Bryan Battle embraced fighting in enemy territory, but he wasn’t necessarily trying to make enemies after his latest win at UFC Paris.
But viciously knocking out local favorite Kevin Jousset immediately put him at odds with the crowd so the former Ultimate Fighter winner took advantage of the moment by erupting during his post-fight interview and offering the fans a two-finger salute as he celebrated his victory. Following his win, a message on Twitter went viral claiming that Battle was being fined $ 250,000 for his actions and he was being banned from competing in France again.
The only problem? The post came from a parody account on Twitter, but the truth never stopped anybody from overreacting and even Battle got caught off guard when he heard the news.
“I knew it wasn’t a real thing or it wasn’t something I had heard of,” Battle told MMA Fighting. “I’m like $ 250,000 fine, banned from Paris? That’s crazy. I was like I wonder who gave them this information?
“But as the day goes on, people are leaving comments and it’s growing, growing, growing and then one of my friends said no [that was a parody account]. I saw Chael Sonnen did a whole video [talking about the punishment] and people in the comments were like ‘Chael, you need to check your sources.’ That was funny.”
REPORT: Bryan Battle is set to receive a $ 250,000 fine and a lifetime ban from competing in France from the French Athletic Commission after walking out to “Ni***s in Paris, finishing their French fighter, and flipping off the fans, per multiple sources. #UFCParis https://t.co/iLlNWZvWkj pic.twitter.com/GXg96IWjia
— Spinin Backpiss (@SpininBackpiss) September 28, 2024
While it didn’t take him long to figure out the message came from a parody account, Battle already had an idea that he was dealing with fake news thanks to another fighter who followed him with an equally inflammatory post-fight interview.
“I knew there was no way I was getting fined, and [Renato] Moicano wasn’t getting fined,” Battle said referencing the UFC Paris headliner after he finished Benoit Saint Denis. “He actually was talking about the government.
“I said some goofy shit. I was being silly as hell. Moicano was talking about real life things so that’s the real heel of the night, in France at least. But that was funny as hell. Again, any kind of attention, any kind of energy, we’ll take it. I’m not being picky about what goes out.”
Parody or not, Battle had fun with becoming notorious for at least one night.
“It’s one of those things, I have not openly denied it one time,” Battle said with a laugh. “I’m just like letting it ride. It is funny. People think I’m at war with the country of France! People thought it was dangerous for me in France.
“Now granted, they were throwing stuff at us when we were walking back through the tunnel, but once I got through the tunnel, all the French people were cool as hell.”
Many of the responses to the supposed fine and ban from France praised Battle for the viral moment in the octagon with a lot of fans excited to see him embrace his new “heel” persona.
In professional wrestling, the term heel effectively means villain or bad guy and Battle had a feeling he would have to take on that role no matter what when he agreed to face a fighter from France on the UFC Paris card.
“People are like ‘Bryan with the crazy heel turn,’ but the reality of it is, there’s no one who’s mad at me for real,” Battle said. “If I’m the heel, I’m the cool heel that people root for. It’s a funny thing, too, in that situation you have no choice but to be the bad guy. You’re in someone else’s house.
“I wonder what it’s going to be like going back to Las Vegas. Like I’m not going to be a dickhead for the sake of being a dickhead. That would be the difference between me and a lot of guys. I’m not going to go out of my way to be a heel. I’m not going to go out of my way to be obnoxious and mean but if it’s what it calls for, I’m going to let them have it.”
Battle won’t have to wait long to find out about how the crowd is going to react to him with his next fight already booked for UFC 310 on Dec. 7 when he faces Randy Brown on the final pay-per-view show for 2024.
Don’t expect him to go out of his way to rile up the crowd just so he can keep playing the bad guy but whatever gets people excited is what he wants to give to them.
“I think it’s less me being a bad guy and more just speaking my mind,” Battle said. “People are identifying with what I’m saying.
“Good guy, bad guy, heel, face, all that stuff, I’m here for the energy. Whatever’s going to get the crowd the most invested into the fight, that’s what I want. It elevates the fight. I loved it.”
