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The Rant's 2025 MMA Awards

The Rant's annual mixed martial arts awards are here, check out all the winners for its unique categories now!



It's been a great year of fights for mixed martial arts fans, but 2025 also marked the end of an era: after seven years of being on ESPN, the UFC is moving on to greener pastures thanks to a massive $1.1 billion US/year move to Paramount.


The seismic shift sees all of the UFC's programming, from early prelims to numbered events and even The Contender Series become available live and on-demand on Paramount+ in the US, with the biggest news being that pay-per-views are a thing of the past - every fight the UFC puts on will be available for one low monthly subscription without any further paywalls for viewers in the US and select other markets .


Unfortunately, we here up in Canada have at least another year on the old Sportsnet deal, meaning numbered events are still on pay-per-view for us with most of the other UFC action available on cable via Sportsnet.


The past seven years on ESPN has had its ups and downs, with plenty of complaints about ESPN's technical mishaps (from streaming issues to payment processing failures to their constantly dreadful showing of a "commerical break" screen during breaks instead of just keeping streams in the arena or even promoting their own content) and their multiple and increasingly expensive paywalls, though their actual coverage of the sport has largely been excellent.


The biggest win for UFC fans is of course the drastically reduced cost to (legally) watch all UFC content in the US, including numbered events - a year of Paramount+, which includes every numbered UFC (pay-per-view in old terms), Fight Night, and prelim bout, along with new seasons of The Ultimate Fighter and Dana White's Contender Series, alongside all of Paramount+'s regular shows and programming like Landman and Mayor of Kingstown, is only $60 - less than the cost of a single pay-per-view event in the ESPN era.


Time will tell if the uptick in subscribers (and, given the low cost, it will likely bring in many current "streaming" viewers since it's the prohibitive costs that drive fans to alternative sources) can make up for the loss in pay-per-view revenue, but Paramount is banking heavily on that being the case.


As we turn the chapter on the UFC's time on ESPN, we can take a few minutes to reflect on the last year of action as we, just like every media outlet and website on earth, post our annual awards.


With a gruelling 6-week gap between the last UFC fight night and the first UFC card of 2026, MMA fans have plenty of time to debate which fighter was worthy of winning the Fighter of the Year, which knockout and which submission stood above the rest, and what battle of wills was the most thrilling of 2025.


Here at The Rant however, I like to highlight unique, less-talked about categories to offer fans something different from the norm - from the Best Left Hook Knockout to the Worst UFC Fighter to the Biggest Cheater of the Year, there are plenty of categories that other publications don't cover with their year-end highlights.


As always, links to videos/GIFs are highlighted in red - as the great Mike Goldberg likes to say, "Let's get things started".


Left Hook KO of the Year

Awarded to the best knockout of 2025 via a left hook



Winner: Cesar Almeida

for his crippling KO over Razak Al Hassan at UFC Fight Night 249


The most prestigious of The Rant's awards (alongside the Spinning Shit KO of the Year), the Left Hook Knockout of the Year celebrates an often-overlooked and underappreciated punch that is one of the most versatile and effective weapons in a skilled boxer's reportoire.


The inaugural award last year unsurprisingly went to Alex "Poatan" Pereira, who possesses one of the most storied, beautiful, and brutal left hooks in combat sports' history.


Unfortunately, 2025 did not grace us with a Poatan left hook KO, as his lone knockout this past year came via a vicious right hand and ground and pound when he emphatically avenged his razor-thin decision loss to "Lil Ank" Magomed Ankalaev.


It's fitting however, that the best left hook knockout of this year came from a man who has extensive ties to the afforementioned Poatan.


Cesar Almeida may have entered 2025 as a 6-1 prospect in MMA, but the 37-year-old was an accomplished 47-8-1 kickboxer before he donned the four-ounce gloves. During his career in the ring he went up against Pereira not once, not twice, but three times, with all three of their bouts going to a decision (Alex won the trilogy 2-1) which is itself an accomplishment given Pereira's finishing ability.


Almeida's kickboxing prowess can clearly be seen throughout his MMA career thus far, but none so clearly as his bout against Abdul Razak Alhassan way back in January.


Alhassan is a powerful knockout artist in his own right, with a penchant for reckless aggression that is aided by his immensely muscular frame (and thus contributes to his shallow gas tank) that has led him to finishing all 12 of his wins by knockout.


Almeida was able to easily guard against Alhassan's wide swings early, but Abdul surprised the Brazilian kickboxer by firing a sharp right hand straight down the middle, dropping the superior striker late in the opening round. After Cesar made his way back to his feet, Alhassan unloaded, swinging wildly in his pursuit of a finish.


While his reckless aggression did see him land a few shots, Abdul's porous defense would prove fatal against an experienced kickboxer like Almeida, who after eating a few punches decided it was best to stand his ground and fire back rather than try to just play defense.


What resulted was a crushing left hook that turned Abdul's chin as he sought to throw his own left at Almeida, instantly shutting Alhassan's lights off before his rigid corpse toppled back like a felled tree collapsing in the forest.


It was about as clean a knockout as one can get and after a further 11 months of MMA action, it remained standing as the clear choice for Best Left Hook KO of 2025.



Runner Up: Joo Sang Yoo

for his faceplanting of Jeka Saragih at UFC 316


The Korean Zombie's protege, Joo Sang Yoo or "Zombie Jr.", certainly did his best back in June to overtake Cesar Almeida's knockout for this award.


Facing heavy-hitting Indonesian featherweight Jeka Saragih, the undefeated Zombie Jr. made his highly anticipated UFC debut at UFC 316 and it took him just 26 seconds to steal the show.


Unlike Almeida's powerhouse left, Yoo scored his knockout with a short, check left hook that didn't need any wind-up to find Saragih's off-switch.


Instead, Saragih did the work to close the distance as he attempted to land an overhand right, leaving his head open after he missed the mark; Yoo effortlessly connected with a crisp left that was placed impeccably on Jeka's chin, sending him crashing face-first onto the canvas, out cold.


