Ilia Topuria Tops Our List of 2024 UFC Award Winners
- 2024 has been a year filled with memorable moments and fights.
- Find our early end-of-year awards for the most popular categories.
- Find the best UFC odds at BetUS Sportsbook.
As we approach the final month of 2024, the UFC schedule begins to quieten, and we start reflecting on the past twelve months of octagon violence. As usual, media outlets and the UFC will dish out end-of-year awards for specific categories, from the most memorable knockouts to the best overall fighter and the best fight.
However, opinions are just like butt holes; everyone has one! With that said, here at BetUS, we don’t follow the crowd regarding awards and the fighters who deserve them. We craft our own!
Presenting to you the BetUS unofficial end-of-year 2024 UFC Honors.
4 Best UFC Moments of 2024 That Deserve an Award
1. UFC Fighter of the Year 2024: Ilia Topuria
Awarding the best fighter of 2024 is no simple feat, especially when so many new champions have been crowned over the last twelve months, and some of those title bouts have ended emphatically.
However, when you step into the octagon and finish two first-ballot Hall of Famers by knockout to retain the UFC featherweight championship and hardly break a sweat, it’s difficult to argue against this man being awarded the prestigious honor.
That’s Ilia Topuria’s 2024 story, as the Spanish-Georgian knockout artist has risen to superstar status and is arguably just getting started!
It all begins at UFC 298 in February. “El Matador” had run through six 145ers with ease to finally earn his title opportunity versus Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski. The latter was undefeated in the featherweight division and had held onto gold for five straight years behind a 13-0 record. Unfazed by the task in front of him, Topuria’s slick boxing prowess stumbled Volk in the second round, and he didn’t just deliver the champ his first defeat, but he did so by knocking him out!
ILIA TOPURIA KNOCKED ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI OUT COLD pic.twitter.com/zvGldhWxCy
— Stream Highlights Clips (@selfemprovement) February 18, 2024
The Volkanovski result solidified Topuria as a new generation of featherweight greatness, but in October at UFC 308, with a scheduled bout versus the “BMF” champ Max Holloway, who’d notably just delivered one of the greatest knockout wins in history over Justin Gaethje, the newly crowned featherweight titleholder left the world in shock during his first title defense.
UFC betting odds and fans alike had faith in Topuria retaining his title. Still, Holloway, who’d fought on 29 occasions for the UFC since 2011 and had never been knocked out versus the likes of Poirier, McGregor, Gaethje, Aldo, and Volk, most expected the fighting pride of Spain to require a judge’s intervention to declare him the winner.
Ilia Topuria knocks out Max Holloway (2024)
📸 @kupra_jr pic.twitter.com/NDwS7Qj1Wt
— Fight Pics That Go Hard (@fightpicsgohard) October 27, 2024
Well, 99% were wrong. Topuria didn’t just dominate Holloway; he became the first man ever to finish Holloway, and to this day, we remain in shock. That made it two of the greatest in UFC history added to El Matador’s knockout list, thus making him the obvious MMA pick for Fighter of the Year 2024!
Bet on Ilia Topuria Specials Here
Honorable Mention: Alex Pereira
Alex “Poatan” Pereira fans were one decision away from having their favorite Brazilian claim the Fighter of the Year award, and it wouldn’t have been close. Unfortunately, Topuria’s back-to-back knockouts of UFC legends prevented this, but you cannot ignore what Poatan achieved over a twelve-month period.
Between November 2023 and October 2024, Pereira competed in four light heavyweight championship fights. After finishing Jiri Prochazka in the second round at UFC 295, he saved the day at UFC 300 by accepting a short-notice fight with Jamahal Hill in April and, to no surprise, won by knockout. Two months later, in June, he saved another event (UFC 303) by taking a rematch with Prochazka. And yes, you guessed, he won by knockout again! Last but certainly not least, Poatan went to war with a #8-ranked Khalil Rountree Jr., which was a huge risk for his reputation despite the noise people made about the matchup. Following four rounds of intense striking action, Pereira’s brutal striking offense had done it again….
Eleven months, four title fights, and four knockout wins, that’s a damn impressive run that likely won’t be matched ever again. Some would happily give Pereira the Fighter of the Year 2024 award, but it’s only the level of competition he faced that puts him behind Topuria, in my humble opinion.
Ilia Topuria knocked out two of the greatest featherweights of all time in Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway 👊
Alex Pereira became the fastest to three title defenses in UFC history 🔥
Who should be fighter of the year for 2024? 🤔 #UFC308 pic.twitter.com/M58RQQlfig
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 28, 2024
2. UFC Knockout of the Year 2024: Max Holloway over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300
Easily a viable choice for Knockout of the Year and Fight of the Year, Max Holloway going toe-to-toe with Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 will go down as one of the greatest fights in combat sports history…period!
Avid MMA betting enthusiasts knew they were in for a treat when “Blessed” and “The Highlight” were going to compete for the “Baddest Mother Fu**er” title, but there wasn’t a single spectator on the planet who predicted this fight’s eventual outcome.
With ten seconds remaining, Holloway, with his patented point to the center of the octagon, egged Gaethje on to throw leather with him to close the fifth and final round out in style. When the pair began exchanging, like in every other instance of a Holloway point, we expected the final bell to ring, with both men proving they’d left it all in the octagon. That wasn’t the case, as Gaethje over-extended in one of his strikes. Holloway landed flush with an overhand right, and a Knockout of the Year, decade, and century was born.
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2024
Honorable Mention: Vinicius Oliveira over Bernardo Sopaj at UFC Vegas 87
It’s easy to focus on the biggest names of the UFC and give more recognition to their knockout accomplishments of the year. This is why it’s a shame that Brazil’s Vinicius Oliveira had to contend with the festivities of UFC 300 and Holloway and Gaethje’s name because he could have easily taken the Knockout of the Year award otherwise.
Oliveira impressed the masses and UFC news outlets with his knockout win on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023 but said knockout pales compared to his UFC debut in March. Faced with another bantamweight newcomer, Bernado Sopaj, both men tussled for fourteen minutes and forty seconds.
Nineteen seconds remained on the clock, and from nowhere, Oliveira took a short sprint across the octagon before elevating himself into the air with a leading knee to deliver one of the most spectacular flying knee knockouts we’d ever witnessed… Respect! We cannot wait to see what this Brazilian knockout specialist has in store for 2025 and beyond.
NOW YOU KNOW!!! #UFCVegas87 pic.twitter.com/SEoYrD3QyO
— danawhite (@danawhite) March 2, 2024
3. UFC Fight of the Year 2024: Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber at UFC 306
The UFC’s one-off spectacular at the Las Vegas Sphere for UFC 306 presented a strong line-up, including ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley versus Merab Dvalishvili. Despite the impressive talent on display, nobody would ever stop Argentina’s Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber from delivering a barn burner in a fight that’s etched into the UFC history books alongside past greats like Forest Griffin vs. Rich Franklin and Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald II.
Both fighters collected $50k bonuses for Fight of the Night, but months later, it’s now primed to be the Fight of the Year. With a combined 653 punches thrown, the entire bout was fought at striking range, and the words I write on this page cannot do it justice – watch it for yourself (See below)!
If you’re looking to introduce a friend or family member to the UFC, look no further than Ribovics vs. Zellhuber – they’ll end up being fans for life!
Honorable Mention: Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307
I won’t go into too much detail regarding Pereira vs. Rountree, but as the “loser,” you’d be surprised to know a No.8-ranked challenger in Rountree gave Pereira one of the most challenging fights of his career.
Most expected a complete whitewash from Poatan, and although the end result might suggest this on paper, the fight itself was a wet dream for MMA predictions and one that was highly competitive until it wasn’t! None of us would bat an eyelid should it be named the Fight of the Year 2024.
Bet These UFC Specials at BetUS
4. UFC Breakout Star of the Year 2024: Carlos Prates
Caio Borralho, Jean Silva, Carlos Prates, and Mauricio Ruffy have been kicking ass and cashing cheques as representatives of the Fighting Nerds’ gym. This collection of violent men holds a combined UFC record of 16-0, making them one of the fastest-rising groups in the sport.
That said, there’s no denying that 2024 has been Carlos Prates’ year. Since February, “The Nightmare” has won four straight fights, all obtained by knockout in the first or second round. Prates began 2024 as an unranked competitor, but he’s now entering 2025 with a top-15 ranking position at welterweight, with consecutive wins over Jingliang Li and Neil Magny.
Patience, power, and the ability to make quick work of his foes place Prates as the Breakout Star of 2024. While the entire Fighting Nerds crew will be on our radar for 2025, we want to see which opponent Prates can smoke in the octagon next before having a celebrity smoke after the fact. And yes, he does, in fact, smoke darts, making his UFC run even more impressive!
Carlos Prates in the UFC so far 🇧🇷
A THREAD 🧵
01. Became the first fighter to knockout Li Jingliang 🥲pic.twitter.com/65Xb7Wykkc
— MMA On Point (@OnPointMMA) November 7, 2024
UFC Legend of the Year 2024: Jim Miller
Charles Oliveira, Max Holloway, Rafael dos Anjos, and Jon Jones are just a few UFC legends who’ve been actively competing in the promotion for over ten years and continue to do so to this day. However, when evaluating 2024 and the company’s stand-out assets, we cannot neglect the contributions of Jim “Fuc*ing” Miller!
Miller, 41, has never become a champion or competed for UFC gold. However, UFC 309 earlier this month marked his 45th octagon appearance, and watching him effortlessly choke Damon Jackson into submission just further cemented his legend in the sport.
JIM FREAKING MILLER 🤯@JimMiller_155 gets his 27th UFC victory with a guillotine in the first round! #UFC309 pic.twitter.com/1TwulUZq70
— UFC (@ufc) November 17, 2024
After sixteen years of service, Miller went 2-1 in 2024 and finished the year with a 27-17-1 UFC record. Both of his wins in 2024 came by submission, thus taking his finishing tally to 19 wins by KO/TKO or sub.
Oh, and he isn’t done yet. Miller states he’d like to finish his career on 50 fights, meaning we have five more fights to make UFC expert predictions on. He’s our legend of 2024 and a legend full stop, boasting the most UFC fights and overall wins in the company’s history!
Bet on UFC at BetUS Sportsbook
Question Of The Day
What’s the final UFC event of 2024?
UFC Tampa on December 14, 2024, will be the final UFC event of the year. The headline matchup is a welterweight bout between Colby Covington and Joaquin Buckley.