Daniel Cormier was impressed by Khamzat Chimaev’s performance on Saturday night at UFC 308, where Chimaev scored a decisive first-round victory over Robert Whittaker in their co-main event bout.
The former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion believes that Chimaev has now done enough to leapfrog Sean Strickland for the next title shot. Strickland had been expecting a title fight rematch against champion Dricus Du Plessis.
Sealed Deal
However, according to Cormier, Chimaev’s dominant win over Whittaker, which included breaking Whittaker’s jaw, has solidified his position as the top contender.
“He went and beat him in the first round. And if you’re Sean Strickland, that result worries you,” Cormier said. “Why? Because Mick Maynard, sitting next to me, jumps up and runs to Dana, and they start talking with Hunter [Campbell]. Dana immediately follows Chimaev to talk to him. That’s a concerning sign for a guy considered the No. 1 contender, because it tells you things are happening. Khamzat Chimaev, to me, solidified himself as the No. 1 contender at 185 pounds. His wrestling, his top control, his mentality, his approach—it’s unlike many things we have seen.”
Continue Reading Daniel Cormier: Sean Strickland should be worried about Khamzat Chimaev at MMA News.
Ahead of her return at UFC 307, the two-time strawweight champion announced her retirement with plans to call it a career after facing Tecia Pennington in October. Despite her best efforts, Esparza ended up on the wrong end of a controversial decision loss but despite the result, she remains steadfast in her decision to stop fighting.
“It’s just hard,” Esparza told MMA Fighting. “Even if I won in the first round via finish or lost a controversial decision, it’s hard to not want to go back no matter what the outcome was. I love fighting.
“But that’s the last one for me regardless. I’m just glad I went out on a good note. It would have been much sweeter to go out with my hand raised but I’d say I’m good with how I left things.”
In the moment, Esparza was overwhelmed with emotions, especially after she was joined in the octagon by her son, who played a huge part in her decision to hang up her gloves for good.
It was only after returning home and rewatching the fight that Esparza felt like the judges definitely took a win away from her that night.
“I think I’m kind of the same opinion of pretty much everyone else. I thought I won the fight,” Esparza said. “Right after the fight, I don’t like to say one way or the other because it’s hard. It just goes so fast when you’re in there. I wanted to make sure I gave it a watch before I gave my opinion of the loss.
“I feel kind of the same as everyone else did I guess. I thought I won it. Then when I heard that 30-27, I thought it was in the bag. I was pretty shocked at that.”
The 30-27 scorecard for Torres definitely earned more than a few confused looks at the judges handing down the decision but there’s not much Esparza can do about it now.
The crowd in Utah definitely voiced a loud opinion afterwards with Pennington receiving a loud chorus of boos as she spoke about her performance, which ended a two-fight skid following a pair of split decision losses. As much as she wanted to win, Esparza admits it was tough to see Pennington face such hostility from the fans.
“At the end of the day, both fighters are going to give it their all and put their heart out there,” Esparza said. “You can’t control what the judges do. That has nothing to do with you as a fighter. That’s always a bummer to see another fighter deal with that but you just kind of wish the judges would have made the correct call and not put people in that position to begin with.”
Following the conclusion of the fight, Esparza received a fitting tribute from the UFC with a video package put together to celebrate her entire career. The 37-year-old veteran reveals she had no idea that was actually going to happen so her emotional reaction was absolutely authentic.
“I had seen them do it for a few people in the past,” Esparza said. “I thought it would have been really cool but I didn’t necessarily expect it. It caught me off guard a little bit when I saw it.
“I’m not a big crier, I’ve had friends that I’ve known for 10 or 15 years that have never seen me cry. I feel the water coming. I’m like oh my gosh, it sunk in.”
Because of the result she received in the fight, Esparza certainly wouldn’t be the first fighter to walk back her retirement and announce plans to compete again.
As much as winning mattered, Esparza says she’s living up to her promise and the fight at UFC 306 will serve as the final appearance of her career.
“I would say in a normal circumstance if I wasn’t retiring, I’d be like I’ve got to go back to the drawing board, I’ve got so much work to do!” Esparza said. “Rematch or whatever! My mind was set no matter what happened. I still feel good about it. That would have been the one cherry on top of the sundae, the same situation but had my hand raised.
