The Rant's annual mixed martial arts awards are back, check out all the winners for its unique categories now!
It's been another roller coaster year for the world of mixed martial arts - from the unbelievable highs of the historic UFC 300 to the lows of PFL-Bellator fighter relations, 2024 has seen it all and then some.
While Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria duke it out for 2024's Fighter of the Year on a litany of other publication's yearly awards shows, The Rant likes to do things a bit differently and opts to celebrate more unique achievements (and failures) in the sport for your entertainment.
As always, links to video/GIFs are provided in red - as the great Mike Goldberg says, "Let's get things started".
Left Hook KO of the Year
Awarded to the best knockout of 2024 via a left hook
Winner: Alex Pereira
for his devastating knockout of Jamahal Hill at UFC 300
The most prestigious of The Rant's awards, it should come as no surprise that Alex "Poatan" Pereira takes this year's top honours - after all, he currently wields the best left hook in all of combat sports.
His knockout over former champion Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 however didn't just boast a brilliant left hook - it came with plenty of character both immediately before and after.
In the early going of their short-but-sweet title tilt in UFC 300's main event, Pereira began setting up his legendary left hook with some crisp body work in between his typical low kicks.
Hill would seek to interrupt Pereira's rhythm by...kicking him in the groin.
The errant kick quite audibly connected with Pereira's cup, but being in the proverbial "zone", Pereira waved off referee Herb Dean as he stepped in to halt the bout, non-verbally stating that he was fine and not to interfere - Poatan was about to cook.
As Herb backed away and let the man work, Pereira continued stalking his prey, then uncorked the first punch he threw to the head all night - his legendary left hook.
It didn't even need to fully connect, a grazing shot more than enough to send Hill, who had never been dropped in his MMA career, crashing to the canvas.
A swarm of finishing shots hammered Hill in and out of consciousness until Herb Dean mercifully stepped in and saved Jamahal from an absolute mugging.
Poatan wasn't quite done yet - despite his respectful demeanor up until fight week, Hill had opted to disrespect Pereira and turn things ugly at the pre-fight press conference, going from a generally respectful opponent in the lead-up to UFC 300 to a trash-talking dickhead at the drop of a hat.
Pereira opted not to fire back - until fight night that is.
After dispatching his foe in just over three minutes, Pereira mimicked social media star Khaby Lame's mocking pose, as if to say "that's it?" to his overmatched opponent.
It was yet another viral moment in the legend's UFC career, turning the Brazilian into an even bigger star and reinforcing the old adage "actions speak louder than words".
The incredible performance in April would nearly be followed up by a second left hook knockout, as Pereira dismantled Jiri Prochazka in their rematch at UFC 303, dropping him at the end of a dominant first round with a short left hook right before the horn.
With how dazed Jiri was in between rounds, Pereira was almost assuredly just a few seconds away from having a second consecutive left-hook finish in 2024 - instead, he flattened the former champion just 13 seconds into the second round with a head kick.
Runner Up: Ilia Topuria
for his finish of the previously invulnerable Max Holloway at UFC 308
UFC 308's featherweight title fight was, as expected, a back-and-forth, technical striking war between new 145-pound kingpin Ilia Topuria and former champion and BMF title holder Max Holloway.
Coming off of what would be 2024's Knockout of the Year over Justin Gaethje up at lightweight, Holloway was more than holding his own against Topuria through the first two rounds, landing plenty of volume as the fight looked geared to become yet another five-round war in a career filled with them.
In 29 previous UFC fights, Holloway had never been knocked out despite fighting a who's who of featherweight and lightweight legends throughout his incredible career, and even more impressively, had only ever been knocked down once, with a brief flash knockdown coming at the heavy hands of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
In the third round however, Ilia's remarkable power cracked the nigh-invulnerable chin of Max "Blessed" Holloway, proving that even the best chin in MMA history wasn't infallible.
Rocking Holloway with a massive right hand, Ilia poured on the heat as Max valiantly fought back, throwing down instead of tying up or attempting to take the fight to the ground to clear his head.
Though he had managed to temporarily stay on his feet even after eating a flush Topuria right hand, Holloway's warrior spirit did him no favours as he stood in the phone booth with the ridiculously heavy-handed champion, already wobbled from the previous onslaught.
Being pushed back toward the fence, Holloway intercepted Ilia with a knee to the body, stifling a right hand from Ilia with his lead shoulder in the process. But in doing so, his right arm came down and left him wide open for a left hook, which Ilia happily loaded up and delivered across Holloway's granite chin.
A few hammer fists popped Holloway in and out of consciousness and the fight was over - Max's legendary chin had finally been cracked, and longtime MMA fans still haven't recovered.
Honourable Mentions:
Dustin Poirier's lead hook melting of Benoit Saint-Denis (it may have been a right hook, but since Poirier is a southpaw, it's his lead hand and thus deserves a mention)
Steve Erceg's textbook left hook on Matt Schnell
Mairon Santos starching of Kaan Ofli to win the 32nd season of The Ultimate Fighter
Ren "YA-MAN" Sugiyama's nasty left hook faceplant KO of Hiroaki Suzuki in RIZIN
Spinning Shit KO of the Year
Awarded to the best knockout of 2024 via a spinning technique
Winner: Sharabutdin Magomedov
for his double spinning back fist over Armen Petrosyan at UFC 308
It's not often that a fighter comes up with a technique that longtime MMA fans have never seen attempted, let alone used to finish a fight, but Shara "Bullet" Magomedov did just that at UFC 308.