The finish was about as good a debut a fighter could ever ask for and certainly worthy of a UFC performance bonus, not to mention coming in second for this prestigious award.


Unfortunately for Yoo, he would be on the receiving end of a left hook in his very next outing courtesy of Daniel Santos, with Zombie Jr. tasting the bitterness of defeat for the first time in his career.


Honourable Mentions:



Spinning Shit KO of the Year

Awarded to the best knockout of 2025 via a spinning technique



Winner: Lerone Murphy

for his brutal spinning elbow homicide of Aaron Pico at UFC 319


2025 will go down as the Year of the Spinning Elbow when it comes to breakout techniques in the sport.


Brazilian prospect Erick Visconde kicked off the influx of spinning elbows back in January when he slaughtered his opponent Ary Farias in the LFA with the move, and it didn't take long after that to see more fighters attempt such a trick in the UFC (not to mention tons of them on the regional scene).


It was in August however that the spinning elbow took the world-famous Octagon by storm as UFC 319 delivered not one, but two vicious spinning elbow knockouts during the event - better yet, they came in back-to-back fights.


First on deck was the chain-smoking Brazilian striking sensation Carlos Prates, who was delivering a thrilling scrap against powerful vet Geoff Neal.


With just seconds to go in the opening stanza, Prates spun and delivered a cracking elbow to the side of Neal's head, hitting the off switch out of nowhere and walking off with a swagger that would make the Marlboro Man jealous as his opponent toppled to the canvas.


Viewers barely had time to breathe as the very next bout saw Bellator vet and once uber-prospect Aaron Pico make his UFC debut opposite top contender Lerone Murphy.


The featherweight co-main event delivered fireworks from the opening bell as Pico was at his hyper-aggressive best, cracking Murphy with brutal hooks to the body and several thunderous shots upstairs.


The frenetic violence had fans out of their seats and it appeared that Murphy, who is normally a very hard-to-hit distance striker, would be overwhelmed by Pico's onslaught, particularly after he looked troubled by some of the rib-roasters Pico had landed.


Then, just over three minutes into the firefight, Murphy took advantage of Pico's wanton aggression with a move no one (particularly Aaron Pico) saw coming - a perfectly timed spinning back elbow.


Just like that, Aaron Pico's brilliant introduction to the UFC masses was spoiled, the former US Olympic alternate wrestler laying out cold on the canvas as the entire MMA world's collective jaws dropped to the floor.


It was as shocking as it was perfectly executed, one of the cleanest knockouts you'll ever see.


The stunning finish was exactly what Murphy needed to separate himself from the pack of contenders in the wildly competitive feathweight division - though he had won eight straight fights heading into UFC 319 and was undefeated in the promotion, Murphy had been criticized for being a boring fighter at times, with just two finishes in those bouts and having five straight fights go to decision.


The brilliant knockout should have been enough to earn Murphy a crack at Alexander Volkanovski's crown, but the UFC instead opted to give Diego Lopes a second crack at Volk after Lopes used his own spinning elbow to take out surging prospect Jean Silva a mere month later.


With Lopes being handily defeated by Volkanovski just a year ago (primarily thanks to his lack of footwork, something that his gym has been plagued by for years and shows no sign of improving), and with two other strong contenders on lengthy streaks (Murphy and Movsar Evloev) having stronger claims for the next crack at gold, it was an odd choice that has been questioned by fans - Murphy however can sleep comfortably knowing he scored the Best Spinning Shit Knockout of the Year.



Runner Up: Carlos Prates

for his walk-off KO over Geoff Neal at UFC 319


It isn't often that you see two clear Knockout of the Year contenders at a single event, yet at UFC 319, fans were treated to just that in back-to-back fights.


As mentioned above, Carlos Prates stole the show (at least until the next fight went down) in the waning moments of the first round of his striker's delight fight against Geoff Neal.


To make the stunning finish even better, Prates perfectly executed a walk-off as he turned to the cage and celebrated before Neal had even finished falling, the Brazilian welterweight standout knowing nothing further was needed before the ref even had time to jump in.


Outside of his underwhelming decision loss to Ian Machado Garry (who has a habit of turning every fight he's in into a boring one), Prates has knocked out all six of his UFC opponents (including a brilliant finish over Leon Edwards in November), making him one of the most exciting fighters on the UFC's roster.


If it wasn't for the pair of ridiculous elbows at UFC 319, Prates' stablemate at the Fighting Nerds, Mauricio Ruffy, would have taken home this year's Spinning Shit award, but instead Ruffy will have to make do with being an honourable mention.


Honourable Mentions:



Most Creative Finish of the Year

Awarded to the most unique or creative finish of 2024


Winner: Jimmy Crute

for his "reverse can opener" finish of Ivan Erslan at UFC Fight Night 260


It's not often that a signature finisher from the WWE is used to finish a fight in mixed martial arts, but once every few years we see a fighter do just that, like Jonno Mears' use of the "Boston Crab" to submit his opponent in 2017.


In 2025, we saw another WWE move pulled off in a real fight, this time courtesy of Jimmy "The Brute" Crute back in August.


Crute dominated Ivan Erslan on the mat in their light heavyweight tilt, flattening Erslan out midway through the opening round as he rained down punches on his overmatched opponent.


As Crute reached down under Erslan's chin, it looked as though Crute would need to slide himself down to get a better angle to lock in a rear-naked choke - but instead, Crute merely wedged his wrist under Erslan's chin and yanked up, executing what was officially called a "reverse can opener".


WWE fans of course were quick to point out that it was the Iron Sheik's signature move, the Camel Clutch, with Crute using a version of the chin-lock that doesn't trap the arms.


It may have been an easy victory for Crute against an overmatched opponent (Erslan was 0-2 in the UFC already), but there's something to be said for a fighter that makes light work of opponents they're supposed to beat and looks for creative finishes to showcase their talents when they are given such opportunities.



