By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
It’s the end of the year so it’s time for the Best of 2025 edition.
EVENT OF THE YEAR
Winner- UFC 317
UFC 317 featured two title fights that were both finishes. The co-main
event saw UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja improve his record
to 30-5 (has lost a fight since so he’s currently 30-6) as he successfully defended his championship for the fourth time by getting
a submission win over Kai-Kara France (25-12, 1 No Contest) in the third round.
The main event saw for UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria improve
his perfect record to 17-0 as he claimed the vacant UFC Lightweight
Championship by smothering former UFC Lightweight Champion Charles
Oliveira (has won a fight since so he’s currently 36-11, 1 No Contest)
and winning by Knockout halfway through the first round.
The undercard saw a fight between Joshua Van (has won a fight since to
become UFC Flyweight Champion and improve to 16-2) and Brandon Royval
(has lost a fight since so he’s currently 17-9) that broke the record
for significant strikes landed in a three-round fight in UFC history with 419.
There were some other really good cards, including UFC 320 that also
had two title fights and four out of the five fights were finished.
In the co-main event Merab Dvalishvili (has lost a fight since so he’s
currently 21-5) was the UFC Bantamweight Champion at the time and
defended his title for the third time in 2025 by beating Cory Sandhagen (18-6) by decision.
The main event saw Alex Pereira (13-3) become the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion by blitzing (at the time, current champion)
Magomed Ankalaev (20-2-1, 1 No Contest) in eighty seconds to win the championship.
The undercard also saw a tremendously entertaining fight between
former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jiri Prochazka (32-5-1) and
Khalil Rountree Jr. (14-7, 1 No Contest) that Prochazka finished by
strikes in the third round, as well as Youssef Zalal (18-5-1)bsubmitting Josh Emmett (19-6) in 1:38 of the first round and Joe Pyfer
(15-3) submitting Abusupiyan Magomedov (28-7-1) in the second round.
I’m tempted to go with UFC 320 as the Event of the Year but that fight
between Van and Royval is the decider to me.
FIGHT OF THE YEAR
Winner- Joshua Van vs. Brandon Royval
This was an incredible fight that broke the record for most strikes in
a three-round fight in UFC history with 419. Throw in all the cliches
about these guys going to war and putting it all on the line and all that but it’s true. This was amazing to watch.
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR
Winner- Mauricio Ruffy stops King Green at UFC 313
Mauricio Ruffy (has lost a fight since so he’s currently 12-2) knocked
out King Green (has won a fight since so he’s currently 33-17-1, 1 No
Contest) with a beautiful spinning wheel kick that ended their fight
just over two minutes into the first round. It was truly incredible.
Alex Pereira stops Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320
Pereira controlled and dominated Ankalaev to reclaim the UFC Light
Heavyweight Championship. It was amazing to see someone as good as
Ankalaev get beaten like that and really shows how good (and scary)
Pereira can be at his best.
Jiri Prochazka stops Khalil Rountree at UFC 320
Rountree was winning early but Prochazka rallied in the third round
and started ripping into Rountree with powerful strikes thatbeventually dropped him and Prochazka poured it on to get the finish.
Diego Lopes stops Jean Silva at UFC Fight Night: Lopes vs. Silva
Diego Lopes (27-7) and Jean Silva (16-3) went to war and tore into
each other for nearly two full rounds before Lopes caught Silva with a
spinning back elbow that dropped him and then finished him off with punches. A very violent fight.
SUBMISSION OF THE YEAR
Winner- Costello Van Steenis submits Johnny Eblen at PFL Champions
Series 2
Former Bellator Middleweight Champion Johnny Eblen (16-1) and Costello
Van Steenis (17-3) were fighting for the inaugural PFL Middleweight
Championship and Eblen was controlling the fight as he usually does.
Not the most exciting of things to watch but then Van Steenis went for
it as time was ticking away in the fifth and final round. In the final minute Van Steenis took Eblen’s back and choked him unconscious with
seven seconds left in the fight.
He snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and became a champion. It
might be a bit of hyperbole but they make movies about this kind of stuff.
Jean Silva submits Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314
Silva got Mitchell (has won a fight since so he’s currently 18-3) with
a slick Ninja Choke in the second round.
Merab Dvalishvili submits Sean O’Malley at UFC 316
Dvalishvili got the first North-South choke finish in UFC title fight history over O’Malley (18-3, 1 No Contest), securing victory in the third round.
Valter Walker submits Kennedy Nzechukwu at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Teixeira
Valter Walker (has won a fight since so he’s currently 15-1) has four
straight heel hook submission finishes, dating back to 2024. Kennedy
Nzechukwu (has had a draw since so he’s currently 14-6-1) was the
victim this time.
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Winner- Merab Dvalishvili
Dvalishvili defended his UFC Bantamweight Championship four times in 2025, three times successfully before losing a decision to Petr Yan
(20-5) a few weeks ago. That’s an amazing pace and ensures that
Dvalishvili definitely lives up to his The Machine nickname.
Joshua Van had an excellent year, also. He won four fights, including
a UFC Flyweight Championship win, but the nature of that win (Pantoja
suffered an arm injury 26 seconds into the fight) puts a little damper on it.
Valentina Shevchenko (26-4-1) had a very good 2025, successfully
defending her UFC Flyweight Championship over Manon Fiorot (has won a
fight since so she’s currently 13-2) and Zhang Weili (26-4) but
Dvalishvili gets the nod here, in my opinion.
2025 was a good year so let’s hope that 2026 is even better. The UFC
moves to Paramount+ on January 24th with UFC 324.
In a similar tone, I hope everyone had a good year in 2025 and an evenbbetter 2026.
If you’re a collector (action figures, statues, comics, cards, and
more), you should check out
Nibble on the Toyrat website!
It’s an amazing experience that allows you to catalog your own
collection, search for items you want (across multiple storefronts!),
and buy/sell items with other users! You can even create and ordernyour own custom toys!
It’s an incredible tool that you can use and there’s so much more I
haven’t even mentioned. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in collecting should join. Thank you.
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias
returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately
seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to
just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to
join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new
ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence, the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action, magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop
game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other
places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Thank you very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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