“But what can you do? I’m at peace with it. I think that’s it for me. Maybe a jiu-jitsu match, a super fight is in my future for fun. As far as MMA goes, I think that’s it.”
UFC 308 took place this past Saturday, with both Ilia Topuria and Khamzat Chimaev delivering incredible performances. In the co-main event, Chimaev literally broke Robert Whittaker’s face en route to a first-round submission, and then in the main event Topuria did what some believed to be impossible: he knocked out Max Holloway.
So with some big, big things going down last weekend, let’s answer some of your questions about it all.
How long can Ilia Topuria reign?
Of all the current fighters on the UFC roster, is there anybody you’re more confident will be champion on Jan. 1, 2027 than Topuria?
— ADRUWO (@ADRUWO1) October 26, 2024
“Of all the current fighters on the UFC roster, is there anybody you’re more confident will be champion on Jan. 1, 2027 than Topuria?
Guys, I don’t know if I mentioned this but
ILIA TOPURIA FREAKING KILLED MAX HOLLOWAY! THE UNBREAKABLE CHIN GOT BROKEN!! WHAT IS THE LIMIT TO WHAT HE CAN KNOCK OUT?!?! CAN TOPURIA DEMOLISH A BUILDING WITH HIS BARE HANDS?!?! SHOULD WE FIND OUT?!
Sorry, just had to get that out.
Look, I understand the arguments trying to temper expectations for Topuria right now: both Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway probably aren’t in their primes anymore. I don’t care. Felling Holloway with the relative ease Topuria had is an astonishing accomplishment in the history of this sport. And he’s only 27 years old!
The Topuria we saw on Saturday is one of the best fighters on Earth (if not the best) and that’s the worst version of him we’re going to see for the next five years. Think about that. He demolished the two men who have reigned over this division the past seven years and he did it without issue. Dude, it’s curtains for the rest of the featherweights out there right now. I’d tell you to change weight classes but lightweight and Islam Makhachev ain’t any better.
Now, there’s always the possibility that someone comes along out of relatively nowhere. When Holloway took the title he was 25 and it looked like we were in a for a long reign, and then Volkanovski ascended. Maybe something similar happens here, but I doubt it. The only way Topuria is dropping the 145-pound title in the next four years is if he moves up a weight class.
Topuria’s performance
You’ve said before you thought Volk was the best fighter you’ve ever seen, after tonight how high is Ilia on that list? Is he the most talented featherweight ever? (Young Aldo gives him a run for that if just comparing how much better than their competition)
— Dylan Barth (@dylaneb11) October 26, 2024
“You’ve said before you thought Volk was the best fighter you’ve ever seen, after tonight how high is Ilia on that list? Is he the most talented featherweight ever? (Young Aldo gives him a run for that if just comparing how much better than their competition)”
Well, what I said was the Volkanovski that beat Max Holloway in their third fight might be the best fighter I’ve ever seen. And that’s not to say Volk is the GOAT or anything like that, more to point out that Volk on that night delivered a flawless performance against an all-time great fighter, which is extremely rare.
And for as great as Topuria was and is, his win on Saturday is not the same. While it was also an exceptional performance and had a more definitive ending, Topuria’s win was not flawless. Many people had Holloway winning the first two rounds (and I don’t blame them, though I didn’t score it that way). Though he lost the war, Max won many of the battles on Saturday night. Conversely, against Volkanovski in their trilogy bout, Max lost every battle and lost the war (also, I’d argue that was a better version of Max but that’s a separate issue).
To me, Volk’s third win over Holloway was an all-time great at the absolute peak of his powers. Topuria’s win at UFC 308 was an ascending talent teasing what is possible. It’s crazy to think but I’m expecting much better performances from him in the future.
So in those terms, Topuria is pretty far down the list. But that will come with time and tenure atop the sport. But for now, that performance removed all debate about Fighter of the Year for me (Topuria wins in a landslide, his two wins have a case for being the best two-win stretch of any MMA career ever) and legitimately inserted him into the pound-for-pound discussion. That should be enough for one night’s work.
