The 2023 Heavies' Awards: Event of the Year - WINNER UFC 295!

[Jackonfire]

​

2023 was a great year for MMA fans. The UFC celebrated 30 years of mixed martial arts with no less than 21 titles fights over the course of 12 months. Six new champs were crowned in the UFC alone. Its time to pick your favorite event from 2023. Be sure to tell us why you voted the way you did and as always let us know if there was an event that we missed. Here are your nominations:

UFC 284

​

UFC 284 took place in Australia where LW champ Islam Makhachev successfully defended his belt against FW champ Alexander Volkanovski who came up short in his effort to become a two division champ. In the co-main event, Yair Rodriguez defeated Josh Emmett to win the interim FW title. POTN went to both Yair and Jack Della Maddalena while the main event picked up the FOTN bonus.

Spoiler: Full Fight Card

Spoiler: Gifs

UFC 285

​

UFC 285 took place on March 4th in Las Vegas at T-Mobil Arena and offered 2 title fights. In the main event, Jon Jones made his HW debut where he faced Ciryl Gane for the vacant belt. Jones was able to submit Gane via guillotine choke in the 1st round becoming the undisputed HW champion. The co-main saw long time women's flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko take on challenger Alexa Grasso. It what was deemed a huge upset, Grasso was able to submit Shevchenko via face crank in the 4th round and become the new women's flyweight champ. Jon Jones, Alexa Grasso, and Bo Nickal all picked up POTN bonuses while Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Geoff Neal claimed the FOTN award.

Spoiler: Full Fight Card

Spoiler: Gifs

​

 

[Jackonfire]

KSW 83: Colosseum 2

​

KSW 83 took place on June 3 at the PGE Narodowy in Warsaw, Poland. The main event saw Mamed Khalidov defeat Scott Askham via a bonus worthy KO while the FOTN honors went to Michał Materla vs. Radosław Paczuski. Krzysztof Głowacki also picked up a knockout of the night award.

Spoiler: Highlights

UFC 290

​

UFC 290 took place July 8th in Las Vegas and once again offered up 2 title fights. Both the FW and BW titles were on the line. The main event saw FW champ Alexander Volkanovski face interim FW champ Yair Rodriguez in a title unification bout. Volkanovski defeated Yair via tko in the 3rd round. The co-main event saw challenger Alexandre Pantoja defeat Brandon Moreno to become the new flyweight champ. Ruthless Robbie Lawler knocked out Niko Price in what would be his last fight. POTN honors went to both Dricus du Plessis and Denise Gomes while Moreno vs. Pantoja picked up FOTN.

Spoiler: Full Fight Card

Spoiler: Gifs

​

 

[Jackonfire]

UFC 295

​

UFC 295 took place on Nov. 11th in NYC at Madison Square Garden. Alex Pereira defeated Jiří Procházka via tko to claim the vacant LHW title. In the co-main, Tom Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich and won the interim HW title. All 5 fights on the main card ended with a finish and as a result Alex Pereira, Tom Aspinall, Jéssica Andrade, Benoît Saint-Denis, and Diego Lopes all picked up a POTN bonus. FOTN went to Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Nazim Sadykhov who fought to a draw on the undercard.

Spoiler: Full Fight Card

Spoiler: Gifs

UFC on ESPN 52

​

UFC on ESPN 52 took place on Dec. 2nd at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas and was headlined by a LW fight between Dariush and Tsarukyan. Tsarukyan picked up the victory via ko in the first round. The co-main saw late replacement fighter Jalin Turner knock out Bobby Greene in the 1st round. Out of the 12 fights on the card, 9 ended with a finish including 2 slam ko's. There were 8 POTN bonuses handed out, Arman Tsarukyan, Jalin Turner, Sean Brady, Dustin Stoltzfus, Miesha Tate, Cody Brundage, Drakkar Klose, and Jared Gooden all getting rewarded for finishing their fights. FOTN went to Rodolfo Bellato vs. Ihor Potieria.

Spoiler: Full Fight Card

Spoiler: Gifs

Huge thanks to @KazDibiase for the gifs. Don't forget to check out which event Sherdog.com picked for Event of the Year​

 

[Liverkick-king56]

Ufc 296 was electric from start to finish.. Main event was the only boring fight but it was the only fight on the entire card that wasn't phenomenal.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

RIZIN 43, and I will fight you all at the top of that hill. That isn't even a top card of the year candidate, that is an all time card situation. I suggest everyone who missed it (bc, let's face it, almost all of you did) go watch it, immediately. Card for the ages.

 

[KALEWYTEE]

Ufc 295 was great top to bottom. The main card had all tko or Ko's too. My second pic would be ufc 290 would be ny second

 

[TempleoftheDog]

295 for me.

Loopy beat Ricci.

Andrade massacred Dern (lol if you picked Dern to beat the female JBG).

Of course the title fights were great. 5/5 KOs on the main card. BSD, and Lopes looked great. Kicking ass and taking names.

Just a really enjoyable card for me.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I'm going with UFC 295.. all finishes, no decisions. Lots of action and I wanted Tom and Alex too win the title fights and they did, so all in all I was very entertained and happy.

 

[Ares Black]

295 for me.

Loopy beat Ricci.

Andrade massacred Dern (lol if you picked Dern to beat the female JBG).

Of course the title fights were great. 5/5 KOs on the main card. BSD, and Lopes looked great. Kicking ass and taking names.

Just a really enjoyable card for me.

 

[vinnie245]

Its a stiff competition for me between 290 and 295, 290 just edges it out thanks to the great retirement of one of my all time favorite fighters (Lawler)

 

[Myrddin Wild]

I personally had teh most fun watching UFC 290.

It waz a banger of a card, but others were too. Perhaps because of Lawler'z retirement fight ending so heroicly... I had more time to look at it ahead of time, level of sobriety during teh event, & un-interupted viewing, but for whatever reason... 290'z my boiy~

 

[cade187]

KSW 83 definitely wins best poster. That poster is sick.

Voted for 295 for best event.

 

[corrupted]

The Lawler retirement did for me. 290. But 295 was a great card too.

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

Voting for UFC 285 for me

 

[Substance Abuse]

UFC 290. Top to bottom that card had a ton of action and finishes on it. Watched it in a house full of people and it was a great experience.

 

[The_Renaissance]

295, definitely.