The awards below are equation-guided and have been awarded by FightMatrix to fighters, based on their career results and its relation to the FightMatrix rating system.
Older awards were populated retroactively at their creation, using a manner similar to that in which we’d use for future awards. In these cases, the text will be presented in italics.
Keep in mind, that annual awards strictly adhere to the calendar year. This is especially important for the “fighter of the year” awards where things like rank position are considered.
FightMatrix Fighters of the Year
The “Fighter of the Year” award looks back on the entire year as a whole and the fighters’ ranking position held and performances within it. Further credit given for type of wins, and activity.
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up | 3rd Place |
| 1993 | Royce Gracie | Ken Shamrock | Masakatsu Funaki |
| 1994 | Ken Shamrock | Royce Gracie | Manabu Yamada |
| 1995 | Ken Shamrock (#2) | Bas Rutten | Dan Severn |
| 1996 | Bas Rutten | Jay R. Palmer | Masakatsu Funaki |
| 1997 | Masakatsu Funaki | Bas Rutten | Yuki Kondo |
| 1998 | Frank Shamrock | Semmy Schilt | Guy Mezger |
| 1999 | Semmy Schilt | Kazushi Sakuraba | Matt Hughes |
| 2000 | Nate Marquardt | Alexandre Franca Nogueira | Tito Ortiz |
| 2001 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | Tito Ortiz | Alexandre Franca Nogueira |
| 2002M | Matt Hughes | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | Murilo Bustamante |
| 2002F | Yuka Tsuji | – | – |
| 2003M | Fedor Emelianenko | Randy Couture | Matt Hughes |
| 2003F | Jennifer Howe | – | – |
| 2004M | B.J. Penn | Fedor Emelianenko | Matt Hughes |
| 2004F | Yuka Tsuji (#2) | Megumi Yabushita | Roxanne Modafferi |
| 2005M | Takanori Gomi | Mauricio Rua | Matt Hughes |
| 2005F | Yuka Tsuji (#3) | Hisae Watanabe | Satoko Shinashi |
| 2006M | Chuck Liddell | Fedor Emelianenko | Shinichi Kojima |
| 2006F | Tara LaRosa | Hisae Watanabe | Megumi Fujii |
| 2007M | Anderson Silva | Quinton Jackson | Randy Couture |
| 2007F | Tara LaRosa (#2) | Megumi Fujii | Yuka Tsuji |
| 2008M | Anderson Silva (#2) | Miguel Torres | Thiago Alves |
| 2008F | Megumi Fujii | Gina Carano | Cristiane Justino |
| 2009M | Georges St. Pierre | Lyoto Machida | Mike Brown |
| 2009F | Tara LaRosa (#3) | Megumi Fujii | Sarah Kaufman |
| 2010M | Georges St. Pierre (#2) | Jose Aldo | Dominick Cruz |
| 2010F | Cristiane Justino | Megumi Fujii | Sarah Kaufman |
| 2011M | Jon Jones | Anderson Silva | Frankie Edgar |
| 2011F | Naho Sugiyama | Miesha Tate | Sarah Kaufman |
| 2012M | Ben Henderson | Jon Jones | Cain Velasquez |
| 2012F | Ronda Rousey | Ayaka Hamasaki | Jessica Penne |
| 2013M | Demetrious Johnson | Chris Weidman | Cain Velasquez |
| 2013F | Ronda Rousey (#2) | Barb Honchak | Cristiane Justino |
| 2014M | Jose Aldo | Demetrious Johnson | Robbie Lawler |
| 2014F | Ronda Rousey (#3) | Jessica Aguilar | Herica Tiburcio |
| 2015M | Conor McGregor | Rafael dos Anjos | Demetrious Johnson |
| 2015F | Joanna Jedrzejczyk | Holly Holm | Cristiane Justino |
| 2016M | Stipe Miocic | Michael Bisping | Demetrious Johnson |
| 2016F | Amanda Nunes | Joanna Jedrzejczyk | Cristiane Justino |