Alexander Volkanovski, title challenger
Should Volk need to pick up a win before fighting Topuria again? I would be usually more on board with a long-reigning champ getting a rematch, but in Volk’s case the context is a little different because of the two Islam losses that preceded him losing the belt.
— Samuel Tromans (@SamuelJTromans) October 27, 2024
“Should Volk need to pick up a win before fighting Topuria again?
“I would be usually more on board with a long-reigning champ getting a rematch, but in Volk’s case the context is a little different because of the two Islam losses that preceded him losing the belt.”
He absolutely should, but that’s not what’s happening.
I’ve made my thoughts on this point known plenty, but I hate immediate rematches. In most instances, the immediate rematch simply leads to the person who lost losing again, in worse fashion. The rest of the time, it’s basically a free mulligan for the loser and minimizes the significance of the first fight. To me, the only time there should ever be an immediate rematch in MMA is to resolve a draw or no-contest, or a trilogy fight where they split the first two encounters. Any other time, go back and get one win at least.
So of course I think Volkanovski should fight again before getting another shot at Topuria. Personally, I think the best idea is to have Volk fight Diego Lopes when the UFC goes back to Australia for UFC 312. Heck, make it for an interim belt, who cares? Then the winner gets Topuria and that gives the UFC enough time to figure the logistics for Topuria to defend his title against the winner in Spain, sometime next summer.
But that’s not how the sport works and I’ve had to make my peace with it. Volkanovski is going to get his rematch and I gotta be honest, it’s going to be a hard watch for you Volk fans. He’s going to get thumped again.
Lightweight?
Once Ilia retires Volk what’s next? Can he really challenge the grappling prowess of Islam or Armin at 55?
— I win – Google me (@bleednucksblue) October 26, 2024
“Once Ilia retires Volk what’s next? Can he really challenge the grappling prowess of Islam or Armen at 155?”
There’s already a ton of this sentiment out there with people calling to see Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev and all I have to say to that is No. No no no no no no.
Yes, I think Topuria will beat anyone he fights at featherweight. But me thinking it and it happening are two very different things. Plenty of people thought Max would beat Topuria. If we just dismissed title challengers because of public sentiment, then why would we even have fights in the first place? We could just do internet polls instead.
Being a champion means defending your title and giving others the same chance you yourself were given: their day in court to prove they’re the best in the world. We have GOT to stop booking champ vs. champ fights when both champions have more than enough work to do.
Diego Lopes deserves a title shot. The winner of Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling will deserve a title shot. And by the time Topuria defends those, maybe Arnold Allen will have a few wins and deserve a title shot. The man is 27. Let’s see him actually clean out a division before we start calling for a move up.
(Also, if Makhachev did that, three of his four/five title defenses would be against guys from the weight class beneath him. I know Jon Jones built a GOAT case doing that, but I want more from Makhachev).
Max Holloway
Do you think a permanent move up to lightweight is the best thing for Max now? The weight cut that’s not getting easier, all the damage he took over the years plus this brutal career changing KO looks like the combination of everything you don’t want to do anymore.
— elAzul (@elAzul308) October 26, 2024
“Do you think a permanent move up to lightweight is the best thing for Max now? The weight cut that’s not getting easier, all the damage he took over the years plus this brutal career changing KO looks like the combination of everything you don’t want to do anymore.”
I thought Max should’ve moved up after the third Volkanovski fight. Not because he can’t compete (obviously he could) but because he’d fought most of the dudes at 145 and lightweight offered more fun matchups. I still believe that to be the case today, though now there’s a caveat.
Once a chin gets cracked, it’s never the same. Moving up to lightweight may be good for Holloway in lessening the weight cut, but it also puts him with an entirely different tier of hitter. Featherweight is a great weight class, but only Topuria and Josh Emmett are the real big punchers there. Aside from lightweights in general having more power, the division also houses Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Michael Chandler and others who all clobber fools.
I’m not saying Max can’t compete up at lightweight, he can. I’m just saying with his chin no longer invulnerable, there is more risk with the move up now than I’d have thought a couple years ago.