Runner Up: Henrique Madureira

for his standing inverted triangle choke over Eriglent Prizreni at Oktagon 80


Triangle chokes have become somewhat of a rarity in today's sport of MMA thanks to the improving level of grappling amongst its athletes, which makes it increasingly difficult for submission artists to lock up such techniques against savvy opponents.


Inverted triangles are, as one could expect, far more rare - yet getting an inverted triangle from a standing position?


As an avid fan of the sport for nearly two decades, the only such submission I can recall having taken place was Toby Imada's back in Bellator, which saw a young Jorge Masvidal be put to sleep with such a technique back in 2009 that ended up winning Imada Submission of the Year.


Now, some 16 years later, the unassuming 8-7 Henrique Madeureira has pulled off that same move at Oktagon 80 in Germany, using it to force the previously undefeated Eriglent Prizreni to tap out just 70 seconds into their bout.


What makes it even crazier is you can clearly hear someone (presumably from Prizreni's corner) repeatedly yelling to "watch the triangle" before Madeureira indeed locks up the inverted triangle.


Honourable Mentions:


Last Round, Hail Mary Comeback of the Year

Awarded to the most impressive, last-round comeback finish in 2025



Winner: Jiri Prochazka

for his destructive comeback over Khalil Roundtree Jr. at UFC 320


When it comes to finishing fights, not many can even come close to Jiri Prochazka's expertise.


Out of his 32 career wins, all but one has come via finish, with 28 of those victories coming via form of knockout.


So when it comes to the final five minutes of a fight he knows he's losing, Jiri doesn't panic or get out of sorts - he simply dials in and ramps up the pressure until his opponent is thoroughly cooked.


He did it in 2024 against Aleksandar Rakic, transforming into a relentless demon which crushed Rakic's dreams of a title shot after getting his leg thoroughly chopped at for the first two rounds; in 2025, it would be Khalil Roundtree Jr. who would fall victim to Prochazka's unyielding pursuit of a finish to turn the tide of a fight.


For the first two rounds, Jiri looked a step behind as Khalil's speed and crisp shot selection wreaked havoc on Jiri's unconventional style, with Khalil landing heavy combinations and thudding kicks at will while Jiri was unable to mount any sustained offense. All Khalil had to do was keep it up for another five minutes, or at worst just avoid getting finished, and a decision victory was his.


His opponent however had other plans and turned the third round into the Jiri show as he relentlessly walked Roundtree Jr. down, stabbing at Khalil's midsection with snap kicks and throwing his trademark unorthodox punches with reckless abandon.


Khalil was able to land plenty of his own as he attempted to keep Prochazka at bay, but Jiri's tenacity and crippling body shots were quickly shifting the momentum in his favour and sapping the heavy-handed Muay Thai striker of his energy reserves.


The unbelievable pace and nasty body work had Khalil running on fumes as he desperately tried to throw back to keep Jiri off of him, only exacerbating the problem he faced; just midway through the final stanza, Khalil was battered and broken, trying in vain to tie Jiri up just to get a moment of relief.


Instead, Jiri separated and put him out of his misery with a 1-2-3 combination, the final left hook putting Roundtree Jr. out cold and sending him face-first onto the canvas.


It was a vicious finish and once again solidified Prochazka as the best 205-pounder in the world that isn't named Alex Pereira.




Runner Up: Costello Van Steenis

for his epic rear-naked choke comeback against Johnny Eblen at PFL Africa 1


When it comes to snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat, not many fighters can claim they did it better than Costello Van Steenis.


Facing dominant middleweight champion Johnny Eblen, Van Steenis was about forty-five seconds away from a lopsided defeat when he was handed the opportunity of a lifetime.


Eblen had comfortunately been in the driver's seat for most of the fight thanks to his (quite boring) top control and wrestling expertise, with Van Steenis down 3-1 on two judge's scorecards (although one judge had the fight even). The fifth was again Eblen's as he had secured the takedown, later advancing to take Van Steenis' back - and therein came Eblen's fatal error.


Falling off the top, Eblen handed Van Steenis an opportunity and the Dutch challenger did not hesitate to seize it.


Quickly taking Eblen's back, Van Steenis locked in a rear-naked choke and squeezed with everything he had; Eblen, knowing only seconds remained in the fight, did his best to survive to see the final bell.


Unfortunately for loud-mouthed Eblen, he was choked unconscious with just nine-seconds left in the fifth round.




Loosa managed to tie Rowe up in the clinch, only for Phil to press Loosa's back against the cage, press his head against the fence with his left hand, and smash his right into Ange's face repeatedly until the Congo native collapsed to the canvas in defeat.


The stunning comeback not only earned him the victory but secured his spot in the UFC to boot (at least for a while...Rowe lost his next outing by decision against Ko Seok-hyeon, but we won't let that ruin the narrative).


Honourable Mention:



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: Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dricus Du Plessis

for their supremely boring headlining act at UFC 319


Sure, controlling a dominant champion like Dricus Du Plessis for almost an entire 25-minutes is impressive; that does not however make it exciting, especially when you do so in the manner that Khamzat Chimaev did it at UFC 319.


After two back-to-back spinning elbow knockouts in a row, the much-hyped main event between Chimaev and Du Plessis for the middleweight title had a lot to live up to...sadly, for the fans in attendance in Chicago and the millions watching around the world, live up to expectations it did not.


Unless your expectations were that Chimaev would put on the most "safe" wrestling performance one could imagine and refuse to even look for a finish against a champion that showed virtually no ability to defend a takedown, avoid getting crucifixed on the ground, or work his way up to his feet that wasn't utilizing pure brawn over technique.


Chimaev was seen as the "unstoppable" monster, a crushing grappler who had run through the welterweight- scratch that- middleweight division (kind of...not really since he only defeated one middleweight and one welterweight who took the fight up at 185 on short notice), while Dricus Du Plessis was the awkward underdog who was never supposed to be a legit contender let alone champion yet always managed to find a way to win.