A rare Dagestani fighter who is primarily a striker rather than a grappler, Magomedov has quickly built himself a following thanks to his fun striking style and lack of two fully functioning eyes - that fanbase certainly swelled following his performance back in October.
To cap off the second round of an entertaining, back-and-forth striker's delight match-up against fellow Russian striker Armen Petrosyan, Magomedov decided to steal the show with his secret technique.
After managing to briefly catch a light turning side-kick from Shara, Petrosyan walked forward, looking for something big to end the round in his favour.
Shara proceeded to throw a spinning back fist, which Petrosyan managed to block with his right forearm; Armen looked to immediately counter with a right hand, only to find himself...brutally dropped by a spinning back fist.
Magomedov had used the initial, blocked spinning back fist as a set up to spin the other direction and throw the same thing from the other side, something that (as far as I'm aware) nobody in combat sports has seen in a fight before.
The walk-off finish stunned MMA fans almost as much as it did Petrosyan, and yet it wasn't just a random, heat-of-the-moment exchange - Magomedov regularly practiced this double back fist, as evidenced by footage of him throwing it during an open workout before the fight.
Runner Up: Radley Da Silva
for his spinning wheel kick at BFL 81
It may not have gotten much coverage given it occurred in the relatively obscure Canadian MMA promotion Battlefield Fight League, but you really won't find a cleaner spinning wheel kick knockout than the one Radley Da Silva landed back in September.
After losing his pro debut, Da Silva had rattled off five straight victories on the Canadian circuit, leading to a showdown with the undefeated 6-0 Drake Randall; just seconds into the second stanza, Da Silva fired off a perfect spinning wheel kick and knocked Randall out cold, scoring the first knockout victory of his career in the process.
If he continues on his current trajectory, there's a good chance we'll see Da Silva plying his trade in the UFC at some point in 2025.
Honourable Mentions:
The Sultan of Spin, Muslim Salikhov's spinning wheel kick KO of Song Kenan
Brunno Ferreira's spinning elbow on Dustin Stoltzfus
Most Creative Finish of the Year
Awarded to the most unique or creative finish of 2024
Winner: Sharabutdin Magomedov
for his double spinning back fist over Armen Petrosyan at UFC 308
What more needs to be said? He landed a double spinning back fist knockout.
If it wasn't for Max Holloway's unbelievable buzzer-beating, greatest KO in UFC history over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, Shara would likely be taking home a few Knockout of the Year awards, but since he isn't, he can be proud to have won two separate Rant Awards for his trouble.
Runner Up: Michel Pereira
for his backflip attack into standing guillotine
He may not be the best fighter in the world, and at times he fails to capitalize on his talent, but I'll be damned if Michel Pereira doesn't have a knack for being stupidly entertaining.
Up at middleweight, where he didn't have to so drastically drain himself to make 170 pounds (which he failed to make multiple times), Pereira's explosiveness and raw power certainly shone through, with two finishes in just over a minute each in his two outings at 185 heading into a fight against Ihor Potieria, who himself had dropped down from light heavyweight.
Less than a minute into the bout, Pereira dropped Ihor with a 1-2...then proceeded to do his trademark backflip past his opponent's guard, landing a blatantly illegal knee/shin to Ihor's head in the process which went unnoticed by the referee.
It may have been illegal, but we'll allow it given Ihor's stupid celebration after knocking out the ancient ghost of Shogun Rua, not to mention his proud support of the openly Nazi Azov Battalion in his native Ukraine.
Pereira swarmed with punches as Ihor made his way back to his feet, only for Michel to quickly snatch his neck and latch onto a fight-ending standing guillotine.
Ihor was forced to tap in seconds, yet in the moment after he tapped and Pereira let go of the choke, Ihor lost consciousness and fell backward, his head brutally bouncing off of the canvas like a basketball.
A knockdown, a backflip into an illegal knee, and a nasty submission all in just 54 seconds - if that isn't worthy of praise, I don't know what is.
Honourable Mentions:
Islam Makhachev's brabo choke, set up by a slick takedown, on Dustin Poirier
Dustin Poirier's guillotine attempt-into-combination lead hook killshot on Benoit Saint-Denis
Last Round, Hail Mary Comeback of the Year
Awarded to the most impressive, sudden last-round comeback finish in 2024
Winner: Jack Della Maddalena
for his third round knockout of perennial contender Gilbert Burns
Final-round hail mary comebacks were all the rage in 2022 when this category was introduced; that year saw Leon Edwards' shocking head kick KO over dominant champ Kamaru Usman take top honours, while Alex Pereira's fifth-round mauling of Israel Adesanya and Jiri Prochazka's stunning submission win over Glover Teixeira rounded out a trifecta of title-changing, stunning comebacks.
