ESPN will sign off as the UFC’s official broadcast partner at the end of the year, but before then they’ve announced their MMA award winners for 2025.
ESPN went with June’s UFC 317 event in Las Vegas for event of the year. That PPV was headlined by Ilia Topuria, who seized the vacant lightweight title by KO’ing Charles Oliveira mid-way through the first round, while Alexandre Pantoja also successfully defended the flyweight title with a third round submission finish of Kai Kara-France.
Just before that Joshua Van had memorably beaten Brandon Royval by unanimous decision in an all-action dog-fight that ESPN has also opted to choose as it’s Fight Of The Year. And capping off a big year for the next title contender at 125lbs, Van was also awarded Breakout Fighter Of The Year too.
Meanwhile, though he lost his bantamweight title at the end of the year against Petr Yan, Merab Dvalishvili was still given the nod for Fighter Of The Year by ESPN after having already defended the belt three times in the calendar year against Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O’Malley and Cory Sandhagen.
Meanwhile, Valentina Shevchenko won Female Fighter Of The Year after she successfully defended her flyweight title twice against Manon Fiorot and Zhang Weili.
Mauricio Ruffy’s spinning wheel kick knockout of King Green in the 1st round at March’s UFC 313 event scooped up the KO Of The Year award, and the year’s trend of big spin-based finishes was also highlighted in the Most Memorable Moment Of The Year, which came at UFC 319 in August when Carlos Prates KO’d Geoff Neal with a spinning back elbow in the 1st round on the main card, only for Lerone Murphy to then finish Aaron Pico in the opening round with exactly the same move in the very next fight.
Moving on, Submission Of The Year honors went to Jean Silva, who styled on Bryce Mitchell with a 2nd round ninja choke finish at UFC 314 in April.
And finally, Payton Talbott won the Most Improved Fighter Of The Year award after he bounced back from his first ever loss against Raoni Barcelos in January to show off improved all-round skills to compliment his dangerous striking during convincing decision victories over Felipe Lima and Henry Cejudo.
Check out all the award-winners at a glance below.
ESPN 2025 MMA Award Winners:
Event of The Year: UFC 317
Fight Of The Year: Brandon Royval vs. Joshua Van (UFC 317)
Fighter Of The Year: Merab Dvalishvili
Women’s Fighter Of The Year: Valentina Shevchenko
Breaking Fighter Of The Year: Joshua Van
KO Of The Year: Mauricio Ruffy’s spinning wheel kick KO against King Green (UFC 313)
Submission Of The Year: Jean Silva’s ninja choke against Bryce Mitchell (UFC 314)
Memorable Moment Of The Year: Back-to-back spinning back elbow KO’s (UFC 319)
Most Improved FIghter: Payton Talbott
