The famous combat sports publishing house, ‘Fighters Only’, started their felicitation program for MMA fighters from the year 2008. ‘World MMA Awards’ is considered to be the most prestigious recognition in the sport of MMA. Recently, ‘Fighters Only’ conducted the fifteenth edition of the ‘World MMA Awards’. In this year’s edition, they felicitated several MMA personalities for their distinguished achievements in various avenues of the sport.
‘Fighters Only’ chooses the winners in all the categories by online fan voting only. A report from ‘MMA Fighting’ revealed the list of award winners for this year in various categories of the sport. Here’s a list of some of the categories and the respective winners in them:
- Charles Lewis Fighter of the Year – Leon Edwards
- Female Fighter of the Year – Alexa Grasso
- Breakthrough fighter of the year – Alex Pereira
- International Fighter of the Year – Leon Edwards
- Fight of the Year – Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski (UFC 284)
- Knockout of the Year – Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman (Head kick KO) (UFC 278)
- Submission of the Year – Alexa Grasso vs Valentina Shevchenko (Face crank) (UFC 285)
- Upset of the Year – Alexa Grasso vs Valentina Shevchenko (Face crank) (UFC 285)
- Comeback of the Year – Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman (UFC 278)
- Referee of the Year – Herb Dean
- Ringcard Girl of the Year – Brittney Palmer
- Leading Man – Dana White (UFC)
- Best promotion – UFC
- MMA Personality of the Year – Joe Rogan
World MMA Awards 2023 results https://t.co/ghv9a2Ie7D via @MMAFighting
— MMA Alley (@MMAAlley) December 14, 2023
The selection of a few personalities like Joe Rogan may bring a smile to the faces of several fans. But some of them also have a bit of discontent regarding an issue about these awards.
The ‘World MMA Awards’ for 2023 were announced before the last UFC PPV of 2023
The ‘World MMA Awards’ are given away by ‘Fighters Only’ on a yearly basis. The winners for this year were selected from the UFC events and athlete performance of 2023. But a look at the UFC PPV schedule will reveal that there’s still a PPV remaining within 2023’s calendar.
A large chunk of the UFC community is also awaiting the Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington headliner UFC 296 pretty eagerly. But, ‘Fighters Only’ decided to publish their 2023 list of ‘World MMA Awards’ before the conclusion of UFC 296. Their decision may shock the MMA fans. Most in the UFC community may agree that the fight card of UFC 296 contains several exciting ones that had the caliber of making it to the list.