| 2017M | Demetrious Johnson (#2) [tie] | Max Holloway [tie] | Tyron Woodley |
| 2017F | Cristiane Justino (#2) | Rose Namajunas | Livia Renata Souza |
| 2018M | Daniel Cormier | Khabib Nurmagomedov | Dustin Poirier |
| 2018F | Amanda Nunes (#2) | Valentina Shevchenko | Jessica Andrade |
| 2019M | Kamaru Usman | Henry Cejudo | Jon Jones |
| 2019F | Amanda Nunes (#3) [tie] | Valentina Shevchenko [tie] | Weili Zhang |
| 2020M | Deiveson Figueiredo | Israel Adesanya | Gilbert Burns |
| 2020F | Valentina Shevchenko (#2) | Cristiane Justino | Weili Zhang |
| 2021M | Kamaru Usman (#2) | Charles Oliveira | Max Holloway |
| 2021F | Valentina Shevchenko (#3) | Rose Namajunas | Julianna Pena |
| 2022M | Alexander Volkanovski | Alex Pereira | Aljamain Sterling |
| 2022F | Seika Izawa | Weili Zhang | Valentina Shevchenko |
FightMatrix Most Improved Fighter of the Year
| Year | Fighter |
| 2011 | Michael Chandler |
| 2012 | Joshua Sampo |
| 2013 | Albert Tumenov |
| 2014 | Tom Gallicchio |
| 2015 | Alex Morono |
| 2016 | Emil Weber Meek |
| 2017 | Volkan Oezdemir |
| 2018 | Ray Cooper III |
| 2019 | Jairzinho Rozenstruik |
| 2020 | Miguel Baeza |
| 2021 | Rae Yoon Ok |
| 2022 | Alex Pereira |
Based on increase in rank (and points as a tie-breaker) from the end of the previous year.
FightMatrix Comeback Fighter of the Year
| Year | Fighter |
| 2011 | Shinichi Kojima |
| 2012 | Georges St. Pierre |
| 2013 | Ryan LaFlare |
| 2014 | Tito Ortiz |
| 2015 | Sergio Moraes |
| 2016 | Dominick Cruz |
| 2017 | Georges St. Pierre (#2) |
| 2018 | Magomed Magomedkerimov |
| 2019 | Nate Diaz |
| 2020 | Conor McGregor |
| 2021 | TJ Dillashaw |
| 2022 | Sergei Pavlovich |
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 injury that caused an inactive period of 15+ months.
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FightMatrix Rookies of the Year
One men’s fighter prior to 2010. One men’s and one women’s fighter for 2010 and after.
| Year | Fighter |
| 1995 | Ricardo Morais |
| 1996 | Jay R. Palmer |
| 1997 | Randy Couture |
| 1998 | Sergio Melo |
| 1999 | Mamoru Yamaguchi |
| 2000 | Kazuyuki Fujita |
| 2001 | B.J. Penn |
| 2002 | Yoshinori Momose |
| 2003 | Ansar Chalangov |
| 2004 | Mark Hunt |
| 2005 | Jake Ellenberger |
| 2006 | Jamal Patterson |
| 2007 | Bryan Baker |
| 2008 | Jon Jones |
| 2009 | Joe Warren |
| 2010 | Cole Konrad (M) / Liz Carmouche (F) |
| 2011 | Sultan Aliev (M) / Ronda Rousey (F) |
| 2012 | Smealinho Rama (M) / Joanne Calderwood (F) |
| 2013 | Steve Mocco (M) / Livia Renata Souza (F) |
| 2014 | Chris de la Rocha (M) / Jessica Miele (F) |
| 2015 | Sergey Pavlovich (M) / Cristina Stanciu (F) |
| 2016 | Jose Torres (M) / Gabi Garcia (F) |
| 2017 | Shamil Amirov (M) / Liliya Shakirova (F) |
| 2018 | Rafal Kijanczuk (M) / Kayla Harrison (F) |
| 2019 | Juancamilo Ronderos (M) / Maria Laura Alves (F) |
| 2020 | Rui Imura (M) / Danni Neilan (F) |
| 2021 | Seung Mo Park (M) / Tereza Bleda (F) |
| 2022 | Junior Tafa (M) / Melissa Tonya Mullin (F) |
Prior to 2011, fighter must debut in and have three pro fights in the calendar year. In 2011, rules changed to allow fighter to have a maximum of 1 pro fight in the year previous to award year. This fight would also count toward the three pro fight requirement.