Since then, we haven't seen such insane hail mary victories in title fights, but when such comebacks do occur, even in fights with less on the line, they certainly have a way of stealing the show.
Perennial welterweight contender Gilbert "Durinho" Burns looked well on his way to rebounding after a disappointing loss to future champ Belal Muhammad last year, turning back a young, hungry contender named Jack Della Maddalena in the process, who had won 16 straight fights including six in the UFC.
With two rounds solidly in the bag, all Burns had to do was grind out the third round and he'd send JDM back down the ladder.
Early in the third, Maddalena caught Burns with a combination, but was unable to finish the wily vet who hung on and once again grounded the aspiring Australian contender, content to ride out the round in relative safety. With the seconds ticking away, JDM soon found himself just over a minute away from losing on the scorecards.
Late in the third, during a desperation scramble, Della Maddalena was able to separate and get back to his feet. Burns immediately shot in for a takedown to remove himself from the danger of Jack's boxing, only to be met by a nasty knee to the face.
Crumpling to his back, Burns was out of sorts and JDM poured on the finishing touches to triumphantly claw his way out of certain defeat, seizing his opportunity to remain undefeated in the UFC.
It was a stunning turnaround and one which kept the budding star on his path toward a title fight. For Burns, it was a devastating setback, the longtime contender just over a minute away from a hard-fought victory over a hungry young prospect, only for it to be ripped away from him in the final 90 seconds.
That final sequence really encapsulated the fact that one man's triumph is another's devastation in this brutal sport.
Runner Up: Ming Shi
for her devastating head kick knockout of Xiaocan Feng
The runner up for this category was tough to call as Neil Magny's last minute mount and onslaught on gassed Canadian prospect Mike Malott was certainly hard to overlook, but ultimately China's Ming Shi edged out the veteran welterweight just by the sheer brutality of her finish.
Facing the favoured Xiaocan Feng on the prelims of UFC Fight Night: Yan vs. Figueiredo in Macau, Ming Shi did what she was expected to do for the first two rounds against her 23-year-old opponent - lose.
It wasn't a one-sided beatdown, but after ten minutes of action Feng was comfortably ahead on the scorecards - Shi, who is actually a doctor in her native China, a fact that she has apparently kept hidden from her relatives and colleagues, needed a finish to reverse her fortunes, or barring that, a dominant 10-8 round to limp away with a draw.
Instead, she needed just forty-six seconds of the third round to leave her opponent comatose in the cage.
After several feints at a level change, Shi uncorked a vicious head kick that connected perfectly on Feng's cheek, instantly shutting her off.
The shocking and violent finish left Feng unconscious for several minutes before she was stretchered out of the cage; luckily, Feng was okay and medically cleared shortly thereafter.
The first ten minutes may have been forgettable, but a brutal head kick knockout over a sizeable favourite ain't a bad way to make a splash in your UFC debut.
Honourable Mentions:
Neil Magny easily dropped two rounds against Canadian prospect Mike Malott in a dull affair, only for the Canadian to gas out late in the third, leading to Magny securing full mount and raining down offense until the exhausted Malott could take no more
Felipe Lima's dramatic third round submission over Muhammad Naimov; Lima took the fight on short notice against a heavy favourite, dropped the first two rounds, then came out like a bat out of hell in the third after an epic motivational speech from his coaches
Worst Fight of the Year
Awarded to the most boring fight of the year, with extra points awarded the more highly anticipated a fight is
Winner: Mokaev Kape and Muhammad Mokaev
for their high-energy stinker at UFC 304
Manchester, England certainly had to suffer through a few snoozers at UFC 304, which was made all the worse by the fact that it took place during the typical US pay-per-view timeslot - meaning the main card didn't kick off until three AM local time.
The main event saw the expectedly boring Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad welterweight title fight, in which Edwards looked half-asleep while "defending" his title in his native country until in the last minute of the last round he finally realized he could actually fight; unlike his shocking 2022 title win however, there was no hail mary comeback in store as while he did score significantly in the final seconds of the fight, Belal held on and survived to take home a hard-earned, dull decision.
Hours before that however, the main preliminary portion of the card was set to open with an explosive fight between flyweight contenders Muhammad Mokaev and Manel Kape.
At 12-0, Mokaev had worked his way to the upper echelon of the division with a grappling-heavy, often boring style; Kape on the other hand, while he would occasionally produce a dull fight where he didn't seem to live up to his potential (like his first two UFC fights), he is an extremely quick athlete with a penchant for vicious knockouts and incredibly slick striking, which resulted in a four-fight winning streak heading into this flyweight match-up.
The real heat came in the lead-up to their fight, as an alleged incident at the UFC Performance Institute took place where the two men got into an altercation, though exactly what happened was unclear - then, during fight week, another incident occurred, with Kape accusing Mokaev of being cordial and asking to take a picture with him only to then sucker-punch him when his guard was down.
After making their way to the cage, the two had to be separated as both men were chomping at the bit to get their hands on each other - it looked like the fight was going to be pure chaos.
And then the "fight" started.
Now that the two were locked into the cage with one another, fans were soon depressed to realize that the two dogs' bark was significantly worse than their bite.
