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.
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: Stipe Miocic KO(1) Fabricio Werdum
Werdum had a massive point advantage over Miocic prior to the fight, but in this case, it meant nothing.
Most Lopsided: Emil Weber Meek KO(1) Rousimar Palhares
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.
| Friday, October 16th 2026: Professional Fighters League PFL Chicago 2: Carmouche vs. Bishop 2 | |||
 [#6 W125] Liz Carmouche | [#14 W125] Jena Bishop | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 6/27/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#16 W125] Viviane Araujo Last 5: L W W W W | Last Fight Date: 6/27/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#37 W125] Ariane Lipski da Silva Last 5: W W L W W | ||
| Thursday, December 31st 2026: Rizin FF New Years Eve Event | |||
 [#5 FW] Rajabali Shaidullaev |  [#17 FW] Kyoma Akimoto | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 9/10/2026 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#7 FW] A.J. McKee Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 8/11/2026 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#26 FW] Kleber Koike Erbst Last 5: W W W W W | ||
| Saturday, November 14th 2026: Professional Fighters League PFL Returns to Dubai: Nemkov vs. Bilostenniy | |||
 [#6 HW] Vadim Nemkov | [#16 HW] Sergey Bilostenniy | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 12/13/2025 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#20 HW] Renan Ferreira Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 5/02/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#20 HW] Renan Ferreira Last 5: W W L W W | ||
| [#1 FLW] |  Joshua Van | [#4 LW] |  Arman Tsarukyan | |
| [#172 HW] | Sean Sharaf | [#1 WW] | Islam Makhachev | |
| [#33 LW] | Akbar Abdullaev | [#5 FW] | Rajabali Shaidullaev | |
| [#9 LW] |  Mauricio Ruffy | [#3 FLW] | Alexandre Pantoja | |
| [#13 FW] | Patricio Freire | [#256 HW] | Gable Steveson |
Most Noteworthy Match of the Year:
Michael Bisping KO(1) Luke Rockhold
The “most noteworthy” match of the year isn’t about box office or the popular scene, instead it is a pretty basic calculation — a sum of quality if you will. Luke Rockhold finds himself in the most noteworthy match for the second straight year, but this time on the losing end. This is also the 4th straight winner in the Middleweight division, which speaks largely of its depth at the elite level.
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
Women Bantamweight (135)
[#1/#2DD/#3P4P] Amanda Nunes (13-4-0, +116) vs. [#2/#5DD/#5P4P] Ronda Rousey (12-1-0, -139)
Amanda Nunes is the All-Time #14 ranked Women’s fighter.
Ronda Rousey is the All-Time #1 ranked Women’s fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Amanda Nunes (3-0-0)
2016-07-09: W vs. [*] Miesha Tate (18-7-0) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 3:16 of round 1
2016-03-05: W vs. [#4BW/#7DD/#9P4P] Valentina Shevchenko (13-2-0) via UD (29-27, 29-28, 29-27)
2015-08-08: W vs. [#6BW] Sara McMann (10-3-0) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 2:53 of round 1
Last 3 Fights: Ronda Rousey (2-1-0)
2015-11-14: L vs. [#5BW/#10DD] Holly Holm (10-2-0) via KO (Head Kick and Punches) in 0:59 of round 2
2015-08-01: W vs. [#13BW] Bethe Correia (10-2-0) via KO (Punch) in 0:34 of round 1
2015-02-28: W vs. [#12BW] Cat Zingano (9-2-0) via Submission (Straight Armbar) in 0:14 of round 1
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Amanda Nunes 174, Ronda Rousey 412
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Ronda Rousey leads 8-4
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Bantamweight (135)
[#1/#4P4P] Dominick Cruz (22-1-0, -213) vs. [#9] Cody Garbrandt (10-0-0, +174)
Dominick Cruz is the All-Time #1 ranked Bantamweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Dominick Cruz (3-0-0)
2016-06-04: W vs. [*] Urijah Faber (34-10-0) via UD (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)
2016-01-17: W vs. [#2BW/#9P4P] T.J. Dillashaw (13-3-0) via SD (46-49, 48-47, 49-46)
2014-09-27: W vs. [#38BW] Takeya Mizugaki (21-11-2) via KO (Punches) in 1:01 of round 1
Last 3 Fights: Cody Garbrandt (3-0-0)
2016-08-20: W vs. [#38BW] Takeya Mizugaki (21-11-2) via TKO (Punches) in 0:48 of round 1
2016-05-29: W vs. [#24BW] Thomas Almeida (21-1-0) via KO (Punches) in 2:53 of round 1
2016-02-21: W vs. [#261BW] Augusto Mendes (5-1-0) via KO (Punches) in 4:18 of round 1
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Dominick Cruz 209, Cody Garbrandt 132
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Even: Both have 1 win(s) against common opposition.
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Bantamweight (135)
[#2/#9P4P] T.J. Dillashaw (13-3-0, -247) vs. [#5] John Lineker (29-7-0, +199)
T.J. Dillashaw is the All-Time #4 ranked Bantamweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: T.J. Dillashaw (2-1-0)
2016-07-09: W vs. [#21BW] Raphael Assuncao (23-5-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2016-01-17: L vs. [#1BW/#4P4P] Dominick Cruz (22-1-0) via SD (46-49, 48-47, 49-46)
2015-07-25: W vs. [#16FW] Renan Barao (34-4-0) via TKO (Punches) in 0:35 of round 4
Last 3 Fights: John Lineker (3-0-0)
2016-10-01: W vs. [#10BW] John Dodson (18-8-0) via SD (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
2016-07-13: W vs. [#31BW] Michael McDonald (17-4-0) via KO (Punches) in 2:43 of round 1
2016-05-14: W vs. [#30BW] Rob Font (13-2-0) via UD (30-26, 29-28, 30-27)
Days Since Last Pro Fight: T.J. Dillashaw 174, John Lineker 90
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: John Lineker leads 1-0
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Notable Info
Just like every other sport, there are a lot of overrated and underrated fighters in MMA. Since there are so many weight classes in MMA, it can be hard to accurately asses the skills of every professional fighter. This leads to some fighters getting more respect than they deserve while other fighters never get the credit they have earned. These are the fighters that are in my opinion the most overrated and underrated in mixed martial arts right now.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
It may be hard to imagine an undefeated fighter as underrated, but Khabib Nurmagomedov has been overlooked on a regular basis during his time in the UFC. Despite easily beating every top contender in the UFC’s lightweight division, Nurmagomedov has never been given a title shot. He has proven that he can beat any professional mixed martial artist, but Nurmagomedov is still only at number 12 on the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings. His spot in the rankings is continually too low because he does not own a title, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the fighting ability of Khabib Nurmagomedov. The disrespect he gets in the sport is on display every time he is forced to fight on the undercard of a major UFC pay-per-view despite being one of the best in the world.
Stephen Thompson
In addition to only being defeated one time in his first 15 professional MMA fights, Stephen Thompson has had no problem defeating some of the top contenders in the UFC’s welterweight division. Thompson finally got the title shot he deserved at UFC 205, and he ended up fighting to a draw with champion Tyron Woodley. The 8th best fighter in the UFC was unable to defeat Stephen Thompson, but he is still nowhere to be found on the company’s pound-for-pound rankings.