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FightMatrix Most Noteworthy Match of Year
Analyzed at year-end, looking back at the most noteworthy match of the year based on cumulative rank strength of the involved fighters.
| Year | Match |
| 2002 | Jens Pulver vs. B.J. Penn |
| 2003 | Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira |
| 2004 | Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira III |
| 2005 | Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mirko Filipovic |
| 2006 | Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes |
| 2007 | Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre |
| 2008 | Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson |
| 2009 | Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn |
| 2010 | Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar |
| 2011 | Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II |
| 2012 | Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos II |
| 2013 | Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva II |
| 2014 | Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida |
| 2015 | Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman |
| 2016 | Michael Bisping vs. Luke Rockhold |
| 2017 | Max Holloway vs. Jose Aldo II |
| 2018 | Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo II |
| 2019 | Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier |
| 2020 | Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway II |
| 2021 | Francis Ngannou vs. Stipe Miocic II |
| 2022 | Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira |
In ties, preference given to stronger division. No contests excluded.
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FightMatrix Most Noteworthy Upset of Year
Analyzed pre-bout, the largest difference (X minus Y) between rating points (normalized by division) and between raw Glicko points.
| Year | Match |
| 2004 | FM -> Mark Hunt SD(3) Wanderlei Silva GlickoNoReq -> Mark Hunt SD(3) Wanderlei Silva |
| 2005 | FM -> Sam Greco TKO(1) Heath Herring GlickoNoReq -> Mark Hunt SD(3) Mirko Filipovic |
| 2006 | FM -> Mark Coleman TKO(1) Mauricio Rua GlickoNoReq -> Tristan Yunker SUB(1) Clay Guida |
| 2007 | FM -> Matt Serra TKO(1) Georges St. Pierre GlickoNoReq -> Dong Sik Yoon SUB(2) Melvin Manhoef |
| 2008 | FM -> Frank Mir TKO(2) Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Glicko -> Muhammed Lawal TKO(1) Travis Wiuff GlickoNoReq -> Muhammed Lawal TKO(1) Travis Wiuff |
| 2009 | FM -> Mamed Khalidov TKO(1) Jorge Santiago Glicko -> Ray Mercer KO(1) Tim Sylvia GlickoNoReq -> Ray Mercer KO(1) Tim Sylvia |
| 2010 | FM -> Fabricio Werdum SUB(1) Fedor Emelianenko Glicko -> Matt Horwich SUB(4) Thales Leites GlickoNoReq -> Peter Graham TKO(2) Aleksander Emelianenko |
| 2011 | FM -> Robert Peralta SD(3) Hiroyuki Takaya Glicko -> Ashley Sanchez UD(3) Erin Toughill GlickoNoReq -> Jermaine Van Rooy TKO(1) Konstantin Gluhov |
