Another roller-coaster year in MMA has gone up and down and all around, giving us so much to yell about. Fighters at the top of their game, such as Merab Dvalishvili and Valentina Shevchenko, pushed themselves to the brink of history. A 24-year-old took down giants to become a UFC champion. And of course, jaws dropped everywhere at some of the most creative and gruesome finishes ever attempted.
With the action in the cage on pause for the end-of-year break, a 13-member ESPN panel voted on their best of the best in 2025, including their favorite event, fighters, submission and knockout. These are the results, with analysis on each winner from Brett Okamoto and Andreas Hale.
Best event of the year: UFC 317
Percentage of the vote: 50%
Others receiving votes: UFC 322, UFC 323 and UFC 314
Bolstered by a stellar throwdown between Joshua Van and Brandon Royval, UFC 317 in June featured blistering finishes from Gregory Rodrigues, Hyder Amil, Terrance McKinney and some guy named Ilia Topuria, who needed less than a round to take out Charles Oliveira in the main event to win the lightweight title and become a two-division UFC champion. There wasn’t a bad fight on the card, and when it takes this long to mention Alexandre Pantoja‘s utter dominance over Kai Kara-France in the co-main event, you know it was a special night of fights. — Hale
Fight of the year: Brandon Royval vs. Joshua Van at UFC 317
Percentage of the vote: 69%
Others receiving votes: Diego Lopes vs. Jean Silva; Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov; Nikolas Motta vs. Nazim Sadykhov
Remember that time when talks of shuttering the flyweight division were floating around? After this barn burner of a fight, may that notion never be uttered again. Van and Royval battered and bloodied each other for 25 eyebrow-raising minutes in June, setting the record for total significant strikes landed in the single fight along the way (419 combined). The pendulum swings were dramatic and neither fighter took his foot off the gas at any moment. Van managed to seal the deal by knocking down Royval in the final seconds to win the round, punctuating a memorable fight and a breakout night for the 24-year-old, who eventually would become flyweight champion by defeating Pantoja in December. — Hale
Men’s fighter of the year: Merab Dvalishvili
Percentage of the vote: 40%
Others receiving votes: Alex Pereira, Van, Islam Makhachev and Topuria
We can debate all we want whether Dvalishvili took too many bites of the apple in 2025, but it doesn’t take away from what was an incredible year for the former UFC bantamweight champion. He started the calendar year by dominating Umar Nurmagomedov in a Fight of the Night performance at UFC 311 in January. He followed that up by emphatically shutting down Sean O’Malley with a submission in their June rematch at UFC 316. Then he put on a clinic while outclassing Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320 in October. Whether Dvalishvili’s decision loss to Petr Yan two months later at UFC 323 was due to burnout or his opponent making the proper adjustments after their first meeting, we won’t know until they meet a third time. But Dvalishvili’s audacious four-fight year in an era in which it’s rare to see a champion fight twice a year sets him apart from the rest of the field. — Hale
Women’s fighter of the year: Valentina Shevchenko
Percentage of the vote: 79%
Others receiving votes: Kayla Harrison
After going winless in 2023 and managing a single appearance in 2024, Shevchenko made a full return to supremacy in 2025. She stands alone as not only the best flyweight in the world, but the best pound-for-pound women’s fighter. She faced a real challenge to her title in May, when she fought Manon «The Beast» Fiorot at UFC 315 in Montreal. Fiorot had beaten every opponent she had faced since 2019 before Shevchenko, who won that bout via unanimous decision. To cap off the year, Shevchenko dominated former strawweight champion Zhang Weili in November, in a bout that never looked competitive. Dominating the very top of the sport is nothing new to Shevchenko, who is 11-2-1 in UFC title matches, but this year’s reign has a commanding feeling that had been lacking in recent years. — Brett Okamoto
Breakout fighter of the year: Joshua Van
Percentage of the vote: 69%
Others receiving votes: Michael Morales and Anthony Hernandez
