2023 MMA Awards: Vendetta Sports Media Edition
2024 is looking like an incredible year for the UFC, and fighting as a whole to be honest. UFC 300 is on the horizon, Francis Ngannou should be making his PFL debut, and we might be getting a Conor McGregor return to the octagon. However, we cannot look forward to what’s to come without looking back at the year and hanging out some awards. Today, I will be joined by James Herrick as we take a look at eight categories and hand out some hardware. If you would like to see our awards form last year, click here.
Here are the eight awards to be given out:
- Male Fighter of the Year
- Female Fighter of the Year
- Fight of the Year
- Card of the Year
- KO of the Year
- Submission of the Year
- Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
- Coach of the Year
Male Fighter of the Year:
James: The male fighter of the year is a closely contested race. I am leaning toward Islam Makhachev. I understand the arguments for Sean Strickland and Leon Edwards, but I lean toward Makhachev because of my respect for Alexander Volkanovski. It is incredibly difficult to beat Volkanovski and Makhachev did it twice in a year. Not to mention, the second victory was a first-round knockout. That is about as strong of a year as you can ask for.
Garrett: When I was first coming up with my choices for these 2023 MMA Awards, I originally had Leon Edwards filled in. I think what he did this last year was outstanding, and should be getting all the praise it rightfully deserves. However, I have to agree with James and give the nod to Islam. I think what put Islam over Leon was how he finished the second Volk fight. To be able to finish a guy like Volk in that fashion shows how elite a fighter Islam truly is.
Female Fighter of the Year:
James: The pickings are slim for female fighter of the year. It is possible to poke holes in each contender’s year. I am going to side with Alexa Grasso. I do not love the idea of giving someone fighter of the year when they fought to a draw. Thankfully for Grasso, her sole victory was a spectacular upset over Valentina Shevchenko. I also give Grasso credit for competing in two championship fighters. Meanwhile, other options like Amanda Nunes and Weili Zhang each only fought once. Erin Blanchfield deserves respect, but she did not win a championship fight. That leaves Grasso.
Garrett: For what it’s worth, this is mostly UFC awards, but I would be remiss if I did not shout Larissa Pacheco in the PFL. Four fights in eight months at 145, and this is off the heels of her upsetting Kayla Harrison at the end of 2022. Just wanted to give her her flowers.
However, getting back on track, this award belongs to Alexa Grasso. She scored a massive upset win over Valentina Shevchenko this year (which I correctly called, btw) and she followed that up with a good showing, albeit in a draw, in their second fight. There was not a lot of repeat action from the females in the UFC this year, so we should highlight the truly remarkable performances.
Fight of the Year:
James: I do not think 2023 was the strongest year in this category. The year had a lot of outstanding fights, but it was missing a historic brawl. As a result, I’ll go in a slightly different direction. My fight of the year is Max Holloway versus Chan Sung Jung.
This bout was special. It was the retirement bout for Jung while Holloway was dealing with the Hawaii wildfires. That created a highly emotional bout that is hard to replicate. That is not to say the fight was boring either. Jung brought Holloway a fight, and the pair threw down until one fighter dropped. That ended up being Jung. Both fighters deserve credit for this performance.
Garrett: My vote for Fight of the Year in our 2023 MMA Awards goes to Islam x Volk 1. Those who have been following Vendetta for a while know just how much I love Max Holloway, and his fight with Chan Sung Jung was out of this world.
But the masterclass we got from both men in the first Islam/Volk fight was unlike anything we have seen for quite some time. Plus, you have to take into consideration the atmosphere. Perth came unglued when Volk made his walk and basically during the last two rounds of the fight.
Card of the Year:
James: My top card from 2023 was UFC 290. The event featured just about everything that I wanted from a UFC card. The main event was an intriguing bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez. The remainder of the card was even more impressive. The event had several sensational fights. That includes Alexandre Pantoja versus Brandon Moreno and Dan Hooker versus Jalin Turner. Those were two great fights. The prelims had outstanding fights between Alonzo Menifield and Jimmy Crute as well as Esteban Ribovics and Kamuela Kirk. We saw Dricus Du Plessis upset Robert Whittaker. The future was on display as top prospects Bo Nickal, Tatsuro Taira, Vitor Petirno, and Cameron Saaimon all picked up wins. Lastly, Robbie Lawler retired with a knockout victory.