The two did a whole lot of nothing for fifteen minutes, with Mokaev unable to get or hold Kape down (until the third where he was able to hold him down for a while and do absolutely nothing with his positions) and Kape being so worried about being taken down he forgot that he had to do something in order to win the fight.
The highlight of the in-cage action was Mokaev clearly grabbing Kape's shorts and nearly pulling them all the way off while trying to keep him on the ground, adding a bit of comedic fouling to the otherwise horrendously boring matchup.
The extremely boring affair didn't have a whole lot to judge, and though many scored it for Kape, it was so uneventful nobody even cared when the scorecards were read.
On the mic, Mokaev then proudly admitted he sucker punched Kape earlier that week... combined with yet another incredibly boring performance and his apparent difficulties working with the organization, Mokaev was cut by the UFC following his "victory", leading to him begging for the promotion to reconsider and even offering to fight for free in the weeks that followed.
With how dull his fights are, the UFC is unlikely to re-sign him anytime soon even if he pays them to let him fight.
Runner Up: Raquel Pennington vs. Mayra Bueno Silva
for their lackluster title fight at UFC 297
Though a title may have been on the line, there wasn't exactly much hype surrounding the bantamweight championship fight between veteran Raquel Pennington and the surging prospect Mayra Bueno Silva.
With Amanda Nunes retiring in 2023 and leaving the title vacant, a fight between Pennington and fellow The Ultimate Fighter alumni Julianna Pena, who had an extremely brief stint with the title following her 2021 upset over Nunes and subsequent mauling in the rematch, was targeted for the championship.
Instead, Pena was sidelined with injuries and a fight with Mayra Bueno Silva was made instead.
Despite the low expectations, the two put on a pretty dismal fight at UFC 297, which, unfortunately for the fans who paid exorbitant prices in Toronto, was filled with lackluster fights.
Pretty early on Bueno Silva showed she didn't exactly have the fight IQ or skill to be in a title fight, yet Raquel, who does have a fair amount of talent, once again showed her own poor decision-making in the cage, seemingly making it difficult for herself even when clear paths to victory presented themselves.
It wouldn't be the first time that Pennington would turn in such a performance, where although she has plenty of experience, she's shown she still doesn't listen to her coaches during a fight and often makes fights unneccessarily ugly even when it doesn't benefit her.
As a result, fans groaned as the fight wore on and the two took part in a sloppy, ugly fight without any redeeming qualities.
Not a great look for a championship fight in the UFC.
Dishonourable Mentions:
Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Garry @ UFC 310
Vitor Petrino vs. Tyson Pedro @ UFC on ESPN+ 96
Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar @ UFC 300
Belal Muhammad vs. Leon Edwards @ UFC 304
Worst UFC Fighter of the Year
Awarded to the worst fighter in the UFC for the year
Winner: Kron Gracie
he went 0-1 in 2024
Anyone that's seen Kron's last two performances in the UFC can tell you - it is painful to watch the guy fight.
His Brazilian jiu-jitsu may be great for BJJ competitions, but he hasn't adapted it well for mixed martial arts.
In addition, he has no wrestling to speak of, his striking is pretty piss-poor, and his gameplan consists of pulling guard any time he finds himself in the clinch, where he then proceeds to just hold on to his opponent and does a poor job actually defending himself or reversing position, only occasionally going for a submission.
His MMA career is an extremely sporadic one, as the 36-year-old began his fighting career in 2014, competed in the RIZIN 2016 World Grand Prix where he won three fights to win the tournament that year, then didn't compete again until he entered the UFC in 2019 with a quick submission victory over Alex Caceres.
He proceeded to then have a great fight against Cub Swanson, that was really such a great fight in spite of Kron's actual ability - the few things he had going for him, an iron chin and toughness, effectively made it entertaining as he kept plowing forward despite getting picked apart on the feet by the superior fighter.
To his credit, while Swanson was clearly better, Kron took a ton of punishment and never stopped going for it, throwing everything he could and showing off incredible toughness. That loss was by far the highlight of his UFC career.
At UFC 288 in 2023, nearly a full four years after his fight against Cub, Kron made his return and looked to have regressed - his already mediocre striking looked worse, and his gameplan was entirely focused on flopping to his back while his opponent Charles Jourdain refused to engage him there and pretty easily danced around and smacked him around on the feet.
It was an ugly performance and clearly showed that you simply can't compete in the stacked featherweight division anymore if all you have is BJJ and can't even get the fight to a place where you can use it.
Despite that horrendous performance, the UFC opted to put Kron on the main card of a pay-per-view just this past month at UFC 310, against Bryce Mitchell.
Perhaps they were hoping for an entertaining grappling match between the two, but instead even a fairly unthreatening striker like Bryce Mitchell was able to land plenty on Kron, who quickly resorted once again to pulling guard.
Given his own grappling style, Bryce followed him to the floor and was able to hold him down and land some offense without Kron doing much of anything off his back for the entire first round.
The second looked the same except for a brief flash of danger from Gracie as he looked for an armbar, but Mitchell was able to fight through it and secure another lopsided round.
In the third, Kron once again looked to jump guard, much to the chagrin of the crowd, but this time Bryce framed off of Kron's face with his elbow, driving Kron's head back before he slammed him on the canvas.
