Justin Gaethje, Joshua Van among stars making UFC Fighter of the Year race a heated debate

This year has produced multiple fighters who have strong arguments based on accomplishments This has been quite the year for fighters leaving their mark in Octagon. As far as annual awards go, usually there is one that clearly should be considered as the best for a calendar 12 months. Kamaru Usman earned the nod in 2021 with a perfect run and the next closest competitor was Charles Oliveira. Alex Pereira ran away with the award in 2022 amid his rise to the top. Islam Makhachev was the clear top dog in 2023 with his pair of wins over Alexander Volkanovski. Last year was the first time in a while that the award changed hands in a final fight of the year as Petr Yan essentially stole the recognition from Merab Dvalishvili with his stunning win in December.

A Dvalishvili win would have been historical as he was going for a fourth title defense in a calendar year. All this to say, this year has four legitimate contenders to consider for the honor already. Justin Gaethje owns a pair of incredible wins as an underdog against Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria. Joshua Van erased any doubt about his legitimacy as the flyweight champion with his wins over Tatsuro Taira and Alexandre Pantoja. And the winner of Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit