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.