DDP had made his career on doing things "wrong" yet managing to make it work out for him thanks to his athleticism, power, timing, and tenacity, but ultimately, similarly to Derrick Lewis' "just stand up" method of anti-wrestling, it can only get you so far against someone who is vastly superior technically that isn't at a large athleticism deficit.


As a result, DDP spent most of the fight looking like he had zero clue how to defend a takedown or get back to his feet, while Chimaev stuck to him like a weighted blanket on the mat. Chimaev, instead of fully utilizing his advantage, refused to put anything significant on his ground and pound in the fear of losing position or tiring himself out, instead "keeping busy" with ridiculously light strikes to keep the ref from standing him up for stalling.


Chimaev actually secured a mounted crucifix on numerous occasions, which is almost always a fight-finishing position as it allows the top fighter to rain down punches/elbows on a helpless opponent; yet even in this dominant position, Chimaev only threw shots that made Roy Nelson's ground and pound on the late Kimbo Slice back in the day look like earth-shattering blows.


To put it in perspective, Chimaev is credited with landing a whopping 529 strikes in the fight, yet only 37 were considered "significant" by FightMetric, which is notorious for including far too many strikes as significant when they shouldn't be.


While wildly overmatched when it came to technical ability, Dricus did show impressive cardio and unquestionable heart as he refused to quit and even managed to start stuffing some takedowns and landing a few shots on the feet later on (and even a few from a top position in the fifth) as Chimaev's gas tank wilted, but in the end it was far too little to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.


It may have been lopsided, but it was an atrocious fight and a dreadfully boring main event that ended what was an incredible night of fights on a sour note.




Runner Up: Ian Garry vs. Carlos Prates

for their five-round stinker at UFC on ESPN 66


There was a lot of competition for this category this year - another Dagestani wrestling ace Islam Makhachev put in a performance not too dissimilar to Chimaev's in his successful bid to become a double champion against Jack Della Maddalena who, similarly to DDP, showed virtually no ability to defend takedowns or get back to his feet (though he did show good submission defense, and Islam did at least try a bit harder to do damage and threaten submissions); Torrez Finney, who had to win three times on Dana White's Contender Series to earn a shot in the UFC thanks to his sleep-inducing style, returned to his old ways by putting the crowd to sleep in his UFC debut; light heavyweights Billy Elekana and Ibo Aslan decided to have a fifteen-minute staring contest in the Octagon; and once-feared heavyweight knockout artist Sergei Pavlovich has turned into a timid decisionator following two straight losses.


Ultimately though, it's the end result compared to the expectations heading into a fight that makes the difference at the highest levels of the (checks notes) Worst Fight of the Year category, hence why Khamzat's insomnia-solving performance at UFC 319 took home the ultimate prize - it's also why Ian Garry vs. Carlos Prates stands above the other fights mentioned.


It's definitely unique to see a fighter earn runner-up honours for both Worst Fight of the Year and Spinning Shit Knockout of the Year, but if the chain-smoking Brazilian "Fighting Nerd" Carlos Prates is anything, it's certainly unique.


Granted, much of his inclusion for this particular category can be attributed to one Ian Machado Garry - a talented, top-tier welterweight striker that somehow manages to make fights boring even when they take place almost entirely on the feet (and don't get me started on when he opts to grapple instead).


Following a controversial "win" (MVP certainly should have won on the scorecards) against Michael Venom Page and then a losing effort against Shavkat Rakhmonov in a dull affair (though Garry did prove he could hang with the true elites in the division), Garry was matched up with the streaking Carlos Prates, who was riding a ridiculous 10-fight knockout streak (four of those were in the UFC), with none of his fights making it out of the second round.


With a five-round main event slot, the battle of elite prospects was expected to be a nail-biting striking affair, but as Garry has now proven, he can turn any fight into a sleep-inducing grind.


Garry has the reach, speed, power, and striking ability to be an exciting welterweight contender, yet his penchant for getting on his bike, his limited output, and his desperation to avoid getting into anything resembling an actual fight make him one of the easiest fighters on the roster to hate (and that's not even mentioning his personality) as he scrapes by decisions.


Unfortunately for Prates, Garry's footwork exposed Carlos' lack of cage-cutting ability and thus saw Garry able to stay on his bike for most of the fight and simply peck away at the heavy-handed knockout artist, avoiding any significant exchanges and occasionally getting on top and laying on Prates for a bit when he managed to score a takedown, which he dove for whenever he felt Prates get too close.


The final round however did provide for some action (and hilarity) - all that running takes a lot of energy and as such, Garry has shown to fade late in fights even when his output is meager, which became a nearly fatal flaw for Garry in the fifth round against Prates.


As the exhaustion caught up with Garry and the Irishman desperately sought to get on top of the Brazilian to ride out the decision victory, Prates managed to get on top himself, where he began unleashing heavy ground and pound that put Machado Garry in trouble.


Garry proceeded to work his way to his hands and knees before comically crawling away from the onslaught, getting back to his feet only to dive for Prates' ankle and hold on for dear life.


Unfortunately for the Brazilian, the late comeback finish didn't materialize as his own exhaustion (damn those Marlboros) and poor decision-making (at least he can blame inexperience given he had never fought five-rounds let alone a UFC main event) allowed Garry to survive to see the final bell.


It was an entertaining (and comically infuriating) final 90-seconds, but that hardly makes up for the near-24-minute snoozefest that preceeded it and while Garry could have at least walked away with his head held high for shutting out the Brazilian prospect, his embarrassing fifth round nixed that and once again just made it easier to cheer against him going forward.