| 2012 | FM -> Joshua Sampo UD(3) Antonio Banuelos Glicko -> Vanessa Porto UD(3) Tara LaRosa GlickoNoReq -> Ben Santiago TKO(1) Paulo Goncalves Silva |
| 2013 | FM -> Phil Davis UD(3) Lyoto Machida Glicko -> Celine Haga UD(2) Naho Sugiyama GlickoNoReq -> Nathan Thompson TKO(1) Ste Hunter |
| 2014 | FM -> Andrei Arlovski KO(1) Antonio Silva Glicko -> Tito Ortiz SUB(1) Alexander Shlemenko GlickoNoReq -> Joe Schilling KO(2) Melvin Manhoef |
| 2015 | FM -> Luke Rockhold TKO(4) Chris Weidman Glicko -> Tony Johnson SD(3) Alexander Volkov GlickoNoReq -> David Stone KO(1) Tim Close |
| 2016 | FM -> Stipe Miocic KO(1) Fabricio Werdum Glicko -> Emil Meek KO(1) Rousimar Palhares GlickoNoReq -> Kiyoshi Kuwabara TKO(1) A-Sol Kwon |
| 2017 | FM -> Francis Ngannou KO(1) Alistair Overeem Glicko -> Brent Primus TKO(1) Michael Chandler GlickoNoReq -> Emil Abasov TKO(1) Heliton dos Santos Davila |
| 2018 | FM -> Vadim Nemkov SD(3) Phil Davis Glicko -> Jared Cannonier TKO(2) David Branch GlickoNoReq -> Jared Cannonier TKO(2) David Branch |
| 2019 | FM -> Walt Harris KO(1) Alexey Oleynik Glicko -> Kai Asakura TKO(1) Kyoji Horiguchi GlickoNoReq -> Chris Sandt SUB(3) Anthony Formoso |
| 2020 | FM -> Marvin Vettori UD(5) Jack Hermansson Glicko -> Neiman Gracie SUB(2) Jon Fitch GlickoNoReq -> Will Cairns TKO(1) Mark Halford |
| 2021 | FM -> Francis Ngannou TKO(2) Stipe Miocic Glicko -> Jordan Young TKO(3) Omari Akhmedov GlickoNoReq -> Jay Ellis SUB(1) Rodrigo Almeida |
| 2022 | FM -> Leon Edwards KO(5) Kamaru Usman Glicko -> Alex Pereira TKO(5) Israel Adesanya GlickoNoReq -> Victor Pereira Silva UD(3) Carlos Gomez |
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FightMatrix Most Lopsided Upset of Year
Analyzed pre-bout, the largest proportional difference (X divided by Y) between raw rating points.
| Year | Match |
| 2004 | Mark Hunt SD(3) Wanderlei Silva |
| 2005 | Sam Greco TKO(1) Heath Herring |
| 2006 | Tristan Yunker SUB(1) Clay Guida |
| 2007 | Gabriel Gonzaga KO(1) Mirko Filipovic |
| 2008 | Junior dos Santos TKO(1) Fabricio Werdum |
| 2009 | Marius Zaromskis TKO(1) Hayato Sakurai |
| 2010 | Jadamba Narantungalag UD(3) Akihiro Gono |
| 2011 | Robert Peralta SD(3) Hiroyuki Takaya |
| 2012 | Ilir Latifi UD(3) Tony Lopez |
| 2013 | Celine Haga UD(2) Naho Sugiyama |
| 2014 | T.J. Dillashaw TKO(5) Renan Barao |
| 2015 | Uriah Hall TKO(2) Gegard Mousasi |
| 2016 | Emil Weber Meek KO(1) Rousimar Palhares |
| 2017 | Volkan Oezdemir SD(3) Ovince St. Preux |
| 2018 | Jared Cannonier TKO(2) David Branch |
| 2019 | Timofey Nastyukhin TKO(1) Eddie Alvarez |
| 2020 | Kevin Holland KO(1) Ronaldo Souza |
| 2021 | Jordan Young TKO(3) Omari Akhmedov |
| 2022 | Yorgan De Castro TKO(3) Junior dos Santos |
Certain fights are excluded from upset records, such as DQs, or fights including those with a loser who was inactive or outside the Top 20 (approximate) and previously undefeated/inactive winners. Only the upsets labelled GlickoNoReq include all possible fights.
