Who deserves to be the 2025 Fighter of the Year? How will Merab Dvalishvili’s valiant attempt but ultimately failure to win four UFC title fights in one year affect his chances? If it doesn’t matter that Arman Tsarukyan is No. 1 in the rankings, why do we bother calling anyone a contender for No. 1?
All this and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask your own question, follow @BenFowlkesMMA on X or @Ben_Fowlkes on Threads.
@NeedXtoseePosts: Now that Merab lost to Yan, do I still consider him Fighter of the Year?
To me 3 great ratio of defense and shooting
Islam Makhachev: Double champion, but winning one of the two (albeit through no fault of his own) was a gimmick
Merab Dvalishvili still has a good case, but I worry that MMA fans will always put more weight on what they see at the end than the bigger picture. He won 3-1. He’s not afraid to push and try to break records. And, let’s not forget, that fight with Petr Yan was awesome. This is a direct contender for fight of the year in my book.
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But for many, his loss of the title was still his gain. When they see that in your last fight of the year, I see some people being reluctant to call him Fighter of the Year. I agree that Islam Makhachev is a bit weak, but making weight for a second UFC title is always a big deal. I also don’t know how much we blame him on the quality of his fights because as you pointed out, all he did was fight who the UFC had to give him.
@KeiffEllison: Between the back injury before his fight with Islam, punches (from fans) during the strike and headbutts from Hooker, is Tsarukyan really surprised he’s being ignored? I’m a fan of the guy, but from a promoter’s perspective, he seems prone to making tough decisions.
He was indeed surprised, and for one obvious reason: He has a little No. 1 next to his name in the official UFC rankings. And, ahead of last month’s fight with Dan Hooker, UFC CEO Dana White made no bones about the fact that the winner would be the number one contender in the lightweight division. Then, after Arman Tsarukyan submitted Hooker and looked to do a great job, White turned around and said he didn’t “give the *** what the numbers said.” So basically he lied to all of us and hyped up a fight that wasn’t actually what he claimed it was. Yes, I’d say Tsarukyan would be at least a little surprised and disappointed.
I kind of Understand the argument that he screwed up, I don’t know, he needs to do some penance or just spend some time in championship shooting purgatory before he can crack it again. But if that’s the case, why put him in these games and tell us it’s to determine the next contender? Why not honestly say these are Tsarukyan’s community service struggles and if he does a good job and behaves well, maybe he’ll be off the naughty list soon? This is the part I don’t understand. Tell us the truth, damn it.
@EyeofMihawk: 125 (and 135) appear to be open now. Horiguchi seemed to have been jumped in line. But Royval recently defeated Ping and won FotY with Fan. Can he surpass the tie with a win this weekend? Does the UFC care more about Mexican or Japanese P+ subs?
A lot will depend on: A) how long Alexandre Pantoja will be out, and B) how long the UFC is willing to wait before putting another flyweight title fight on the schedule.
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If Pantoja is out for six months or more, I think we will definitely see Joshua Van fighting someone else for the belt. Even if Brandon Royval beats Marnell Kapp on Saturday, I think Hirataro still has the inside track. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC picks the date first and the challenger second, meaning whoever picks up the phone and says “yes” gets it.
And while we’re on the subject of flyweight title pictures? I’m a little tired of seeing people celebrate Van’s performance at UFC 323 and take shots at him. Obviously that’s not the way he wants to win, but you have to remember all the stress, stress, fear and doubt that these guys push through just to get in there. When the game is over and you win and you realize that you are now the champion, you may have a very strong feeling at that moment. Even though this was a quick TKO due to an abnormal injury, you can see what Fan’s brain may have been registering: You did it.
It’s not until later that you can respond in a more logical way, and he did. So what I’m saying is just cut him some slack.
@LCombatsports: Can you clarify for the audience how this would negatively impact boxing fans if the Ali revival bill were passed and the UBO model was allowed? I think this needs to be said. Even though UFC Paramount has a deal, it doesn’t do anything for the sport of mixed martial arts.
I don’t think we can be sure how it will impact boxing fans until we see it in action. It looks like we may get our chance soon, as TKO is very aggressively pushing for these changes to the Ali Act and has stated that it hopes to start hosting boxing events in early 2026.
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You can get a better idea of ​​what this will entail from big shot John Nash, but I think the main question people should ask themselves is: When does a multi-billion dollar company want to change the law to make anyone better off but themselves? TKO didn’t do it because they were very worried about the state of boxing. They do this to put more money into already bloated pockets.
@wolfelandia: With the Paramount+ era upon us and PPVs over, do you think the UFC will stop stacking the card for numbered events and have the fights we want to see? In other words, are we really going to have some great fights on fight night?
What we’ve seen of the 2026 schedule so far suggests that UFC programming will still be divided into three very unique divisions, even at Paramount. There are also numbered events, championship battles. Then there’s the UFC Fight Night event, which takes place in a real arena, in front of a real audience, and features meaningful fights between relevant fighters. Then there are the UFC APEX events, which are basically just content that is rolled out every week between the major events.
I know we want to gaze into the crystal ball and imagine a whole new world for the UFC with new broadcast partners in the new year, but let’s not forget that the UFC is very resistant to change. The company makes so much money, I suspect there are many people out there who feel justified in doing things differently.
@br1gsy: Now that Jason Herzog is back in the cage, where is the overall status of our fight restoration investigation? Any word on the street?
there is nothing. Kind of like what happened with the last fight scandal, right? Lots of tough talk about federal prisons, and then complete silence.
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I’ve said this before, but this is not the right approach. For the sake of the sport’s legitimacy, the UFC should be more proactive on things like this and approach it with a real sense of urgency.
But what about Jason Herzog? As far as I know, this is a rumor that started on a social media account. I didn’t hear anything substantive. State athletic commission officials I spoke to said they had heard nothing real about Herzog’s name. This seems to be pure rumor, and potentially harmful.
return? If you want to try to settle an MMA fight, don’t think you can do it by paying the referee. There are many ways to backfire and very few ways to get him to lean in one direction without immediately setting off an alarm.
