MMA Fighter of the Year 2024: Ilia Topuria barely beats out Alex Pereira in an impossible vote

There are times in MMA when identifying the Fighter of the Year can be difficult, if only because a half-dozen candidates had indistinguishable yet list-worthy years. There are other times when a single candidate blows away everybody else, thus making the process easy. Jorge Masvidal’s 2019 was a year of near biblical proportions, to the point that it felt sacrilegious to even consider anybody else for Fighter of the Year. Nobody was trying to go up against "Street Jesus."

Then you get years like 2024, when — on the men’s side of the ledger, at least — a pair of fighters have such extraordinary years that it’s nearly impossible to choose a winner. It’s so close that tempers easily flare when casting the vote. Veins show up on people’s foreheads as they make the case. Grudges are created and held. Aspersions are muttered while one side questions the sanity of the other, and those with good taste begin to question their entire existence.

Ilia Topuria edged out Alex Pereira as Uncrowned’s 2024 Male MMA Fighter of the Year by a single vote, and really the fate of the two men was left to a single procrastinator (we won’t name names, because Conner Burks hates being thrown under the bus). And in the end, it’s hard to argue against Topuria’s year, because it was uniquely extraordinary. Not only did he defeat Alexander Volkanovski to become Spain’s first-ever UFC champion, he defended the title against Max Holloway eight months later.

In this case, the immensity of Topuria’s feat lies in the details. Volkanovski is one of the greatest 145-pound fighters of all time, having gone 13-0 in the division with five title defenses. Beating him was like overthrowing a government — which was kind of how it felt when Topuria knocked Volkanovski out in the second round at UFC 298. Like there was a full changing of the guard in effect, and that we were ushering in a new era.

So when Topuria followed that up by dousing the flames of one of the UFC’s all-time most iconic champions in Max Holloway, it felt quadruply gangsta. Holloway scored the unquestioned Knockout of the Year against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, giving him the BMF title and an ocean of vibe. In fact, the knockout had supposedly spooked Topuria, or so the narrative went. When the camera panned through for reactions after Holloway’s knockout, there was Topuria, bewildered and a little dazed.

But not scared. No sir.

The way Topuria took out Holloway at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi was the work of an unnerving maestro. It was surgical. Brutal. Powerful. Masterclass. And really one of the most impressive first defenses against one of the hardest draws on record. After that third-round knockout, the only thing left to contemplate was if there had ever been, in the history of the UFC, back-to-back wins to kick off a title run with that degree of difficulty.

The answer was no.

Alex Pereira easily could have won this year’s Fighter of the Year, given that he fought three times, in escalating circumstances, and defended his light heavyweight title in each. Did Pereira save UFC 300 and UFC 303? Hell yes he did. And did he beat Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 in one of the best fights of the year? You know it. Did he knock out everyone he touched? Yes, yes and yes.

See, that’s what made it so tough. There were really two fighters of the year, which made deciding a winner an exercise in hell.

On the women’s side, things were much clearer. With all due respect to Kayla Harrison making the cut to 135 pounds and becoming the No. 1 contender at bantamweight in the UFC, as well as the breakout years Virna Jandiroba and Natalia Silva had, nobody can touch Dakota Ditcheva.

In 2024, the 26-year-old Ditcheva had the makings of a star. The British phenom fought four times in the PFL in 2024, and she basically did one of the sickest lather-rinse-repeat routines you’ll ever see, punishing the body of each opponent until that opponent crumpled over in pain. She was a buzz saw.

Ditcheva heard the usual gripes through the process. She heard that she hadn’t fought anybody as she put away the likes of Lisa Mauldin, Chelsea Hackett and Jena Bishop. That’s what made her second-round knockout of Taila Santos in the Women’s Flyweight Finals so remarkable. Santos had pushed the No. 1 pound-for-pound women’s fighter Valentina Shevchenko to the limits a couple of years ago in the UFC, and thus carried a direct comparison for Ditcheva to measure against.

Valentina needed five rounds and the judges' scorecards to get by Santos. Ditcheva needed merely to be unleashed. Hers is a nasty streak unlike anything seen since Ronda Rousey’s early days, and the sky is the limit for where she’s headed. She has the meanness. She has the charisma. And with her mother having been a decorated kickboxer, she has the pedigree.

Now she has the honor of being the 2024 Women’s Fighter of the Year.

Here is how Uncrowned's MMA team voted for 2024's Fighters of the Year:

MALE FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

1. Ilia Topuria

2. Alex Pereira

3. Joaquin Buckley

4. Merab Dvalishvili

5. Carlos Prates

FEMALE FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

1. Dakota Ditcheva
2. Kayla Harrison
3. Virna Jandiroba
4. Natalia Silva
5T. Gillian Robertson
5T. Valentina Shevchenko

Honorable Mentions:

• Dricus du Plessis

• Alexandre Pantoja

• Diego Lopes

• Jasmine Jasudavicius

• Seika Izawa

• Julianna Peña

• Jennifer Maia

More from Uncrowned's 2024 MMA awards:

• Knockout of the Year

• Breakthrough Fighters of the Year

• Events of the Year

• MITHY Awards (Mindenhall's Best of the Rest)

• Emerging Hotbeds of the Year

• Retirements of the Year, Ranked

• Biggest Winners and Losers

• 2024's All-Violence First Team

• Biggest Surprises

• Weirdest and Wildest of the Year