Dishonourable Mentions:

  • Billy Elekana vs. Ibo Aslan for their fifteen-minute staring contest at UFC on ABC 9

  • Sergei Pavlovich vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik for their dull heavyweight slog at UFC Fight Night 250

  • Torrez Finney vs. Robert Valentin for their snoozefest at UFC on ESPN 65

  • Islam Makhachev vs. Jack Della Maddalena for their dull five-rounder at UFC 322



Worst UFC Fighter of the Year

Awarded to the worst fighter in the UFC for the year



Winner: Sedriques Dumas

for having more criminal charges than wins as he went 0-2 (1 NC)


Sedriques Dumas might be the most head-scratching inclusion on the UFC roster.


He possesses some athletic ability and isn't the worst fighter in the world, but the now 10-4 30-year-old is hardly a blue-chip prospect nor is he a super-exciting middleweight, with all three of his victories (most recently in August 2024) being lackluster decisions.


More importantly, he's a publicity liability given his frequent run-ins with the law.


Dumas sports an extensive criminal record in Florida with over a dozen arrests since 2014, for chages that include shoplifting, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing on school property with a weapon, multiple domestic battery incidents including ones he pled guilty to, a DUI in 2023, and another domestic battery incident in 2024 (though that charge was later dropped).


That record isn't just a thing of the past either - in April of 2025, Dumas was easily knocked out in under three minutes by Michal Oleksiejczuk, and in that same month, was arrested on multiple felony charges which included home invasion robbery, domestic battery, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and possession of drugs/paraphenalia - he allegedly broke into the mother of his child's home, assaulted her, then was found hiding in a dog crate in a nearby backyard.


Combined with his history of domestic violence, one would think the UFC would have rid their hands of the mediocre middleweight, yet for some reason, the UFC continued giving him fights.


He was scheduled to fight at UFC 317 in June, but was forced to pull out given he had to wear a court-appointed ankle monitor and couldn't get a judge to lift the restriction before his fight date.


In September, he faced Zach Reese and was likely on his way to being knocked out before Reese landed a brutal low kick right to Sudriques' groin.


Savvy fans who knew of Dumas' background couldn't help but laugh hysterically as Dumas complained he "couldn't feel his right ball" to the doctor in the Octagon, and the fight was officially deemed a No Contest after just 51-seconds of action as Dumas was taken out of the cage on a stretcher.


Two months later, Sedriques was tapped out in the second round by Donte Johnson, marking his second straight defeat (ignoring the NC) and dropping his UFC record to a dismal 3-4, with all four of his losses coming via finish (two knockouts, two submissions) - yet as of writing, Dumas still hasn't been cut by the UFC.


Given their often ruthless roster cuts, one has to wonder what Dumas has over the UFC matchmakers that has enabled him to remain on the UFC roster for this long.




Runner Up: Chris Barnett

for his embarrassing performance at UFC 321 which ended his UFC career at 2-4


When it comes to embarrassing performances, not many can top Chris Barnett's at UFC 321.


The rotund 5'9 heavyweight may have endeared himself to fans with his goofy, dance-filled walk-outs and his stunning wheel kick finish over Gian Villante back in 2021 (complete with a front-flip with butt-landing as a celebration), but he has proven to lack legitimate UFC-level skills ever since (which given the weak heavyweight division, really says something).


Outside of a second-round finish of Jake Collier in 2022 (who didn't exactly have a good UFC run himself), where Barnett also missed the heavyweight weight limit, Barnett has looked dismal in his UFC appearances, lacking any semblance of a ground game or cardio.


The last few years have seen the 39-year-old Spaniard highly inactive (and no, that isn't a fat joke) as he's fought just twice in the last 3 years, being finished by former light-heavyweight Kennedy Nzechukwu in October 2024 and then losing a decision to Hamdy Abdelwahab this past October.


The loss to Abdelwahab was particularly embarrassing as the elder heavyweight proved completely incapable of stopping takedowns or doing much grappling at all - Hamdy himself is not exactly a high-level heavyweight, yet even he was able to dominate "Beastboy" and had an exhausted Barnett crawling away from him with his shorts down at one point in the ugly heavyweight snoozefest.


Barnett's shorts became the most notable thing about the fight as they repeatedly fell down, at one point causing his bare ass to be shown to the now-forever-traumatized audience.


It was another terrible performance from Barnett and hammered home the fact that Beastboy was a flash-in-the-pan that simply wasn't UFC caliber, even in the currently shallow heavyweight waters.


Dishonourable Mentions:

  • Patchy Mix, who went 0-2 in the UFC in 2025; the former Bellator bantamweight champion looked extremely underwhelming in his UFC debut against Mario Bautista, then managed to look even worse in his second outing even though the grappling "sensation" was able to get the unknown Jakub Wiklacz to the floor for much of the fight

  • Viacheslav Borshchev went 0-3 in 2025; "Slava Claus" may be plenty entertaining, but that only goes so far when you go oh-for-three in a year and have a 3-6-1 record overall in the promotion

  • Vanessa Demopoulos went 0-2 in 2025; the former stripper ran her overall record in the UFC to 5-5 with three straight losses



Dumbest Gameplan of the Year

Awarded to the worst gameplan or fight IQ displayed for the year



Winner: Leon Edwards

for shooting on Sean Brady at UFC Fight Night 255


Poor England.


Leon Edwards was just their second champion in UFC history, yet they stayed up until the wee-hours of the morning just to see him completely dominated by Belal Muhammad en route to losing his title back at UFC 304 in Manchester.


His epic head kick KO of Kamaru Usman to win the title will certainly never fade from fans' memories, but it also gave many the false impression that Edwards was an exciting fighter - those that have followed his career over the years will tell you that Edwards is rarely exciting and is instead one of the most risk-averse fighters you can find, even when a fight takes place entirely on the feet in his "wheelhouse".


He's the type that will complain about grapplers holding someone down, then lay and pray when he faces a fellow striker or engage in a dull clinch fight against the cage instead, and outside of the occasional southpaw straight or a stinging kick, his lack of output and avoidance of doing anything but counter makes him a typically boring watch all around.


