds was insane to watch and until the Duplesssis fight was my personal POTY. Then in the rematch as a +210 underdog, the fact she outstruck the former Muay thai champ and knocked her down to earn a competitive draw, showed how Alexa had significantly raised her game to cement herself as the present best at 125. Whether that remains in 2024 remains to be seen but fair play to Grasso for elevating mexican MMa and flyweight to another level.
Male fighter of the year:
HMS: Alex Pereira (GOAT combat sports athlete), Leon Edwards (boring but beat the two long time best in the division), Justin Gaethje (lots of people thought he was done, but ended up outstriking the two best strikers int eh division and getting revenge via ko to win the bmf belt), Islam Makhachev (beat the lb4lb no.1 twice and ko'd him once), Tom aspinall (finished both his opponents in less than around and one was the scariest fighter we'd seen at hw in a long time).
Winner: Sean strickland. The adesanya fight alone could have won strickland this award, going in on short notice as a +540 dog to knockdown and break the long time MW champ (and 2nd greatest mw of all time arguably) was insane enough and had many questioning what they had just watched at UFC 293. But dont forget, he beat rising contender Nassourdine Imavov on one weeks notice (despite being nearly a +200 dog tint hat fight) and then despite the UFC attempts to feed him to more unranked contenders for him to build their name off, went on to TKO Magomedov in the 2nd round. Stricklands 2023 was not only a unreal year for any fighter, but also was a major disruptor as i guarantee, the UFC and dana white were probably betting on him to have lost all three of his matchups, so the fact that he pulled off upset and upset to climb his way to a UFC title, whilst also providing so many hilarious moments for fans is the reason why imo he's the clearest 2023 fighter of the year.
What are your thoughts Sherbros? Do you agree or disagree with the above and if the former, would love to know who you have in each award category?
Debut of the year (fighter with best single debut performance):
IMO, even though he went 1-1 the rest of the year, the way Ismael Bonfim TKO'd Terrence Mckinney after dominating him (despite being an underdog) was insane to behold and imo no debut this year has come close, not even Steve Ercegs performance vs David Dvorak.
Breakthrough fighter of the yea (either a fighter who debuted to much fanfare, or one established a new placement in their respective division):
HM's: Ian Garry (though being a cuck hasn't helped him), Steve Erceg, Bo Nickal, Ikram Aliskerov.
Winner: Benoit Saint Denis. I saw this dude live get beaten to an inch of his live by Zaleski dos Santos so the fact that he's comeback from that a division down is pretty incredible. This year, he went 3-0, destroying Bonfim (despite being a hefty underdog) in 1 round, beating up Moises to get a place in the rankings and then headkick KOing Frevola to establish himself as a top 10 contender. Still only 28, and with the way he's improved in the last few years, could prove to be a real problem for the established top 5 at LW.
Worst cockup of the year:
HMS: Ian Garry putting Neil Magny in a child custody battle, Ian Garry getting kicked out of every gym he's trained at, Colby Covington giving the worst performance of his life with Trump front row, forcing him to leave the stadium.
Winner: Kerry Hatley. Ive seen bad decisions but this might top it from a referee standpoint, Turner had pretty much Ko'd green on the feet but Hatley allowed him to land 20 unanswered strikes on bobby green while he was unconscious unable to defend himself. Such damage can drastically change careers in the best of cases and kill a man in the worst (not sure of Hatley had a wager on the first death in a UFC fight but that was shocking).
Comeback fighter of the year:
HMS: Sean Strickland (1-2 in 2022, 3-0 with a title in 2023), Jon jones (3 years out to Hw champ, GOAT shit only), Tom Aspinall (one of the worst knee injuries we've seen to interim HW champ in an 18t months period(.
Winner: Alex Poatan Pereira: was KO'd brutally at the beginning of the year against a man he was 3-0 against to just 7 months later holding the LHW belt and arguably cementing himself as the GOAT combat sports athlete of all time. Also beat a tough Jan blachowicz in the interim, so pretty much did everything Adesanya couldn't do.
Submission of the year (most vicious sub of the year):
HMs: Grasso RNC vs Shevchenko in RD 4 at UFC 285, Yair Triangle vs Josh Emmett at UFC 284, Shavkat RNC vs Geoff Neal at UFC 285.
Winner: Jon Jones guillotine on Cyrile Gane at UFC 285. It wasn't so much the fact that Jon outgripped to Cyril, it was the speed at which he applied it and made cyril tap. I know cyril isn't a grappler but we'd seen him have fairly decent submission defence and offence in some of his prior fights so the fact that Jon was able to get the tap so quick after applying the choke is another reason why he is viewed as the GOAT:
KO of the year (most devastating ko of the year):
HMS: Gaethje getting revenge on Poirier via headkick (so close to being no.1), Josh emmett causing bryce mitchell to convulse on the floor. Tsarukyan Koing Beneil with a right hook, Barboza flatlining Quarantillo with a knee from hell.
Winner: Adesanya sending Pereira to the shadow realm despite losing the fight: i dont care what the judges scorecard said, imo, Alex pereira was easily in control of the rematch vs Adesanya, and had he not ironically tried to end the fight in the 2nd round, we could have seen another simultaneous double champ by the end of the year in hindsight. Fair play to Izzy for capitalising and for brutally Koing the bogeyman who he was 0-3 against. The knockout and more importantly who it was against, is why I think this is KO of the year.
Performance of the year (fighter with the overall best, most dominant performance of the year):
HMS: Strickland UDing Adesanya 50-45 (so close to being no.1), Jamahal Hill UDing Glover 50-45 (underrated, especially given his improvements in TD defence), Cannonier Uding vettori 49-46 (people forget Cannonier set a striking record in this fight), Volk dominating koing Yair in 3rds, Islam Koing volk in the rematch, Grasso subbing Shevchenko and outboxing her to win the title.
Winner: DDP shutting down whittakers game and Tkoing him in the 2nd. I know loads of sherbros will feel that Strickland beating Adesanya (and knocking him down in the first) was a more impressive performance and upset. However, people forget that whilst it was a clear victory to strickland and every round was in his favour, other than the first round, every other round was not a total domination. By comparison, DDP (who was a +300 underdog vs Bobby Knuckles), outgrappled him and almost stopped him in the first, before landing that jab come hook in the 2nd to tko him. And lets not forget who he did it against, one of the best MWs of all time, in his prime, coming off the best performance of his career and who arguably beat Adesanya in the rematch, making him arguably the top MW on earth. the fact that DDP elevated his performance from previous fights to do that against Whittaker makes it the performance of the year.
Fight of the year:
HMS: Moreno vs Pantoja 3, Turner vs Hooker, Barboza vs Yusuff, Shavkat vs Neal, Borschaev vs Sadykhov, Gaethje vs Fiziev
Winner: Makhachev vs Volk 1. Unlike previous FOTY contenders, this fight wasn't a blood and guts war. It literally looked how it was marketed, the no.1 and no.2 lb4lb fighters going at it. Islam elevated his striking to match volk on the feet, and Volks grappling defence nullified islam on the ground. It was so back and forth and to this day, has fans debating who won. One thing that is undeniable, is that it probably is the highest level of mixed martial arts ever seen inside a UFC octagon. Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQef0jJ_k9U
Female Fighter of the year (and upset of the year imo):
Winner: Alexa Grasso: No real debate here. There were few champions in UFC history as dominant as Shevchenko was at flyweight. There had been a long term question as to who was able to dethrone her. The fact that Grasso as a +750 underdog in the first fight, outboxed her and subbed her in 4 rounds was insane to watch and until the Duplesssis fight was my personal POTY. Then in the rematch as a +210 underdog, the fact she outstruck the former Muay thai champ and knocked her down to earn a competitive draw, showed how Alexa had significantly raised her game to cement herself as the present best at 125. Whether that remains in 2024 remains to be seen but fair play to Grasso for elevating mexican MMa and flyweight to another level.
Male fighter of the year:
HMS: Alex Pereira (GOAT combat sports athlete), Leon Edwards (boring but beat the two long time best in the division), Justin Gaethje (lots of people thought he was done, but ended up outstriking the two best strikers int eh division and getting revenge via ko to win the bmf belt), Islam Makhachev (beat the lb4lb no.1 twice and ko'd him once), Tom aspinall (finished both his opponents in less than around and one was the scariest fighter we'd seen at hw in a long time).
Winner: Sean strickland. The adesanya fight alone could have won strickland this award, going in on short notice as a +540 dog to knockdown and break the long time MW champ (and 2nd greatest mw of all time arguably) was insane enough and had many questioning what they had just watched at UFC 293. But dont forget, he beat rising contender Nassourdine Imavov on one weeks notice (despite being nearly a +200 dog tint hat fight) and then despite the UFC attempts to feed him to more unranked contenders for him to build their name off, went on to TKO Magomedov in the 2nd round. Stricklands 2023 was not only a unreal year for any fighter, but also was a major disruptor as i guarantee, the UFC and dana white were probably betting on him to have lost all three of his matchups, so the fact that he pulled off upset and upset to climb his way to a UFC title, whilst also providing so many hilarious moments for fans is the reason why imo he's the clearest 2023 fighter of the year.
What are your thoughts Sherbros? Do you agree or disagree with the above and if the former, would love to know who you have in each award category?
