UFC/MMA Best ‘Fighters Of Year’ 2023 – Top 5 List

With an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event virtually every weekend and 20-30 fighters on each, it’s easier than ever for mixed martial artists to get lost in the shuffle, and that’s not even counting all the other promotions Dana White and Co. pretend don’t exist. Still, diamonds keep showing up no matter how deep the rough.

Let’s checkout 2023’s “Fighters of the Year.”

5. Patchy Mix

Photo by Matt Davies/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

My initial instinct was to put Leon Edwards on here, and while he might have the better overall body of work this year, Mix was exponentially more electrifying in how he did it.

Also, it’s my list and I can do what I want.

Since dropping an upset decision to Juan Archuleta in 2020, Mix has quietly proven himself one of the best Bantamweights on the planet. He came into 2023 on the heels of back-to-back five-round upsets over Kyoji Horiguchi and Magomed Magomedov, earning himself a spot in the finals against Raufeon Stots.

Stots — winner of 11 straight since getting sparked by an unheralded grinder named Merab Dvalishvili in 2017 — lasted just 80 seconds before getting kneed into oblivion.

Then came Sergio Pettis, who hit the ground running after his UFC release with five straight wins. Despite dispatching Juan Archuleta, Kyoji Horiguchi and Patricio Pitbull in successive fashion, he was no match for Mix, who handily choked him out midway through the second frame (watch highlights).

After re-signing with Bellator, Mix’s future is in flux, but I do hope he gets the recognition and opportunities he deserves in 2024 and beyond.

4. Sean Strickland

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

“Tarzan” did not have what you or I would call a stirring 2022, cruising past Jack Hermansson before dropping two straight to Alex Pereira and Jared Cannonier. His 2023 didn’t start on the best foot, either: his decision over Nassourdine Imavov was dull as dishwater and his subsequent technical knockout of Abus Magomedov tainted by his opponent gassing to death after five minutes.

But man did he show up where it counts.

Strickland beat the living daylights out of Israel Adesanya (watch highlights), getting within inches of a first round finish before steadily suffocating him with pressure for the next 20 minutes. He had Adesanya — who’d traded hands with monsters like Paulo Costa and Alex Pereira — looking like he’d spring straight to the parking lot were the cage door unlocked.

I don’t believe his behavior is good for the sport, but I can’t deny his accomplishments.

3. Tom Aspinall

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

It takes a lot to earn a spot on this list with less than a half-round of cage time, but Tom Aspinall pulled it off.

After a 2022 campaign cut short by a disastrous knee injury, Aspinall spent almost exactly one year on the sidelines before a meeting Marcin Tybura in London this past July. Though considered a step below a true contender, the Polish veteran had won seven of his previous eight, the lone loss a unanimous decision to Alexander Volkov.

He was by no means a soft touch, yet Aspinall ran him over in a mere 73 seconds (watch it).

This set up a showdown with arguably the most destructive man in the sport: Sergei Pavlovich, who’d mauled six straight men in less than one round apiece. Aspinall somehow managed to absorb a clean haymaker from the Russian giant, then gave him a taste of his own medicine with a 69-second beating.

It’s frankly insulting that he’s forced to call himself the interim champion and wait for the half-decade, long-overdue Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight to challenge for the real belt.

He’s the king in my heart, at least.

2. Islam Makhachev

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Under most circumstances, beating the same guy twice isn’t grounds to earn a spot on this list.

These are not most circumstances.

Islam Makhachev had very little to gain in February’s showdown with Alexander Volkanovski. If he won, any potential glory would get slapped with the asterisk that he beat a naturally smaller man. If that frustrated him in any way, though, he didn’t show it. Despite an incredible effort from Volkanovski — including a fifth-round rally for the ages — Makhachev claimed victory with both quality striking and the overpowering wrestling that’s long been his trademark.

It wasn’t quite close enough to merit robbery discussions, but the post-fight chatter was about what we expected, especially after Dan Hooker accused him of illegal IV usage.

Then came the sequel.

With Charles Oliveira out of commission because of a cut (details here), Volkanovski stepped up on inadvisably short-notice to battle Makhachev once again. There was no doubt this time, as Makhachev floored Volkanovski with a perfectly-placed head kick and hammered him into submission just three minutes into the fight.

With Justin Gaethje and Arman Tsarukyan breathing down his neck, 2024 figures to be another eventful year for Makhachev.

By all accounts, he’s up to the task.

1. Alexandre Pantoja

Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images

I’ve been covering professional mixed martial arts (MMA) for nearly 13 years now and I’m not ashamed to admit that my heart doesn’t swell the way it used to. Whether it’s fatigue or the fact that doing live play-by-play and scoring forces me to watch fights from a purely analytical perspective, the emotional surges are getting rarer. I miss when following the sport meant climbing into a taxi with my Brazilian jiu-jitsu buddies and losing our minds at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Alexandre Pantoja’s absolute bloody war with Brandon Moreno was the most affected I’ve been my mixed martial arts in a very long time.

Watching him plow through Moreno’s combinations to uncork bomb after bomb, perpetually on the brink of exhaustion — but somehow finding increasingly deep-seated reserves of desperate energy each and every time Moreno sent him reeling — was special. I think I would have genuinely cried if he’d walked away without the belt.

His subsequent decision over Brandon Royval in another rematch was solid if not world-shaking, but at that point it was superfluous.

It gets harder and harder every year to be passionate about this sport. I don’t think it’s healthy of me to watch Josh Emmett blast Bryce Mitchell for one of the most brutal knockouts I’ve ever seen and only think, “well, crap, my betting advice was wrong again and now people are going to yell at me.” My emotional response at this point — save for a handful of exceptions — is relief when numbers go up and distress when they go down.

Alexandre Pantoja made me care. He’s my “Fighter of the Year.”

Honorable Mentions

• Leon Edwards
• Diego Lopes
• Jesus Pinedo
• Justin Gaethje
• Erin Blanchfield
• Elves Brener

---

Best Submissions 2023 | Best KOs 2023 | Best Fights 2023 | Best Fighters 2023 | Best Events 2023