As a recap, most “Fighter of the Year” awards on other sites are really “Breakout Fighter of the Year” awards in that fighters who win, were usually not top fighters in the beginning of the year, but became so by the end of the year.
A fighter like this can and has won our FotY awards, but our award is more about maintaining a high standing during the award year by performing well a sufficient number of times and against a sufficient quality of opponents. It is more comparable to a season MVP in major team sports, not a playoffs/surprise MVP.
Winner: Stipe Miocic
Another fairly tight call, Miocic takes it with a 3-0 year, all being decisive victories with a title win and title defense.
Runner-Up: Michael Bisping
You couldn’t have went wrong putting Bisping at #1, who also went 3-0 with a title win and title defense. The difference being that two of his victories were extremely close against two legends of the sport at the very end of their respective careers.
3rd Place: Demetrious Johnson
DJ gets third place for the second straight year. I’m sure many would expect to see Conor here, but DJ is just one of a few fighters who had two decisive title wins in the year without a loss.