Though he still appeared conscious, Kron was clearly out of sorts as Bryce proceeded to land a nasty elbow that put him out cold and ended another dismal performance from the occasional MMA fighter.
With three straight losses and two incredibly poor showings in a row, the 36-year-old's time in the UFC should certainly be over now - surely the fans have been subjected to enough of his guard pulling.
Runner Up: Robelis Despaigne
he went 1-2 in 2024
It's not often a fighter with a lot of hype washes out of the UFC in the same year they sign with the promotion, but then again it's not often we see a 6'7, 265 pound Taekwondo Olympic bronze medalist transition into MMA.
The now 36-year-old Cuban only began his MMA career in 2022 when he won with a late first round stoppage; a year later he returned to deliver a 12-second knockout in Fury FC in Texas, then proceeded to score another two blisteringly fast KOs within the next five months to close out 2023, with those finishes coming in four and three seconds respectively.
Three knockouts in under twenty seconds is certainly enough to get the MMA community talking and despite his limited experience and advanced age, a weak heavyweight division combined with his clear athleticism made it a no-brainer for the UFC to pick up the out-of-left-field prospect.
Pairing him with the clearly more experienced 15-7 Josh Parisian, who sported a 2-4 record in the UFC against low-level competition, seemed like a decent enough test for a fighter with just five fights and barely five minutes of total cage time.
His UFC debut lasted almost as long as his last three fights combined, at a whopping 18 seconds.
Despaigne was aggressive off the bat, but slipped and fell while throwing a high kick; Parisian then charged as Despaigne got back to his feet, pumping his hands and hitting nothing as he chased his off-balance opponent.
Despaigne landed a few flailing punches while backing up and with his immense power, it was enough to put Parisian down in a comical and purely heavyweight fight.
Unfortunately for Robelis, even Parisian enjoyed more success in the Octagon than he ever would - he may have immense power and freakish athleticism for his size, but his utter lack of grappling ability and subsequent hesitation when faced with an opponent looking to take him down made him completely ineffective in his next two fights.
Waldo Cortes-Acosta showed the clear blueprint for beating the former Olympian with a boring decision victory back in May, and then Austen Lane, a chinny heavyweight with a pretty lackluster ground game himself, was likewise able to take home a decision against Despaigne despite getting knocked out brutally in his only other two UFC fights.
At 36-years-old, it was clear Despaigne had no hope of making a proper impact in the sport even in the shallow heavyweight division, and he was subsequently cut from the UFC.
That release may have been a blessing in disguise as he appears to have found his true calling in Karate Combat, where he won't have to worry about any pesky grappling - he made his debut just this month and scored yet another near-instant knockout with a four second finish.
Dishonourable Mentions
Tony Ferguson - it pains me to say it, but it's true...luckily he only went 0-1 this year
Josh Parisian - after two straight losses last year against low-level opposition, he was knocked out in just 18 seconds by the afforementioned Robelis Despaigne this year
Dumbest Gameplan of the Year
Awarded to the worst gameplan or fight IQ displayed that year
Winner: MMA Promoters
for the UFC's laughably bad development of new gloves and the PFL's merger troubles
2024 was a year of self-inflicted wounds from the two biggest promoters in mixed martial arts.
Starting with the UFC, the world's premier MMA organization finally unveiled their new line of gloves: after spending millions of dollars in R&D to develop a new glove after using the same ones for many years, the UFC aimed to not only better protect fighter's hands but to also cut down on eyepokes, something that has plagued the sport for years.
Ironically, the UFC could have simply reproduced the PRIDE gloves from two decades ago, a promotion they bought out in 2007 - the slight curvature of their gloves made making a fist more natural and splaying your fingers less so, greatly reducing eyepokes without hindering grappling.
Instead, they paid an outside company an untold amount of money to reinvent the wheel and produce some spiffy marketing materials to showcase this incredible technology (the attempts at excitement for different glove colours, like the gaudy gold gloves for title fights, was unintentionally hilarious).
Incredulously, these new glove creators, in their infinite wisdom, made the gloves lighter, removing padding in order to protect fighters hands and simultaneously did not provide any curvature to hinder eyepokes, instead making it even easier to fully open the hand. Not only that, but many fighters found them uncomfortable and felt they offered less support.
After months of use, statistics showed a steady dropoff of more than 10% less knockouts when comparing the same amount of fights before the new gloves and after they were implemented, and there was no statistical change in the amount of eyepokes.
Given not only fighter complaints but fan complaints over the knockout reduction, the UFC reverted back to their old gloves after a few months, though they didn't have enough old ones to finish 2024 with, leading some events to still use the new, inferior gloves while the pay-per-view cards sported the old gloves.
It was a clusterfuck that cost the UFC plenty of money, inconvenienced the fighters, and ultimately hurt the product - but what's truly astounding is that this company, which was undoubtedly paid millions to produce these new gloves and supposedly spent years developing them, churned out a product that addressed none of the things that prompted their creation in the first place.
Not to be outdone, the PFL, led by the incredibly stupid Donn Davis, was set to make a splash in 2024 given their acquisition of Bellator late last year.