Garrett: I am torn between UFC 290 and 295 as my card of the Year for our 2023 MMA Awards vote. I think if Jon Jones made it to New York, this could be very different. But, we did still get something magical in the crowning of Tom Aspinall as UFC Champion (and I doubly love this card because I made over $500 on the finish of Pereira and Jiri) but 290 from top to bottom highlighted what is best about the UFC. It was headlined by stars but also took a peek at the future of the company. It feels cheap to give this a tie, so I will also give my vote for 290 but by a razor-thin margin.
KO of the Year:
James: I’ve struggling to pick the best knockout of the year. I think there are north of ten knockouts that could be argued for this award. I am going to lean toward Israel Adesanya’s knockout over Alex Pereira. The context is what makes this knockout so great. This was a heated rivalry and Adesanya finally picked up a win over his nemesis with a brutal knockout. I don’t think this knockout was as clean as other contenders, like Josh Emmett versus Bryce Mitchell for example; however, there was a lot on the line in this fight. The stakes are what make this special.
Garrett: I don’t think there is any debate on this one. The sheer magnitude of Isreal Adesanya slaying his demons in Alex Pereira with that right hand, followed by the celebration of shooting the arrows at his fallen foe, stands out among anything else this year. That fight was so anticipated, and it delivered in spades.
Submission of the Year:
James: I feel like the submission of the year has to go to Alexa Grasso with her rear-naked choke against Valentina Shevchenko. I do not think this was the most complex finish of the year, but it was historic. Grasso’s submission ended Shevchenko’s nine-fight win streak and stopped her momentum toward breaking records. That makes this the most impactful submission of 2023.
Garrett: I agree with James. I don’t think there was a bigger submission victory in 2023 than Alexa Grasso defeating one of the greatest to ever do it by rear naked choke. The fight, finish, and all it meant going forward for both women is what makes this finish stand out.
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year:
James: My breakthrough fighter of the year is Benoit Saint-Denis. At the end of 2022, Saint-Denis had two wins in the UFC. In 2023, he beat Gabriel Bonfim, Thiago Moises, and Matt Frevola. Plus, he finished all three fights. It is incredibly rare to see a fighter run through established lightweight competition and earn a ranking in one year. That deserves recognition.
Garrett: Again, I find myself torn between two options. On the one hand, Benoit Saint-Denis put on a show this year in one of the hardest divisions in the UFC: The lightweight division. Three fights against three very solid guys. I think someone like Dricus Du Plessis deserves some shout as well. He looked very sharp at the start of the year over Derek Brunson, and he upset Robert Whittaker by outclassing him at every level of the fight. I am going to give my vote to DDP based on the meteoric rise we have seen this year.
Coach of the Year:
James: In my opinion, coach of the year is the easier award to give out. I’m casting my vote for Eric Nicksick of Xtreme Couture. Nicksick played a massive role in Sean Strickland’s dominant victory over Israel Adesanya. Not only did Nicksick craft the game plan, but he called out Adesanya’s reads throughout the fight. If that wasn’t enough, he crossed sports and coached Francis Ngannou against Tyson Fury. Despite the loss, Nicksick helped Ngannou make that fight far closer than it should have been. Those are two of the best head coaching jobs in recent memory.
Garrett: As no-brainer as any on this 2023 MMA Awards post. Hands down, the coach of the year is Eric Nicksick. His incredible game plan for Sean Strickland’s upset win over Isreal Adesanya could give him the award by itself, but just look what he did with Francis Ngannou. He had Ngannou ready to fight one of the best boxing Heavyweights of all time, and for my money, Ngannou won. This should go down as one of the best years in recent memory from a coaching perspective.