What makes this particularly annoying is that he does possess the skills and timing to be a proper finisher when he wants to - even against Muhammad, where he looked about as interested in fighting that night (morning) as the Manchester crowd was in seeing Belal take him down for the umpteenth time, he showed this as in the waning moments of the fight he was able to get on top and land some grisly ground and pound, putting Belal in serious danger that had he committed himself to doing earlier, very likely would have seen him retain his title.


Unfortunately for the English faithful, Edwards didn't quite have a second historic comeback in him and instead, the now-former champion looked to redeem himself and get back in the title picture against Sean Brady with a headlining bout in London last March.


Redeem himself he did not.


Instead, Brady absolutely dominated the former welterweight king on the mat after a close opening round, controlling virtually the entirety of the second where he was able to land plenty of ground and pound and control Edwards with ease.


With Brady showing a clear grappling advantage, it was clear to everyone that Edwards had to avoid the ground like the plague and look to beat Brady on the feet, where Edwards held his own clear advantage.


It was clear to everyone, that is, except for Leon Edwards.


Instead, what did Edwards do early in the third round? Well, he shot in for a takedown of course.


It didn't take long for Brady to once again dominate Edwards on the floor as a result, nearly finishing him and pretty clearly breaking Leon in the process as he pounded away and smothered the former champion.


By the fourth, Edwards was exhausted and mentally broken, quickly succumbing to a guillotine choke to once again leave an English crowd wildly disappointed at an ungodly hour.


It would be one thing for a developing talent or otherwise inexperienced fighter to make such a mistake, but for a veteran of nearly 30 fights and a former UFC champion to boot to make such an incredibly bizarre choice is simply baffling.


He effectively threw away any chance he had of turning things around, and with it earned a second straight one-sided defeat.


His next outing saw him try his best to make a fight with Carlos Prates a gruelling grappling affair (remember I mentioned he would lay and pray fellow strikers?) in the first before his ego had him try his hand at range, only for Prates to knock him dead in the second round.



Runner Up: Jack Hermansson

for attempting zero takedowns on Myktybek Orolbai at UFC Fight Night 265


Jack Hermansson is the textbook example of the middleweight division's oddness.


The 37-year-old Swede has had a lengthy UFC career and seen some impressive success at times, yet over the past six years he has alternated wins and losses like clockwork.


A large middleweight with a great grappling base and awkward-but-serviceable striking, Hermansson bounced back from a tough loss to Roman Dolidze and over a year of inactivity due to injuries to hand Joe Pyfer his first loss in the UFC in 2024, surviving Pyfer's early onslaught before "big-brothering" Pyfer and showing the surging prospect there are levels to the game.


It was an impressive return, but once again Hermansson was sidelined for over a year before getting back into the cage, only to continue his alternating wins-losses trend by getting knocked out by a brutal left hook in the first round against Gregory "Robocop" Rodriguez.


Hermansson surprised many by opting to drop down to welterweight just five months later in order to take on Myktybek Orolbai in Qatar.


Oralbai on the other hand had been competing as a lightweight, but had fought in back-to-back catchweight bouts as he struggled to get down to the 155-pound limit, prompting a move up to 170.


Being a rather large middleweight, it was surprising to see Hermansson drop down in weight particularly given the 15-pound difference in classes, but Jack managed to make weight and as such had a notable size advantage over his formerly lightweight opponent when the two stepped into the cage.


Orolbai immediately made it clear he was coming for Jack's head as soon as the fight started, winging massive overhands and looking to knock Hermansson into another dimension as the Swede got on his bike, looking to stick and move.


With Oralbai just narrowly missing several right-handed bombs and with Jack having been viciously KO'd just five months prior, it became pretty obvious that Hermansson should go to his bread-and-butter, use his size advantage, and look to outgrapple his aggressive opponent.


Instead, Hermansson continued to flirt with death, hoping his jab and forearm guard would prevent him from suffering another grisly knockout. Even when he seemingly got hurt from a thunderous shot from Oralbai, Jack never even hinted that he might attempt a takedown, for some reason dead set on having a kickboxing match.


Having been KO'd so badly not long ago, plus his age (37), not to mention a massive weight cut that could further reduce his ability to take a shot, it was hardly surprising to see Hermansson get knocked out cold, but the fact that he never even attempted to use his elite grappling at any point in the fight was just sheer stupidity.


Any UFC fan could have told you what the gameplan should have been for Hermansson heading into the fight, let alone after seeing the opening minutes where Oralbai was narrowly missing with absolute haymakers, yet for some reason, the incredibly experienced former middleweight was adamant he wanted to get knocked out brutally for the second time in 2025.


Well, if that was his plan, it certainly worked.


Dishonourable Mentions:

  • Dricus Du Plessis and Jack Della Maddalena for both seemingly being uniquely unprepared to deal with the wrestling of their challengers

  • Joaquin Buckley for his bizarre acceptance of being taken down by Kamaru Usman and continuing to kick after his corner begged him not to

  • Virna Jandiroba trying to win a title in 2025 by lay-and-praying while getting outstruck by hammerfists on the bottom by Mackenzie Dern

  • Jailton Almeida similarly being shocked he lost a decision when he tried to win a fight in 2025 by hugging and attempting zero significant strikes

  • Terrance McKinney for continuing to be a ridiculously entertaining action fighter with no regards for self-preservation despite never being given a performance bonus for his efforts


Robbery of the Year

Awarded to the worst judges' decision of the year



Winner: Aiemann Zahabi's unanimous decision win over Jose Aldo

thanks to some hometown judging in Montreal at UFC 315


For a fighter to have done enough, at least in the eyes of most fans and experts, to have earned a hard-fought decision victory only to be robbed by incompetent judges, is a tragedy.


It's one thing when it's a razor-close fight and spectators are split on who the victor should be, such as the first Ankalaev-Pereira fight (in which case, in my opinion, more draws should be scored, with very close rounds being given 10-10 scores rather than forcing judges to pick a winner in rounds there was no clear edge, but I digress), but it's another entirely when the vast majority all seem to see the fight one way, only for the "most important" three people watching the fight to see it completely different.


