2024 Best of the Rest Awards: Event of the Year, Round of the Year, Bozo of the Year, and more
The holiday season is nearly over, and with it, the year 2024.
In MMA, 2024 was a particularly eventful year with dozens of massive events and even more huge moments. We here at MMA Fighting did our part to recap this monumental 12-month stretch, handing out our usual Year End awards (you can catch up via the links below if you missed any of them), but, of course, those five categories can’t cover everything.
So, on this the eve of a brand new year, let’s take one final look back on all the other wild, wonderful, and weird things that happened in 2024.
Event of the Year
Sometimes it’s hard to choose an event of the year, and while 2024 had some bangers — UFC 299 and UFC 306 were special — UFC 300 is an event we will talk about for years to come. On paper, it was the greatest fight card ever assembled, and somehow, it lived up to those lofty standards by delivering endless great fights and a few truly generational moments. UFC 300 wasn’t just the event of the year; it might have been the event of the decade.
Round of the Year
Probably the easiest award to hand out of the entire year, Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber very nearly took home Fight of the Year honors for their 15-minute classic at UFC 306. While the bout was fun right from the very beginning, things went nuclear in the final round as neither man wanted to give an inch.
Ribovics badly hurt Zellhuber and poured on punches looking for the finish, but though Zellhuber was left stumbling around like an uncoordinated drunk, he never went down. Then Zellhuber started firing back, and it looked like he might turn the tide before Ribovics again cracked him. Real blood and guts stuff from both men in the final round that was easily the best of 2024.
Upset of the Year
You may be surprised to learn this, but one of the 10 biggest upsets in UFC history took place in 2024.
A little over a month ago at UFC Macau, Wang Cong was scheduled to face Gabriella Fernandes in her second UFC bout. She was a monstrous favorite as Wang is an accomplished kickboxer who actually holds a victory over Valentina Shevchenko, and so there was this idea that she might get the Alex Pereira treatment and slingshot into a title shot sooner than later. Only nobody told Fernandes about the plan.
Wang got the better of the action in the first round, but in the second, Fernandes dropped her out of nowhere and pounced, locking in a rear-naked choke to pull off the upset. And what an upset it was. Wang was a -950 betting favorite heading into the bout, making Fernandes’s improbable submission, based on the odds, the ninth-biggest upset in UFC history.
Gym of the Year
This is one of those awards that could (and possibly should) go to American Top Team every year. After all, it’s a massive gym churning out an absurd number of the best fighters in the world, year after year. But not this year. This year, there’s only one right answer.
On the periphery of things in 2023, Fighting Nerds broke out in a massive way this year. Caio Borralho has been a known commodity for a while now, but this year, he became a legitimate middleweight title contender, and he’s just the tip of the iceberg. Carlos Prates was the unanimous Rookie of the Year, and if he hadn’t won the award, his teammate Jean Silva may have. And then there are guys like Mauricio Ruffy and Thiago Moises in there as well.
Plus, and perhaps most importantly, the signature Fighting Nerds broken glasses got over like rover. Heck of a year from the gym as a whole.
Most Unnecessary Fight of the Year
Last year, we awarded Jon Jones the Most Scared Fighter Award, and 12 months later, well, he still hasn’t fought Tom Aspinall.
What Jones and the UFC did do in 2024 was finally settle things with Stipe Miocic, and that fight went exactly how every person with a functioning brain stem thought it would: Jon Jones, one of if not the greatest fighters of all time, put the tips to a 42-year-old man who had not competed in nearly four years. SHOCKER. In the end, we learned nothing except that Jones wants a king’s ransom to fight Aspinall, and only if he can’t find a way to fight Alex Pereira instead.
Comeback of the Year
Back in February, Dogfight Wild Tournament 2nd Impact took place in Tarragona, Spain, and it’s not an exaggeration to say it was one of the most ludicrous and enjoyable events of the year. There was a no-rules fight, 2-on-2 MMA, a 5-on-1 “Last Survivor” bout, and a four-man “Bloodsport Tournament” that was striking only, just to name some of the absurdities taking place, but the most remarkable moment of the entire thing came in the main event, a 3-on-1 fight between Eduard Riego and three men named Manuel, Ivan, and Tomas.
As you might imagine, 3 vs. 1 is a pretty huge advantage, and at the beginning, it looked exactly how you’d expect. But then Riego got going, choking out one fighter to make the odds a little more favorable and then choking out a second one! Suddenly, the math shifted massively, and out of nowhere, Riego pulled off quite possibly the greatest comeback since the Patriots beat the Falcons in Super Bowl LI
DIOS SANTOOOOOOOOO!!! HISTORICOOOOOOOOO!!! EDUARDO RIEGO MVP!!!! CONSIGUE EL RETO DE ACABAR CON TRES RIVALES A LA VEZ #DWT2 pic.twitter.com/XLP0Uq8ZCj
— Pelunaton (@pelunaton) February 9, 2024
Truly epic stuff.
Injury of the Year
There’s a fair argument that Khamzat Chimaev shattering Robert Whittaker’s teeth deserves this award but there are two reasons why it didn’t. First, that already won Submission of the Year. Second, as gnarly as that was, the gash Norma Dumont opened on Irene Aldana’s head is the worst cut in MMA history.
That’s a big statement, I know. There have been plenty of iconic cuts in MMA history, but there’s a new leader in the clubhouse. Aldana’s head was split the entirely length of her forehead, with a little side cut opening up halfway down. Her face looked a ravine was carved into over eons by the river of blood running down the bottom. Horrifying stuff.
Most Insane Thing of the Year (Good)
In a fair and just world, Max Holloway would not have taken KO of the Year honors, it would have gone to Eddie Hall.
Back in June the one-time World’s Strongest Man participated in a 2-on-1 MMA fighter where he POWERBOMBED ONE GUY AND THEN LANDED THE PUREST RIGHT HAND YOU’VE EVER SEEN.
— Neo Vale Tudo (@NeoValeTudo) June 7, 2024
Look, I get it. Max Holloway had an iconic knockout over an A+ fighter in incredible circumstances, but I’ve watched Eddie Hall’s knockout approximately 23 times as much as I’ve watched the Gaethje faceplant. It was the coolest thing that happened in sports this year.
Most Insane Thing of the Year (Weird)
Do y’all remember when Dana White dropped a “takedown” of the MMA media for crapping on UFC 300, but he pulled a bunch of out-of-context clips from before half the bouts were announced?
Yeah, that was pretty weird. But it was only the start of Dana’s curious 2024. Because for nearly half of the year, one of the dominant storylines in the sport was Dana White being unable to understand the difference between GOAT and pound-for-pound, and his ardent assertion that Jon Jones is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Seriously, he talked about it for months.
Weird year.
Most Insane Thing of the Year (Bad) AKA the Bozo of the Year
Every year there are plenty of terrible things that happen, and in another year we might be talking about how Merab Dvalishvili has tanked his goodwill over the past few months by overtly trying to rematch fighters he’s already beaten. But that doesn’t hold a candle to, the obvious winner: at UFC Vegas 89 a true first occurred: Igor Severino got disqualified for biting Andre Lima in their flyweight contest.
And we’re not talking about a little nibble. Just look at that picture! Man chomped down (credit to Lima for having the marketing savvy to get the bite tattooed on his arm). At the time, no one was sure what was happening because there wasn’t a good angle of the bite, but then when the action stopped, it became clear. A UFC fighter attempted to convert to cannibalism right in front of our eyes. Legitimately one of the most insane things that’s ever happened in the UFC.