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: Amanda Nunes

Nunes broke all kinds of barriers in 2016… the sexual preference, the woman to retire Tate and possibly Rousey, but to win and defend the title in the same year is “fighter of the year” material.

Runner-Up: Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Joanna repeats again at the #2 spot.  Like Cyborg, her robotic dominance can sometimes be lost behind the front page, but only fighting twice in a year is a small piece in that unfortunate reality.

3rd Place: Cristiane Justino

A relatively dull year (again), but status quo for her (again).  With the 145 division opening up, there’s a chance for her to really start to show her worth, but the recently failed drug test casts a dark cloud over all of that.

Men: Jose Torres

It is very slim pickings on the men’s side of the award, but Jose Torres made the Top 100 and fought for Titan FC.

Honorable Mentions: Adilson Ramos

Women: Gabi Garcia

She’s a fighter without a division, but one that ran up a 4-0 record.  The competition was extremely lackluster, but the early career prospect building system just isn’t there for MMA and especially not for the women.

Honorable Mention: Syuri Kondo, Amber Leibrock

Most Improved Fighter of the Year: Emil Weber Meek

Meek pulled off a dominant victory over Rousimar Palhares in the upset of the year and followed it up with a victory of Jordan Mein in the UFC. After averaging a rank of approximately #450 in 2015, he is now a borderline Top 10 fighter in the division with a UFC contract.

As a refresher, our “Comeback” award is about coming back from inactivity or major injury (that we know about) and in doing so, really impressing.  You can see more details at the bottom of the post about specific qualifiers.

Comeback Fighter of the Year: Dominick Cruz

Yet another ACL tear cost Cruz over 15 months away from the sport, but he returned to take the championship by defeating Dillashaw in January.  Although Cruz lost the title to Garbrandt at the very end of 2016, it’s hard to argue a better candidate for this award.

Honorable Mention: Khabib Nurmagomedov

To qualify, fighters must be in an active status at the end of the award year and did not have a fight in the previous calendar year or are coming off of a known major injury that caused an inactive period of 15+ months.

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: Conor McGregor

For us, it was a very tight call this year.  But having fought three times, two of which involving some form of the Featherweight title.  It’s hard to deny that McGregor is the fighter of the year for 2015.

Runner-Up: Rafael dos Anjos

The reign of Rafael dos Anjos at Lightweight is starting to look like one that can last a very long time.  Although he only fought twice in 2015 — which is usually the case once a fighter gains a major belt, his presence as a top fighter in the sport is one that sees him as high as #2 on some pound-for-pound lists and #3 on ours.

3rd Place: Demetrious Johnson

Like “Cyborg”, the #3 for Women’s Fighter of the Year, DJ did nothing overly impressive this year, but defended his belt twice in dominant fashion.  He still owns the Flyweight division and lingers toward the top of the pound-for-pound lists.

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: Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Won the UFC Strawweight championship and defended it twice.  Not much else to say here as she runs away with the award.

Runner-Up: Holly Holm

A 3-0 year, capped off by stopping Ronda Rousey, winning the championship and (perhaps) cementing herself as the greatest woman in combat sports history.

3rd Place: Cristiane Justino

A relatively dull year, but status quo for her.  Her potential is obviously limited by the division she fights in, but Holm’s comments about considering the idea of fighting Cyborg leaves us hopeful.

Men: Sergey Pavlovich

An impressive 2015 that saw Pavlovich run his record up to 6-0 (all knockouts) and get into the Top 50 at Heavyweight earns him the award.  Take notice that the three honorable mentions are also from Russia.

Honorable Mentions: Vladimir Mineev, Petr Yan, Velimurad Alhasov

Women: Cristina Stanciu

After starting at Bantamweight, she’s now fighting in the “wrong” division (Flyweight) to make waves in the UFC.  Though, it appears likely she can make 115.  She also has the “look” so it if she keeps winning, it may not be too long until she’s in the UFC — maybe on a European card.

Honorable Mention: Kanna Asakura

Most Improved Fighter of the Year: Alex Morono

Morono bursted onto the scene with a perfect 4-0 record in 2015, skyrocketing up the rankings and earning himself a spot on UFC 195.

Note: We have two ways that we derive biggest “upsets” based on points difference between winner and loser.

“Most Noteworthy” (X minus Y)
“Most Lopsided” (X divided by Y)

Most Noteworthy: Luke Rockhold TKO(4) Chris Weidman

While not a huge upset by betting odds, Weidman had amassed nearly a 1,000 point lead over Rockhold in the rankings.

Honorable Mentions: Alistair Overeem TKO(2) Junior dos Santos, Uriah Hall TKO(2) Gegard Mousasi, Frank Mir TKO(1) Antonio Silva

Most Lopsided: Uriah Hall TKO(2) Gegard Mousasi

This fight is more truer to the definition of an actual “upset” than the one above, but this is why we slice this award in two different ways.

Honorable Mentions: Frank Mir TKO(1) Antonio Silva, Tony Johnson SD(3) Alexander Volkov, Frankie Saenz UD(3) Iuri Alcantara

Most Noteworthy Match of the Year:

Luke Rockhold TKO(4) Chris Weidman

The “most noteworthy” match of the year is a pretty basic calculation — a sum of quality if you will, taking a look back at the fights within the calendar year using the standing of the fighters involved at the end of the year.  In this case, it wasn’t close.  What more can you say?  The twice conquerer of Anderson Silva against the current Middleweight champion and top P4P fighter.  Not much else to say.