32 Comments
User error. This is not dynamically populated. I double-checked my entries and they were incorrect. I did it fast yesterday.. as stated, its in beta still.
Its similar to the All-Time rankings. 2008 >= Wins over top fighters, rankings throughout the year, presence in division dominance.. etc.
2007 and before had more emphasis on division dominance and admittedly, there was less “precision” as I didn’t have the ranking data.
Why no Fighters of the Year before 2008?
Hey, there they are! Can we have a bit of detail on how you used the system to derive the awards? Is it based on points on 12/31 minus points on 1/1, for example? Or by Division Dominance? Or…?
I am curious what led to some of the changes on the Fighter of the Year list. How did Fedor Emelianenko go from being Fighter of the Year for 2005 to not being in the top 3? I think I am remembering yesterday’s list correctly.
Any chance you could put the men and women in seperate colums? Its kind of difficult to look at them in chronological order when there is two of each year in a column.
Cool feature. I hope to see this extended to more years and categories in the future. “Fighter of the Year” would be a natural choice.
I found the lack of Wanderlei Silva and CroCop even more disappointing.
I’m not sure Vovchanchyn was ever Top 5 in that win streak. Hard to be considered fighter of the year in that case..
[…] MMA Awards […]
At last check.. #16.
Where does Igor rank on your all-time heavyweights list for this site?
I wonder because his name rarely is brought up when it comes to former elite heavyweights.
At last check.. #16.
Where does Igor rank on your all-time heavyweights list for this site?
I wonder because his name rarely is brought up when it comes to former elite heavyweights.
I found the lack of Wanderlei Silva and CroCop even more disappointing.
I’m not sure Vovchanchyn was ever Top 5 in that win streak. Hard to be considered fighter of the year in that case..
The lack of any Igor Vovchanchyn is very disappointing. At some point during that 30 fight winning streak he had to be relevant.
The lack of any Igor Vovchanchyn is very disappointing. At some point during that 30 fight winning streak he had to be relevant.
User error. This is not dynamically populated. I double-checked my entries and they were incorrect. I did it fast yesterday.. as stated, its in beta still.
I am curious what led to some of the changes on the Fighter of the Year list. How did Fedor Emelianenko go from being Fighter of the Year for 2005 to not being in the top 3? I think I am remembering yesterday’s list correctly.
Thanks Rich.
Rabbit – This just an early version of the page.. I’ll be adding more in the coming days/weeks and possibly re-visiting some of the pre-FightMatrix years also to add in #2, #3, double-check some fighters.. etc.
Stay tuned.
Thanks Rich.
Rabbit – This just an early version of the page.. I’ll be adding more in the coming days/weeks and possibly re-visiting some of the pre-FightMatrix years also to add in #2, #3, double-check some fighters.. etc.
Stay tuned.
This is great stuff.
Any chance you could put the men and women in seperate colums? Its kind of difficult to look at them in chronological order when there is two of each year in a column.
This is great stuff.
Its similar to the All-Time rankings. 2008 >= Wins over top fighters, rankings throughout the year, presence in division dominance.. etc.
2007 and before had more emphasis on division dominance and admittedly, there was less “precision” as I didn’t have the ranking data.
Hey, there they are! Can we have a bit of detail on how you used the system to derive the awards? Is it based on points on 12/31 minus points on 1/1, for example? Or by Division Dominance? Or…?
Working on it. Its very complex to calculate this before the site existed. I don’t just want to throw up names arbitrarily in order to fill the tables — everything you see here has substance behind it.
Why no Fighters of the Year before 2008?
Ehh.. I’m still working that one out in my mind.
Cool feature. I hope to see this extended to more years and categories in the future. “Fighter of the Year” would be a natural choice.
[…] FightMatrix Awards […]
Working on it. Its very complex to calculate this before the site existed. I don’t just want to throw up names arbitrarily in order to fill the tables — everything you see here has substance behind it.
Ehh.. I’m still working that one out in my mind.