A fighter on the receiving end of a bad decision can take solace in the fact that most fans believe they won the fight, but it doesn't replace the money lost (which is often substantial) nor the potential opportunities that went away in a career where opportunities mean everything.


For a fighter to suffer such a blatant disservice once is already bad, but for a fighter to be handed the worst decision of the year two years in a row? That is simply asinine.


For that fighter to also be one of the greatest athletes in the sport's history, with the second straight robbery against him sending him into retirement?


Now that is just otherworldly cruel.


Yet Jose Aldo suffered just that when Aiemann Zahabi's hand was raised at UFC 315 after a fifteen minute war, adding another horrendous decision to his L column to join his last fight from October 2024 against Mario Bautista (not to mention his loss to Marlon Moraes back in 2019 which was just as bad, and was one that the UFC disagreed with so strongly they gave Aldo a title shot off of it regardless of the official result).


Part of it may just be bad luck. Part of it may be incompetence. Part of it may be the inability for some (and granted, depending on their view from cageside, it may be hard to tell) to differentiate strikes that land cleanly and with impact versus strikes that are blocked or rolled with.


Part of it may come down to Jose Aldo's style itself - his slick defense is masterful for those that can see how he is rolling and avoiding getting hit clean, but for some who see the opponent throwing a bunch of strikes and getting near the target, they may mistake strikes that don't land effectively for landed ones, and thus simply looking busier matters more than landing anything effective.


The second round, which, granted it was close, effectively won Zahabi the fight and was scored the same way by all three judges despite the majority of fans and even media members scoring the round for Aldo.


The third is also a difficult round to score as Jose Aldo started extremely strong and knocked down Zahabi multiple times (though the always-unreliable UFC stats via FightMetric only credit a single knockdown), nearly decapitating him with a soccer kick as Zahabi tried to remain upright, very nearly finishing the fight before Aldo's notorious gas tank (particularly at bantamweight in the twilight of his career) emptied.


Zahabi was able to spend the latter half of the round on top and did some solid ground and pound on the clearly exhausted Aldo, but it's hard to argue that the damage done by Zahabi on the ground, even with a few heavy elbows near the end, outweighed the damage done early on by Aldo which resulted in Zahabi flailing from one side of the Octagon to another not once but twice as he was mere moments away from being finished.


Under the current scoring criteria which prioritizes damage, there's a better argument for scoring the final round a draw than there is for giving it to Zahabi, with the argument being that Zahabi did less damage at once but over more duration thus evening it out, yet even the majority of fans scored the third for Zahabi, showcasing that the scoring criteria's reliance on "damage" still isn't clear enough.


Regardless of the third round's scoring, the second is what really made the robbery here and it's a downright travesty that the legendary Brazilian's career ended on back-to-back bullshit decisions.


Shame on you, Salt Lake City and Montreal, and to the judges who were picked to score those two fights (particularly Mike Bell, who scored both fights against Aldo); the King of Rio deserved better.



Runner Up: Gabriel Bonfim's split decision win over Stephen Thompson

thanks to some inept judging at UFC on ESPN 70


Under the scoring criteria that has been in place for years now (although it's still often referred to by fans as the "new" criteria), the 42-year-old Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson should have come out of UFC 307 with an impressive victory over a top welterweight prospect to snap his two-fight losing streak.


Instead, the legendary kickboxing ace left the cage with a highly controversial loss after his opponent pulled the old "lay and pray/wall and stall" combo to grind out a victory on the scorecards.


The first round was clearly Bonfim's as he was able to outland and outwork Wonderboy, with the second flipping as Thompson was able to implement his striking advantage and land plenty of offense, including a staggering head kick and flurry to end the second round emphatically in Thompson's favour.


It was clearly a 1-1 fight heading into the third, but instead of biting down on his mouthpiece and going to war, Bonfim looked instead to stall out his elder opponent to avoid risking getting knocked out.


Though the low output made the round a bit tough to score, Wonderboy landed the only impactful strikes in the entire round, with Bonfim simply hugging Wonderboy against the cage as he was never able to secure a dominant position on the ground in order to look for a submission or land any real ground and pound.


It seemed clear to everyone watching (a whopping 91.4% of fans scored the third for Thompson on MMADecisions.com) that Wonderboy did the only damage of any kind in the round, and Bonfim simply stalled to ride out the fight - but instead of rewarding damage like they're supposed to, two of the three judges (including one Michael Bell, the prick mentioned above) rewarded Bonfim for stalling and gave him the victory as a result.


It's 2025. Stalling is not supposed to be getting rewarded. Also, Michael Bell should be banned from judging MMA worldwide.


Dishonourable Mentions:

  • Mairon Santos' split decision over Francis Marshall at UFC 313, where the majority of fans and media scored all three rounds for Marshall

  • Caolan Loughran's split decision over Nathan Fletcher at UFC Fight Night 255

  • Modestas Bukauskas' split decision over Ion Cutelaba at UFC 315, with opposite 30-27's from two judges



Cheater of the Year

Awarded to the biggest cheater of the year, either inside and/or outside the cage


Winner: Ciryl Gane

for his double eyepoke of Tom Aspinall at UFC 321 and his history of fouling


For those that haven't paid attention to Ciryl Gane's career - "Bon Gamin" is one of the most consistently dirty fighters in the UFC.


Despite having a nickname that translates to "Good Kid", it is incredibly difficult to find any Gane fight where the massive Frenchman doesn't stick his fingers directly into his opponent's eye sockets, kick his opponent in the nuts, or land a blatantly illegal shot to the back of his opponent's head, often when his opponent is already hurt so referees are afraid to step in and risk making a "controversial" call.


Compilations of this guy and his tricks have been making the rounds for years, so the fact that Gane was involved in a No Contest is hardly surprising - the only surprise is how long it took for him to get an NC on his record, and how many fans inconceivably took "his side" and attacked his victim in the aftermath.