Davis boasted that all of his fighters are given at least two fights a year and that everyone who wanted to continue with the promotion (instead of absorbing Bellator, they would continue running it separately and have occasional PFL vs. Bellator crossover events) could do so.
Instead, a massive amount of the Bellator roster was cut in 2024, only a handful of Bellator events were staged (several announced events were cancelled as well), and almost none of the Bellator fighters were given the two fights a year that Davis promised, including stars like Patricio "Pitbull" Freire, who has requested his release yet continues to be ignored by the PFL, and Cris Cyborg, who spent months begging for a fight and had the PFL CEO talking out both sides of his mouth as she tried to get back into the cage.
The lone PFL vs. Bellator crossover event which occurred back in February ironically had Bellator essentially clean house, going 5-1 in the promotion versus promotion match-ups with only Renan Ferreira scoring one for the bigger promotion, scoring an easy knockout against the bloated light heavyweight Ryan Bader.
Add in ONE Championships' completely failing business which has seen numerous events cancelled and many of their fighters complaining about not getting fights because the promotion can't afford to pay their contracts, and it wasn't exactly a stellar year when it came to MMA promotions.
The UFC, while their blunder may be embarassing, can at least ease the pain of sharing this award by celebrating the ridiculous profits and gigantic revenue they continue to bring in - something that can't be said for the other promotions listed.
Runner Up: Holly Holm
for throwing away her chance to play spoiler
At 42 years of age and with her best years clearly behind her, Holly Holm wasn't expected to be able to fend off the far larger, dominant grappler in Kayla Harrison at UFC 300.
Despite calling out Cris Cyborg for years and being offered a multi-million dollar, single fight contract against her when the two were finally signed by the same promotion, longtime PFL star Kayla Harrison decided it was the perfect time to leave the company that made her a millionaire and head to the UFC instead of getting the superfight she had supposedly wanted.
In doing so, she'd have to endure incredible weight cuts in order to make the bantamweight limit given her monstrous frame, but with Amanda Nunes retiring, UFC gold was practically being offered up to her on a silver platter so long as she could make the weight.
The UFC gave Harrison a long-in-the-tooth but still recognizable name in Holm for her debut, and gave her a massive platform by putting her on the epic UFC 300 card.
For Holm, there was a certain sense of deja vu - here she was, expected to be slaughtered by a dominant grappler and former Olympian judoka, everyone in the media counting her out of this massive fight...
When the time and the cage door closed, the gameplan should have been clear for Holm, just as it was when she faced Ronda Rousey - use her movement to avoid the clinch and thus keep it away from the grappling realm at all costs.
If nothing else, Holm has always been one to stick to a gameplan, even in cases where that gameplan was painfully boring, such as her clinch-heavy performances against Yana Santos or Raquel Pennington.
Against Harrison, who came at her aggressively from the outset, that experience and previous discipline went out the window.
The two locked up early and, thanks to the element of surprise, Holm scored a trip on the UFC newcomer.
It was seemingly the perfect way for Holm to let Harrison know she wasn't dealing with a slouch - if only Holm had then disengaged and returned to her feet.
Instead, she incredulously opted to continue trying to grapple with the clearly superior grappler, sticking to her like glue and making it ridiculously easy for the Olympic gold medalist to then get on top and start doing damage.
Holm managed to survive the round but took an uncomfortable amount of punishment from the burly former PFL champ, simply surviving the onslaught proving an exhausting exercise for the elderly fighter.
Early in the second, Holm was finished by a rear-naked choke, her attempt at a second monumental upset coming embarassingly short.
For a fighter with her experience and her discipline, it was a shockingly poor display of fight IQ and within the opening minute she had tossed away any hope she had of winning the fight.
Whether it was misplaced confidence in her grappling ability or simply a brain fart of epic proportions only Holly could tell you, but either way it was a horrendous showing from the former UFC champion.
Dishonourable Mentions:
Jalin Turner for attempting a walkoff knockout on Renato Moicano when the ref didn't stop it, then mentally falling apart and getting TKO'd in the second round
Kron Gracie for guard pulling in 2024, made worse by the fact he doesn't defend himself well from his guard
Leon Edwards for forgetting to fight until the last minute against Belal Muhammad, then nearly finishing him when he did go for it
Ciryl Gane for grappling when he isn't a good grappler, and again dropping down for a leg lock at a crucial time that should have cost him the fight (poor judging saved him this time, see next award's mentions)
Jonathan Martinez clinching with Marcus McGhee for a good minute in the third round, when he needed a finish to win and McGhee could barely stand courtesy of some Martinez low kicks
Robbery of the Year
Awarded to the worst judges' decision of the year
Winner: Mario Bautista's split decision win over Jose Aldo
thanks to some incredibly poor judging in Utah
I'm not sure what it is about officiating in Salt Lake City, but between the referees and the judges when the UFC heads to Utah, there's bound to be some bullshit going down.
What's most perplexing is these officials aren't typically locals - in the case of this robbery, the two judges who scored the fight incorrectly are Michael Bell and Derek Cleary, names that almost any longtime UFC fan will recognize as they are regulars when it comes to judging UFC events.