Khamzat Chimaev
Am I insane, I would be confident Chimaev could be champion in WW, MW and LHW! I am torn on if I think he could challenge Tom Aspinall at heavyweight. Is that ridiculous or fair?
— RT (@Rt_415) October 26, 2024
“Am I insane, I would be confident Chimaev could be champion in WW, MW and LHW! I am torn on if I think he could challenge Tom Aspinall at heavyweight. Is that ridiculous or fair?”
A little of column A, a little of column B.
After what he just did to Robert Whittaker on Saturday, it’s obviously not insane to think Chimaev can become middleweight champion. In fact he’s already the betting favorite to beat Dricus du Plessis should they fight.
I can also see the case for Chimaev at light heavyweight. We all love Alex Pereira but it’s not a big stretch to imagine Chimaev landing a low single-leg and the dummying the champion on the ground.
It’s the other two that give me pause. Long ago I was convinced Chimaev would become the welterweight champion, but those days are gone. After his catastrophic weight fiasco at UFC 279, the UFC probably won’t ever let him try to go down to 170 again and with good reason. Did you see him on the scale for UFC 308? The unsung MVP of this entire event was the weigh-in official who blitzed through Chimaev’s time on the scale. Man ain’t making 170 again.
And yeah, I like Chimaev but Tom Aspinall rinses him. Forty pounds is a lot of pounds and that’s roughly the edge he has on Chimaev in weight. Plus Chimaev uses plenty of strong man tactics that just won’t fly against a physical presence of that size.
Title challenger?
I think Chimaev has passed Strickland for the title shot- is the concern that he apparently can’t stay healthy the only potential obstacle to DDP-Chimaev?
— Zak Kitzler (@KitzlerZak) October 27, 2024
“I think Chimaev has passed Strickland for the title shot- is the concern that he apparently can’t stay healthy the only potential obstacle to DDP-Chimaev?”
You are not the only one, Zak. In fact, the only person who doesn’t think that might be Sean Strickland himself who is out here tweeting like a man who knows deep down he lost his claim to the title shot.
Look, I know there are concerns with Chimaev staying healthy and his rumored (though never confirmed) travel ban, but this isn’t hard: he’s got next. He’s massively popular and just BROKE ROBERT WHITTAKER’S FREAKING FACE! Strickland having a deeply uninspiring win over Paulo Costa (who has zero wins over people currently employed by the UFC) just ain’t gonna cut it.
DDP vs. Chimaev is the only fight to make and I can’t wait for it.
Robert Whittaker
Where does the imagery of Whitaker’s injury rank in your lexicon of graphic MMA injuries over the years?
— Zach Schultheis (@Zmschultheis1) October 28, 2024
“Where does the imagery of Whitaker’s injury rank in your lexicon of graphic MMA injuries over the years?”
Have you seen it? This is nightmare fuel!
There are plenty of terrible injuries that happen in MMA. Legs shatter, arms get broken, skulls fracture, and noses get disfigured on a regular basis. Heck, Irene Aldana set a new standard for horrific cuts two months ago! But there’s something about teeth that just gets me. Whittaker looked like he had dentures that fell out into his mouth. It was disgusting. Credit to “Bobby Knuckles” who is handling this much better than I ever would because that image is still haunting me several days later.
So to answer your question, this is right at the top. Never in this history of my fandom have I ever thought “No, I do not want to be an Ultimate Fighter” more than on Saturday night.
Thanks for reading, and thank you for everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.
Max Holloway took a slight dip in the pound-for-pound rankings after getting popped and dropped by featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. In addition, Lerone Murphy gained some ground at 145 pounds by outworking veteran banger Dan Ige.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its “official” rankings in the wake of the UFC 308 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place last Sat. night (Oct. 26, 2024) at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Among the big winners during last weekend’s combat sports extravaganza were Khamzat Chimaev and Shara Magomedov, who both made considerable progress in the 185-pound division.
Chimaev broke Robert Whittaker not long after Magomedov fisted Armen Petrosyan.
Here’s how the rankings are compiled, at least until AI takes over:
Rankings are generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.
Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Islam Makhachev 2. Alex Pereira 3. Jon Jones 4. Ilia Topuria 5. Belal Muhammad 6. Dricus Du Plessis 7. Merab Dvalishvili 8. Tom Aspinall 9. Leon Edwards 10. Alexander Volkanovski 11. Alexandre Pantoja +1 12. Max Holloway -1 13. Sean O’Malley 14. Sean Strickland 15. Israel Adesanya *NR
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Alexandre Pantoja
1. Brandon Royval 2. Brandon Moreno 3. Amir Albazi 4. Kai Kara France 5. Tatsuro Taira 6. Alex Perez 7. Asu Almabayev 8. Manel Kape 9. Steve Erceg 10. Matheus Nicolau 11. Tim Elliott 12. Tagir Ulanbekov 13. Bruno Silva 14. Cody Durden 15. Charles Johnson
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Merab Dvalishvili
1. Sean O’Malley 2. Umar Nurmagomedov 3. Petr Yan 4. Cory Sandhagen 5. Deiveson Figueiredo 6. Marlon Vera 7. Henry Cejudo 8. Song Yadong 9. (T) Mario Bautista 9. (T) Rob Font 11. Jose Aldo 12. Kyler Phillips 13. Jonathan Martinez 14. Dominick Cruz 15. Montel Jackson
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Ilia Topuria
1. Alexander Volkanovski 2. Max Holloway 3. Diego Lopes 4. Yair Rodriguez 5. Movsar Evloev 6. Brian Ortega 7. Arnold Allen 8. Josh Emmett 9. Aljamain Sterling 10. Calvin Kattar 11. Lerone Murphy +1 12. Giga Chikadze -1 13. Bryce Mitchell 14. Dan Ige 15. Edson Barboza
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Islam Makhachev
1. Arman Tsarukyan 2. Charles Oliveira 3. Justin Gaethje 4. Dustin Poirier 5. Max Holloway 6. Dan Hooker 7. Michael Chandler 8. Beneil Dariush 9. Mateusz Gamrot 10. (T) Rafael Fiziev 10. (T) Renato Moicano +1 12. Benoit Saint Denis 13. Jalin Turner 14. Paddy Pimblett 15. Rafael dos Anjos
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Belal Muhammed
1. Leon Edwards 2. Kamaru Usman 3. Shavkat Rakhmonov 4. Jack Della Maddalena 5. Sean Brady 6. Colby Covington 7. Ian Machado Garry 8. Gilbert Burns 9. Joaquin Buckley 10. Geoff Neal 11. Stephen Thompson 12. Michael Morales 13. Michael Page 14. Vicente Luque 15. Neil Magny
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Dricus Du Plessis
1. Sean Strickland 2. Israel Adesanya 3. Khamzat Chimaev +10 4. Robert Whittaker -1 5. Nassourdine Imavov -1 6. Caio Borralho -1 7. Marvin Vettori -1 8. Jared Cannonier -1 9. Brendan Allen -1 10. Roman Dolidze -1 11. Paulo Costa -1 12. Jack Hermansson -1 13. Anthony Hernandez -1 14. Shara Magomedov *NR 15. Michel Pereira -1
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Alex Pereira
1. Magomed Ankalaev 2. Jiri Prochazka -1 3. Jamahal Hill 4. Jan Blachowicz 5. Aleksandar Rakic 6. (T) Nikita Krylov 6. (T) Khalil Rountree +1 8. Volkan Oezdemir 9. Johnny Walker 10. Carlos Ulberg 11. Azamat Murzakanov 12. (T) Anthony Smith 12. (T) Dominick Reyes +1 14. Bogdan Guskov 15. Alonzo Menifield
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1. Tom Aspinall 2. Ciryl Gane 3. Alexander Volkov 4. Sergei Pavlovich 5. Curtis Blaydes 6. Jailton Almeida 7. Serghei Spivac 8. Stipe Miocic 9. (T) Marcin Tybura 9. (T) Jairzinho Rozenstruik 11. Derrick Lewis 12. Tai Tuivasa 13. Alexandr Romanov 14. Marcos Rogerio De Lima 15. Rodrigo Nascimento
1. Raquel Pennington 2. Kayla Harrison 3. Ketlen Vieira 4. Macy Chiasson 5. Norma Dumont 6. (T) Irene Aldana 6. (T) Mayra Bueno Silva 8. Holly Holm 9. Karol Rosa 10. Yana Santos 11. Miesha Tate 12. Julia Avila 13. Germaine De Randamie 14. Ailin Perez 15. Chelsea Chandler
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the flyweight division, following the UFC Edmonton: “Moreno vs. Albazi” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+, scheduled for Sat., Nov. 2, 2024 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.