When Van was knocked out by Charles Johnson in 2024, it felt like a teachable moment for the young flyweight. He took stock, recalibrated and went on to win the next two fights that year. Van tore through 2025, going 4-0 and winning the flyweight title at UFC 323 in December, albeit by Pantoja suffering a shoulder injury in the opening seconds of the fight. Van was excellent in outpointing Rei Tsuruya at UFC 313 in March and demolished Bruno da Silva with strikes to secure a third-round TKO at UFC 316 three months later. But nothing compared to his fierce decision win over Royval that set him up for the title opportunity. Most young MMA fighters have to take their lumps before truly taking off. Not Van. He has ascended to the top of the flyweight food chain at 24 years old and is the second youngest champion in UFC history, behind Jon Jones. — Hale
KO of the year: Mauricio Ruffy‘s spinning wheel kick against King Green at UFC 313
Percentage of the vote: 39%
Others receiving votes: Prates def. Neal by KO1; Topuria def. Oliveira by KO1; Malcolm Wellmaker def. Kris Moutinho by KO1; Pereira def. Magomed Ankalaev by KO1; Jirí Procházka def. Khalil Rountree Jr. by KO3
Just about every fighter in The Fighting Nerds camp has a penchant to finish opponents with flare, but Ruffy’s beautifully powerful spinning wheel kick knockout of Green was a sight to behold. Midway through the first round, Green did as he always does and fought with his hands down. Ruffy feinted to keep the distance and pirouetted into a gorgeous spinning wheel kick that slashed into Green’s head, sending him down face first in a heap. The follow-through from Ruffy was just as impressive, as he stood over his fallen opponent, hands on hip, admiring his work. This was art. — Hale
Submission of the year: Jean Silva’s ninja choke against Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314
Percentage of the vote: 46%
Others receiving votes: Costello van Steenis def. Johnny Eblen by SUB5; Valter Walker def. Louie Sutherland by SUB1; and Dvalishvili def. O’Malley by SUB3
When it comes to finishes, might as well call the 2025 awards «The Fighting Nerds finishes of the year.» The breakout team from Sao Paulo, Brazil, suffered its first several losses in the UFC this year, but it also produced some of the best finishes. This choke by Silva stays with the viewer for a minute. Silva dominated Mitchell on the feet, before locking in the choke while they were still standing along the fence. Mitchell eventually went to the ground and tapped out, but Silva’s squeeze and technique were so clean, Mitchell went out cold before the referee could intervene. Nasty work by one of the more aggressive fighters in the sport right now. — Okamoto
Memorable moment of the year: Back-to-back spinning back elbow KOs at UFC 319
Percentage of the vote: 39%
Others receiving votes: Harrison and Amanda Nunes face off at UFC 316; Derrick Lewis‘ post-Fight Night interview; Topuria becomes two-division champion; Makhachev become two-division champion; Yan dethrones Dvalishvili
What’s better than one spinning back elbow finish? Two! And what’s better than two? Seeing them happen in back-to-back fights, which might as well be the MMA version of Halley’s Comet. Prates got things going, putting Neal down in the final seconds of the opening round of their August fight with a perfectly placed spinning back elbow. Neal was out before he hit the ground. But Lerone Murphy welcoming Aaron Pico to the UFC with an earth-shattering spinning back elbow of his own in the co-main event might have been even more impressive. The former Bellator MMA fighter was putting immense pressure on Murphy, looking for a statement win in his UFC debut, but Murphy was having none of it. His well-timed entry with the elbow sent shockwaves through the United Center in Chicago. — Hale
Percentage of the vote: 67%
Others receiving votes: Mackenzie Dern, Brendan Allen and Benoît Saint Denis
The details of Talbott’s improvement as an MMA fighter defy logic. Truly. How does a 27-year-old men’s bantamweight go from surrendering eight takedowns during an upset loss to Raoni Barcelos in January to taking down Olympic gold medal wrestler Henry Cejudo three times during a victory in December? The label on Talbott went from bright prospect to overrated to legitimate contender — all in a span of 12 months. Sometimes, a loss can turn into a blessing in disguise for a young fighter, and that appears to be the case with Talbott. No one made more visible jumps in skill and experience in 2025. — Okamoto