Yet for some reason, judging seems to unanimously take a dive in certain states, and Utah is certainly one of the worst.
Jose Aldo last went to Salt Lake City more than two years ago, when he was hugged against the fence by future champion Merab Dvalishvili, stuffing all 16 of Merab's takedowns but being smothered in the process. Aldo lost a dull decision that night which caused him to temporarily retire and pursue a stint in boxing.
That fight was a questionable booking from the UFC long before it happened - with a three-fight winning streak over top ten fighters, Aldo should have gotten a title shot over TJ Dillashaw, who was coming off a controversial decision win and prior to that was out for two years due to his EPO usage.
Instead, Dillashaw went into a title fight with one arm in a sham of a fight, stealing Aldo's earned title shot for nothing and instead the UFC wasted the legendary Brazilian on a dull wrestler at elevation.
Two years later, Aldo had triumphantly returned to the UFC by handily defeating Jonathan Martinez - instead of giving him a big name, the UFC once again pitted him against an up-and-comer, and for some reason again booked him at elevation, despite his known struggles with pace.
Always the warrior, Aldo accepted anyway, and once again the worst happened.
Bautista started off well enough, outpacing Aldo early and though his grappling attempts were easily stuffed, he did keep getting in offense to take home the first round.
From there, Aldo began to show the difference in striking as he landed heavy leather on the aspiring contender, bringing about panic shots as Bautista began to avoid striking at all costs and instead hugged Aldo against the fence to save himself from damage.
Referee Mike Beltran (again, a UFC regular) let Bautista clearly stall for minutes at a time without making him work - when Aldo earned separation, he again landed the significant strikes before being pinned to the wall, clearly earning the second round.
The third became a groan-inducing hug fest, with Aldo scaring the pants off Bautista at range and in response Bautista held on for dear life against the cage, doing virtually nothing in the clinch yet being allowed to waste most of the fight standing there while Beltran stood around and watched.
The highly anticipated fight ended up a dull affair, but at the end of the three rounds, it seemed clear Aldo had scored the significant strikes and did enough damage throughout the last two rounds to take home an easy 29-28 decision victory.
Instead, Derek Cleary and Michael Bell apparently still think this is the olden days of MMA scoring where holding someone (not even on the ground, but in the clinch) and doing absolutely nothing outscores clean, damaging shots.
It was a pitiful decision and the fans in the arena as well as around the world certainly showed their disdain for the robbery, but ultimately, just like every other time this happens, nothing will change and no one will be held accountable.
It's especially a shame given that the UFC has so mismanaged Aldo's career in the last few years, wasting him against fighters determined not to engage and stepping over him for an opportunity he rightfully earned in favour of a proven cheat (which ultimately backfired massively for the UFC).
Runner Up: Tabatha Ricci's wins over Tecia Pennington & Angela Hill
proving lay and pray is not dead after all
Tabatha Ricci managed to go 2-1 this year in the UFC against some good opposition, and yet...she arguably should be oh-for-three in 2024.
Against Tecia Pennington (formerly Torres) in May, she was pretty easily outstruck in all three rounds by Pennington, who landed some pretty heavy shots on the feet while Ricci managed to hold her down for a few minutes in both the second and third rounds.
Despite not doing much of anything on the floor and getting clearly outstruck on the feet, that was enough for judges Chris Lee (a UFC regular) and Missouri's Brian Puccillo for Ricci to be awarded the victory.
Almost the same thing played out in August, this time the victim being Angela Hill (who is no stranger to losing controversial decisions) - Ricci was clearly outstruck and ate far more significant shots on the feet, but was able to hold down Hill for a few minutes in both the first and second rounds, leading to this time a unanimous decision victory for Ricci.
Veteran judges Michael Bell, Erik Colon, and Ben Cartlidge all scored the bout for Ricci, though Colon scored the third round for Ricci and not the first, making it an even more head-scratching scorecard.
Ricci is living proof that if you can get someone down and pretend to be busy with some little punches on the ground, you can steal rounds from an opponent who clearly did more damage and outstruck you on the feet.
This was supposed to be eliminated nearly a decade ago with the updates to the scoring criteria putting an extreme emphasis on damage, yet decisions like this are still occurring in 2024.
Dishonourable Mentions:
Ciryl Gane's split decision win over Alexander Volkov @ UFC 310
Julianna Pena's split decision win over Raquel Pennington @ UFC 307
Rinat Fakhretdinov's unanimous decision win over Carlos Leal @ UFC 308
Movsar Evloev's unanimous decision win over Arnold Allen @ UFC 297
Cheater of the Year
Awarded to the biggest cheater of the year, either inside and/or outside the cage
Winner: Igor Severino
for his cannibalistic tendencies
Typically, the biggest cheaters in a sport cheat to gain an advantage, whether it be outside of competition through the use of PEDs, or inside it by breaking the rules to gain an unfair advantage.
With this year's Cheater of the Year however, no advantage was gained nor could one be imagined.
On the prelims of UFC's 53rd ESPN Fight Night back in March, two undefeated Brazilian flyweight prospects put on one hell of a first round in their UFC debuts.