With three title defenses in just about six months’ time, Alex Pereira appeared destined to win Fighter of the Year in 2024, but now it appears Ilia Topuria may have just staked his own claim to that crown.
On Saturday night at UFC 308, Topuria became the first person to knock out Max Holloway in what served as the first defense of his featherweight title after already demolishing former champion Alexander Volkanovski back in February. UFC legend Matt Brown argues that pair of wins, coupled with the dramatic way that Topuria dispatched arguably two of the greatest featherweights of all-time, has already secured him the year-end award over Pereira or anybody else for that matter.
“Alex didn’t knock out three pound-for-pound greats. Ilia knocked out two pound-for-pound greats,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “As great as those guys were that Alex fought, they weren’t Holloway or Volkanovski.
“I don’t think anybody expected anybody on this planet to do what Ilia did. If Max and Volk had fought 170-pounder guys, I don’t think they would expected for both of them to get knocked out. As impressive as Alex was … this is one of those where it’s too bad we can’t have two Fighter of the Year awards, because they both deserve it. You don’t want to take a damn thing away from Alex.”
Pereira added three knockout wins to his resume in 2024 with title defenses against Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree. Champions rarely compete three times in any given calendar year so by that number alone, Pereira had a leg up on any possible competition.
As impressive as that was, Brown says three title defenses from Pereira just can’t measure up to what Topuria did to Volkanovski and Holloway in consecutive fights.
Topuria may have one less win overall in 2024, but his level of competition was unmatched when it came to championship victories.
“I don’t think you can compare to that,” Brown explained. “I’m all on the Ilia train for Fighter of the Year. Again, I wish we could give something to Alex. What he did was remarkable but it wasn’t Max Holloway and Volkanovski. If Alex did that to Jon Jones, we’d be like OK, you go it, buddy. That wasn’t available to him. Alex beat the guys that were available. Ilia beat two of the best legends, career winners in the history of this sport. Knocked them out. Max Holloway does not get knocked out. Nobody knocks out Max Holloway.”
“You’ve got to give it Ilia. That debate’s pretty well settled. I think most people are going to be on that train.”
While he picked Topuria to win on Saturday, Brown admits he was ultra-impressed by the way “El Matador” stuck to his strategy and found a way to dismantle Holloway on the feet. Even he didn’t necessarily expect Topuria to flatten Holloway inside three rounds, but that’s exactly what happened.
“That was what I said leading into this fight — what Ilia’s going to have to do at some point is land that fight changing shot,” Brown said. “I knew he landed the fight-changing shot when he hurt Max. I thought for sure Max was going to come back though. I thought OK, there’s that fight changing shot, it’s really going to be Ilia beating up Max now for the next at least round or two but Max is going to stick around.
“I was just so impressed with how Ilia took his time, placed his shots so well, just some of the best boxing we’ve seen in MMA. The way that he strategizes everything so well, keeps himself in such good position all the time.”
A Fighter of the Year award is certainly a great achievement, but Brown believes that might just be the tip of the iceberg for what Topuria could accomplish during his career.
Topuria has already taken out a pair of all-time greats at featherweight, and it’s tough to see him losing to anybody competing at 145 pounds right now.
“That’s what makes Ilia so special,” Brown said. “He’s such a good boxer but those other little things that funnel you into his boxing, that’s some very high level stuff right there that really gets my blood pumping to watch.
“I think he’s got a lock for Fighter of the Year this year. He’s got a long reign ahead of him. He’s still got a long way to go to be up there with the [Georges St-Pierre’s] and Anderson Silva’s, but he’s right on that path.”
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