UFC 2025 awards: Best fighter, knockout, event and more

The UFC is in a strange state going into 2026.

A new broadcast deal with Paramount+ looms for US viewers, imploding the pay-per-view model but with what ramifications for fighters and their pay? For some time, fans have felt that the UFC has been complacent as a promoter, and with no reason to encourage fans to buy its events, how will the UFC approach its matchmaking in the New Year?

Advertisement

There has already been criticism of some of the fights booked for 2026, but when the politics of a sport begin to drain enthusiasm in its followers, the competitive action itself often offers relief.

While there was much to dislike about the UFC this year, there were many phenomenal fights and finishes from extraordinary athletes, who deserve our appreciation. And every now and then, these fighters and moments combined to make fantastic events – sometimes in spite of the UFC’s own approach to building and marketing cards.

So, below we look at everything great about the UFC in 2025 – and make bold predictions for what 2026 might bring…

Best fighter

Alex Pattle: Merab Dvalishvili. No, it does not matter that the Georgian ended the year by losing his bantamweight title. Just by competing at UFC 323 this month, Dvalishvili made history as the first-ever UFC champion to attempt four title defences in a calendar year. And even in his points loss to Petr Yan, Dvalishvili never went away, despite his old foe building a firm lead and repeatedly denting the “Machine”’s cogs with punishing body shots. In any case, Dvalishvili’s year is much more about what came before UFC 323.

Advertisement

He notched three successful title defences in 10 months, all against credible challengers in Umar Nurmagomedov (beaten on points), Sean O’Malley (submitted), and Cory Sandhagen (beaten on points). Dvalishvili, 34, will be remembered as a dominant champion not due to the length of his reign, which ‘only’ lasted 15 months, but for doing so much in a relatively short space of time. This year might have confirmed Dvalishvili as the greatest bantamweight ever.

Will Castle: Dvalishvili. There is zero question of who leaves 2025 as the UFC’s MVP. In a year where Dana White’s favourite big, strong boy retreated into retirement after two years of holding an undisputed title hostage, one of the UFC president’s once lesser-favoured champions has made himself the main attraction – through spellbinding performances and, crucially, a level of activity that boggles the mind.

Dvalishvili’s four attempted title defences in a single year aren’t just unbelievable, they’re unprecedented. He triumphed in an early fight-of-the-year contender against Umar, became the first man to submit O’Malley, and dismantled eternal contender Sandhagen – all in the space of 10 months. Yes, he fell short in his fourth and final defence of the year, losing his title on points to Yan, but we’ll let him off. Win or lose (usually win), his relentless style has disproved the myth that grapplers are dull; the Georgian is box office. Up there, if not the greatest ever at 135lb.

Best fight

AP: Ibo Aslan vs Iwo Baraniewski. Don’t shout recency bias at this inclusion from UFC 323 in December. While it’s disquieting to consider the effects of the damage delivered in this fight, the contest also represented so much of what fans love about mixed martial arts. It was unadulterated chaos for 89 seconds.

Advertisement

First, Aslan was dropped to a knee, only to pop up and floor Baraniewski with the next combination he threw. Aslan’s onslaught of hooks to the body and head somehow failed to produce the final blow, though, and instead he was crumpled by a perfect counter. The next twist was Aslan surviving and hurting Baraniewski again, only to suffer a third personal knockdown (the fourth of the fight, overall) to end the madness. Yes, there were other great fights with higher stakes this year, but none were quite as pulsating as this.

WC: Dvalishvili vs Umar Nurmagomedov. If you told me at the beginning of the year that the most thrilling fight would be a five-round clash between grappling-heavy Dvalishvili and a Nurmagomedov, I’d have laughed. But no, seriously, this was an absolute barnstormer. Kicking off the year in style at UFC 311, this gruelling war should have been the main event. Instead it got the co-main slot and, boy, did it deliver.

Fought at a relentless pace, both champion and challenger actively sought to punish each other on the feet before mixing in lightning sharp takedowns and ground work which was a pleasure to watch. Putting on a clinic against the then-undefeated Dagestani, Dvalishvili showed off his sheer resilience once more as Umar repeatedly smashed leg kicks into his body, only for the Georgian to shake off the strikes like they were nothing. The final few seconds that saw Dvalishvili celebrating in the clinch told you everything you need to know. He knew he’d just won a banger.

Advertisement

Best knockout

AP: Mauricio Ruffy on King Green. You don’t see many wheel-kick KOs in MMA, and that makes them all the more memorable. Ruffy’s clever, deceptive feint gave way to the perfect technique behind his spin and outstretched leg, which he wiped across the Green’s forehead at UFC 313 in March. Then there were the gruesome but beguiling visuals of Green cascading against the fence, slumping towards the mat, and sliding along it face-first. The memory of it is enough to make one shudder, but again, that’s the double-edged sword of MMA fandom: you also want to applaud.

WC: Lerone Murphy on Aaron Pico. There were two spinning back elbow knockouts at UFC 319 and putting one over the other is splitting hairs. Carlos Prates slept Geoff Neal with a buzzer-beater in the first round – another for the Brazilian’s highlight reel – but Murphy went a step further in the very next fight.

Against hyped debutant Aaron Pico, the Briton caught the former Bellator prodigy with the stiffest of elbows to send him tumbling unconscious to the mat, before smacking him with a hammer fist for good measure. Undefeated at 17-0-1, Murphy was beginning to have the Leon Edwards problem of churning out results but without finishes, impacting his marketability across the pond. Not anymore. He’s now teetering on a title shot.