At UFC 321, Gane received his third chance at the undisputed heavyweight title (off a horrendous split decision "victory" over Alexander Volkov last year), and he got off to a solid start thanks to his stiff jab.


Though fans have greatly embellished his success in the roughly four minutes of action that the fight provided - Gane landed some stiff jabs and solid low kicks, but Tom was able to land solid kicks and straight rights of his own, making it a very close round, but given Aspinall was expected to make quick work of Gane, fans have morphed it into a one-sided beatdown where Tom must have wanted out, despite Tom only even attempting a single takedown at that point - Gane did stuff the lone takedown attempt Aspinall shot for and was doing well on the outside, even drawing blood from Tom's nose.


And then his old tactics finally came back to haunt him rather than just his opponent (though they certainly haunted Tom more than him).


After repeatedly sticking his fingers out at Tom's face (which he was already warned for, and he even did to help him defend Tom's lone takedown attempt), late in the first round Gane hit the rare holy grail for a dirty fighter - the double eyepoke.


No, he didn't get poked himself while gouging his opponent, instead his fingers went in both of Aspinall's eyes at once, his dirty French digits going knuckle-deep in Tom's eye sockets.


Apsinall was unable to continue and as a result, the fight was ruled a No Contest (which really should have been a disqualification, especially given Gane's history and the fact he was already warned in the fight).


Then came the wave of "fans" who insisted Tom wanted out of the fight since Gane was "lighting him up", claiming he was getting "beat up" despite the first round being close to that point, with a bloody nose (which wasn't even broken) being the only damage inflicted on him until the eyepokes.


When Tom posted updates, many "fans" again turned on him, claiming he was whining or being a wuss, despite the fact that those making those claims have definitely never had to deal with any eye issues or the genuine fear that losing one's vision would instill.


Many even pointed to other eye pokes, stating "so-and-so continued fighting and won" or that the poke wasn't as bad as another fighter's eyepoke, as if they are exactly identical situations with the same injuries.


Of course, those fans are simply retarded and have been proven so by the fact that Tom has had to have surgery to fix the damage Gane did.


It's high time that eyepokes are taken more seriously by officials before someone loses their vision entirely, and repeat offenders like Gane need to be made an example of. Perhaps cutting off his fingers will stop him...




Runner Up: Isaac Dulgarian

for his "alleged" fight fixing at UFC Fight Night 263


If you have followed MMA at all in 2025, you'll surely have heard about the fight fixing scandal that Isaac Dulgarian kicked off back in November.


The relatively unknown featherweight used to train with one James Krause at Glory MMA, who of course dragged the sport into a massive betting scandal just a few years ago after he was caught running a Discord which gave betting "tips" that included bets against his own fighters, shared "insider" knowledge, and even directed fans to use an illegal offshore betting site.


Dulgarian on the other hand wasn't running some shady gambling group or betting on other fighters (that we know of), instead he (pretty clearly) threw his own fight, with suspicions already being raised before the fight began by sports books like the Hard Rock Casino thanks to a massive influx of bets (especially prop bets like picking what round the fight would end in) that were extremely abnormal for a low-profile prelim bout of the kind that Isaac Dulgarian vs. Yadier del Valle was.


Dulgarian, a solid featherweight prospect who was 2-1 in the UFC with two first-round finishes and his lone defeat via split decision to Christian Rodriguez, was a -250 betting favourite heading into his November 1st bout with the 9-0 del Valle, yet just hours before the fight, that line was cut to -150 in a ridiculously short period before sports books stopped taking action on the fight entirely thanks to the unusual surge of action.


Despite suspicions already being raised and bets being halted, Dulgarian proceeded to pretty clearly throw the fight (to make it clear, del Valle didn't appear to be aware of what Dulgarian was doing, and there's no indication that he was in on it) - despite his wrestling pedigree, Isaac went and shot in for a takedown that was virtually completed before bizarrely stopping and not taking del Valle down; then, he proceeded to make rudimentary "mistakes" on the ground that even the commentary team (which presumably didn't know about the betting issues at that point) couldn't help but be perplexed by.


To top it off, Dulgarian gave his opponent a rear-naked choke and made it clear via his exaggerrated facial expressions that he was fighting it off, only to give it to him again and make a show of how tight it was before he tapped, the kind of acting that one would expect to see at a pro wrestling match and not a professional MMA bout.


It was pretty clear to any fan of the sport that what we witnessed was not exactly above-board, and Dulgarian didn't exactly make it difficult to figure out - between the poor acting, the heavy prop bets placed against him just hours before the fight, his affiliation with Krause, and even an interview he had done earlier in the week saying that fighters should get a percentage of bet winnings - a smooth criminal, Isaac Dulgarian is not.


Following the controversy, an FBI investigation was announced and Dulgarian was cut from the UFC the very next day - other fighters then came out and said they were offered money by suspicious characters to throw fights in the UFC before but refused, much to the angst of Dana White who had to state the painfully obvious - if that was true they should have informed the UFC immediately so they could stop those individuals and alert authorities.


Whether those claims of fight fixers offering tens of thousands of dollars to struggling prelim-fighters in exchange for throwing fights are real and Dulgarian is simply the tip of the iceberg, or these are simply claims made by fighters wishing to gain publicity off the scandal and paint themselves in a good light with fans, has yet to be determined.


What has been determined though is that a promising 29-year-old prospect has effectively murdered his own career, brought the UFC plenty of bad publicity, and brought the FBI's wrath upon himself.


At least if you're going to cheat, be a little better at it?



Dishonourable Mentions:

  • Walt Harris for failing a drug test for multiple anabolic steroids and exogenous testosterone, resulting in a whopping 4-year suspension and a pink slip from the UFC

  • Nassourdine Imavov, a member of the Frequent Eye Poker Club, for scoring a knockout over Israel Adesanya almost immediately after poking him in the eye, in a fight where Adesanya was looking very good



And that concludes The Rant's 2025 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!


And one final note - fuck you Mike Bell.


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