Bellator MMA’s 2023 Year-End Awards, Pt. 2

In part two if Bellator MMA’s year-end awards for 2023 (read part one here) — which will also be the last for the promotion — we take a look at the rest of the standouts from 2023. We will breakdown the “Female Fighter of the Year,” “Knockout of the Year,” “Event of the Year: and “Moment of the Year.”

Let’s dive in!

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Female Fighter Of The Year: Liz Carmouche

Since making the jump over to Bellator, Carmouche has had a stellar run. She is undefeated so far with seven straight wins. Along the way she won the women’s Flyweight title in April 2022, and has since gone on to defend her belt three straight times. Two of those title defenses came in 2023. The first came against DeAnna Bennett via arm-triangle choke at Bellator 294. Six months later she earned another title defense, this time defeating Ilima-Lei Macfarlane via technical knockout (TKO) at Bellator 300. There’s no telling what he next move with PFL will be at this point in time.

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Photo by Matt Davies/PxImages

Knockout Of The Year: Lorenz Larkin KO’s Mukhamad Berkhamov at Bellator 290

Bellator 290 delivered perhaps the knockout of the year, in my opinion. Lorenz Larkin was stepping in to rematch Mihama Berkhamov after their first fight eight months prior resulted in a No Contest (NC). Both men came out aggressive in the rematch, looking to impose their will. But a little under two minutes into the fight, Larkin created just enough space in the clinch to deliver an amazing walk-off knockout blow with a perfectly-timed elbow.

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Fight Card Of The Year: Bellator 301

Bellator 300 was supposed to feature four title fights but only wound having three on the docket after a Heavyweight scrap between Ryan Bader and Linton Vassell was scratched. While three other title fights between Usman Nurmagomedov and Brent Primus, Cris Cyborg and Cat Zingano, as well as Liz Carmouche and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, were intriguing, Bellator 301 was overall a bit better. The five-fight main card was headlined by a Welterweight title fight between Yaroslav Amosov and Jason Jackson. After 25 minutes, Jackson had done enough to pull off the upset and win the title. The co-main event saw Sergio Pettis lose his belt to Patchy Mix in highly-competitive, back-and-forth Bantamweight title fight. In another 135-pound matchup, Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello continued their beef in a rematch. When it was all said and done, Stots earned another decision win over “The Italian Gangster.” In the Lightweight division, A.J. McKee continued his ascension up in his new weight class by defeating Sidney Outlaw via unanimous decision. With the victory, McKee hoped to to have made a good enough impression to earn a spot in the Lightweight Grand Prix, though there is no telling if the tournament will be revived in 2024. Speaking of which, Alexandr Shabliy punched his ticket to finale with a dominant win over Patricky Pitbull.

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Bellator MMA

Best Moment of 2023: Fedor retires at Bellator 290

After a lengthy and storied combat career, Fedor Emelianenko finally called it a career at Bellator 290 after 23 years as a professional. Coming into his rematch against Ryan Bader, Emelianenko was hoping to close out his time in the fight game with revenge, win and a belt. Unfortunately it didn’t go his way, losing once more to “Darth” in the first-round via strikes. While it was not the way fight fans wanted to see the living legend go out, it was the way he was honored afterward the warmed the hearts of fans worldwide. Multiple legends of the fight game including Renco and Royce Gracie, Mark Coleman, Dan Henderson, Frank Shamrock, Josh Barnett, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, Rampage Jackson and Chael Sonnen all stepped into the cage to send “The Last Emperor” into retirement. It was something that we have never seen in any other organization with the exception of maybe PRIDE FC, which was fitting since that is where Fedor made a name for himself and rose to prominence.

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