Best submission

AP: Dvalishvili on Sean O’Malley. It feels like there weren’t as many standout submissions this year, but Dvalishvili’s sparks a few synapses. After largely dominating O’Malley across five rounds in 2024, Dvalishvili went one better this June by submitting his rival to retain the bantamweight belt. He did so with a north-south choke, and the relative rarity of that particular submission works in its favour here, as does the way it punctuated another stellar performance from the arguable Fighter of the Year. Dvalishvili doesn’t get finishes often, but this one was very impressive.

Advertisement

WC: Jean Silva on Bryce Mitchell. Yes, us journalists are meant to be impartial. But when Arkansas scrapper Mitchell bought some podcast equipment, started recording his first episode, and told listeners that “Adolf Hitler was a good guy” and “a guy to go fishing with”, you couldn’t help but pick a side in his fight with Silva. Any other workplace and you are getting dismissed for that, but White opted to brand Mitchell a “moron” and say: “That’s the beautiful thing about this business, for all of you who hate Bryce Mitchell, you get to see him hopefully get his ass whooped on global television.” That’s exactly what happened. Locking in a ninja choke, Silva twisted Mitchell to the mat like a crocodile dragging his prey into the watering hole, forcing the helpless American into submission.

Best event

AP: UFC 323. Where UFC 322 was absolutely scintillating up until its final two fights (which were characterised by dominant grappling performances by Islam Makhachev and Valentina Shevchenko), UFC 323 delivered from start to finish. Ten of the 14 fights produced finishes, and the four that didn’t were still engaging contests – including Yan’s necessary masterclass to dethrone Dvalishvili, Maycee Barber’s recovery from an illegal up-kick to beat Karine Silva, and Jan Blachowicz and Bogdan Guskov’s draw after each scored a knockdown.

Advertisement

And yes, one of the stoppages was Alexandre Pantoja’s bizarre injury in the co-main event, a dislocated shoulder inside 26 seconds that threatened to derail the momentum of the card. However, even that shocking occurrence somehow added to the drama of UFC 323, and fuelled intense debates in the hours and days that followed.

WC: UFC 322: Dana’s Emporium of Muscles and Tussles™ really said goodbye to 2025 with a bang. There is a very strong argument for the year’s final numbered event to take the crown. But UFC 322 had it all. We started off with the ultimate underdog story, with construction worker Ethyn Ewing taking his bout with Malcolm Wellmaker on two days’ notice – his second fight in eight days – only to outclass the American and show just how good he is at operating machinery (Wellmaker’s nickname is the “Machine”). Bo Nickal then flatlined Rodolfo Vieira before flipping off the crowd, in what was the first of a string of stunning knockouts.

Benoit Saint-Denis slept Beneil Dariush in 16 seconds, Prates sent former champion Edwards airborne, and Michael Morales proved immune to the suffocation methods of Sean Brady, whaling on the grappler to break his dreams of a welterweight title shot. It was blistering action. Things admittedly changed pace for the title fights, with Shevchenko and Makhachev imposing elite-level ground dominance, but the stakes remained sky high. By nullifying bantamweight great Zhang Weili, Shevchenko staked her claim as the greatest women’s fighter of all time. And through squashing Jack Della Maddalena, Makhachev became the 11th two-division champion in UFC history – and arguably the greatest fighter of all time, period.

Advertisement

Bold prediction for 2026

AP: There will be a record number of interim-title fights. Never has a year of UFC action brought more than two interim-title fights; I’ll go out on a limb and say we get three in 2026. We already have one scheduled for January, as Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje meet at lightweight amid Ilia Topuria’s short break from MMA, and Tom Aspinall’s eye issues are keeping him out indefinitely, potentially forcing the UFC’s hand at heavyweight in spring. I reckon there may be one more before the year is up.

I understand this sounds counterintuitive in as much as this: the UFC doesn’t need to create title fights to help sell pay-per-views anymore, given the Paramount+ era is about to begin. But I feel the UFC may try to cover up its current run of weaker matchmaking by chucking in more interim and “Baddest Motherf****r” title fights anyway.

WC: Paddy Pimblett will be undisputed champion. Put down your pitchforks – for all the Pimblett slander, there is a timeline where this becomes reality. Paddy “The Baddy” has been fast-tracked to a shot at UFC gold – interim gold, but gold nonetheless. With his only notable victories coming against Tony Ferguson, King Green and Michael Chandler, the Liverpudlian getting this shot against Gaethje – ahead of No 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan – is perhaps undeserved. But let’s not act like Pimblett isn’t a talented fighter. Against a 37-year-old Gaethje, Pimblett could well end January as interim lightweight champion.

Advertisement

Then comes the task of unifying the belts. Undisputed champion Topuria will be away from the UFC for at least the first quarter of 2026, as he deals with personal issues outside of the cage. When he returns, the pre-built feud the Georgian-Spaniard holds with Pimblett is there to be settled. It will be a huge task for Pimblett, requiring a legacy-defining performance to beat one of the sport’s pound-for-pound best. But that’s if Topuria wants to fight at lightweight.

“El Matador” is speed-running an icon-worthy UFC career and, having already relinquished his featherweight crown after one defence to move to lightweight, he could ditch 155lb without a defence to finally book a super-fight with Makhachev for the welterweight title (maybe at the White House). If chasing three-belt status sees Topuria stripped of lightweight gold, Pimblett could become undisputed champ without even having to fight him.