With both scoring impressive victories on last years' Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series, 20-year-old Igor Severino (8-0) and 25-year-old Andre Lima (7-0) met in the UFC and provided fireworks for all lucky enough to watch the early preliminary bout.
The flyweights each had their moments as they slugged it out in the cage and showed off their impressive sets of skills, with the younger Severino appearing to have the advantage, winning the first round and part of the second.
Just past the midway point of the fight however, the exhiliarating scrap would come to an abrupt, and bizarre, conclusion.
In the middle of a clinch against the cage, Lima protested to the referee, prompting a stoppage in the action a few seconds later. Without seeing any clear foul, viewers were understandably confused - until the camera zoomed in on the inside of Lima's bicep.
On his arm was the clear indentation of Igor Severino's teeth, both upper and lower sets.
Severino was subsequently and deservedly disqualified for the blatant foul, which was made all the more bewildering considering he tried to take a bite out of his opponent from a fairly neutral clinch (it wasn't as if he was caught in a submission and thus did so out of desperation), he appeared to have the upper hand in the fight, and he wasn't fouled nor did he show any signs of being frustrated or angry at his opponent prior to the bite.
Simply put, it made no sense.
Perhaps Lima just had an irresistably tasty arm, or Severino let his inner cannibal get the best of him - whatever the case, Igor was handed the first ever disqualification due to biting in UFC history, and was subsequently released from his contract by the UFC.
The Nevada Athletic Commission also suspended the young prospect for nine months due to the bite, the now 21-year-old's career being derailed off of his bewildering choice to imitate Hannibal Lecter in the Octagon.
To make matters even weirder, Dana White awarded the first ever "Bite of the Night" award, giving Andre Lima a $50,000 bonus to make up for being bitten in his bout - to celebrate this bizarre victory, Lima then got the imprint of Severino's teeth tattooed on his arm with a "Bite of the Night" caption.
I guess it isn't the worst tattoo in MMA history, but that isn't saying much.
Runner Up: Michael Chandler
for his inability to keep it clean in the Octagon
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
That summed up Michael Chandler's early UFC career pretty nicely, but over the past few years Chandler has been hellbent on changing that narrative - changing it into a worse one.
It began during his loss late in 2022 to Dustin Poirier - while he certainly had success before ultimately being submitted by Poirier in the third round, this was overshadowed by various blatant fouls he committed over the course of the fight.
Multiple big shots to the back of the head when they were on the ground, blowing his bloody nose on Dustin when he was in Poirier's guard, and the worst was when he literally put his fingers in Dustin's mouth to fish-hook him, prying his head up in order to slide his forearm under the neck and secure a rear-naked choke, which ultimately came close to winning the fight for Chandler.
Though the referee may have missed his litany of fouls, it certainly didn't go unnoticed by Poirier and UFC fans.
Chandler was adamant he didn't intentionally commit any fouls after the fight and it was just heat of the moment accidents, but he wasn't exactly convincing.
Fast forward two years, Chandler had become a meme for another reason - the man who was still waiting for Conor McGregor to make it to the cage and fight him, trying to will his money fight into existence when everyone and their mother knew Conor was not stepping foot in the Octagon again.
After finally having enough of Conor's bullshit, Chandler opted to return to the cage and took on an old foe in Charles Oliveira, who he had famously nearly-knocked-out before getting knocked out himself in their title fight over three years ago.
After two years off, Chandler began the fight on shaky ground - the first significant strike he managed to land was of course an eyepoke which went unnoticed by referee Keith Peterson.
For a guy who spends much of his time preaching to people about self-improvement, the value of being a good and kind person, etcetera etcetera, he sure does commit an astounding number of "accidental" fouls.
Oliveira would proceed to beat Chandler's ass from pillar to post for a good four rounds, largely dominating the former Bellator champion and limiting his fouling to a few cage grabs.
In the fifth, Chandler strung together his best offense, by landing a big right hand...then immediately getting in a solid eyepoke which caused Oliveira to retreat, then attempt to take Chandler down after the latter had slipped throwing a comically overloaded hook.
Getting top position out of it, Chandler proceeded to land a ton of shots to the back of Oliveira's head - here, his cheating truly stands out, as he made it look like he was aiming for the Oliveira's ear with his hand, but was instand landing his forearm right to the back of Oliveira's skull.
Keith "No Nonsense" Peterson in fact allowed a shitload of nonsense to play out right in front of him, seemingly falling for Chandler's incredibly poorly-veiled method of fouling, but even with his many, many fouls Chandler was unable to beat the clearly superior fighter and once again walked out of the cage with an L.
Perhaps the next time he starts up one of his motivational speeches, he can tell us all how important it is to be a clean, respectable competitor...
Dishonourable Mentions:
Piera Rodriguez for repeatedly headbutting Ariane Carnelossi and getting disqualified for her stupidity
Chris Weidman for a double eyepoke against Bruno Silva resulting in his first "finish" since 2017...only for it to be turned to a technical decision since the finish came via foul
And that concludes The Rant's 2024 MMA Awards!
Hope you enjoyed this unique year-end celebration of some of the highs and lows in this wild sport we call mixed martial arts! See you all next year!
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