In case you did not know, we have our own awards page here.
Alex Pereira and Kayla Harrison are the fighters of the year.
Paul Hughes made his presence known, as he won our most improved award and was the victor in two of our upset awards.
Francis Ngannou was a shoe-in for the comeback fighter of the year.
One of the most interesting awards for me, is the rookie of the year. As you probably know, there is no formal progression from the “minor” to the “major” leagues in MMA. Some fighters get noticed… and some fighters don’t. Very few fighters are brought along “the right way” in a steady fashion, like you often see in boxing. MMA can also be quite unpredictable…
Anyway, we have separate awards for men and women.
On the men’s side, we had some interesting candidates…
- Kanji Funada went 4-0 in 2024, ending up at #12 in the incredibly weak Strawweight division.
- Bektur Zhenishbek Uulu has 39 points at Bantamweight, though he may belong at Flyweight where those points would be ~45.
- Adam Posener seems to have a bright future ahead of him. 4-0 and only 20 years old.
Ultimately, the award went to Thomas Gantt, who went 8-0 in 2024! An incredible year!
On the women’s side, Regina Tarin got the award, with Jaeleen Robledo coming in as honorable mention.
Awesome end of the year issue. Will there be a bikini edition next week?
I’m not against your idea…..
But we will not be 100% inclusive… AKA, women only.
Dricus DuPlessis vs Sean Strickland for upset of the year is a surprising one.
FYI – To qualify for rookie awards, fighter must have 3+ fights in the calendar year.
One exception…We do allow for a maximum of 1 past fight, if it was in the previous calendar year, and this will count toward the 3 fight requirement.