UFC Roundtable: Best fights, finishes, fighters, moments of 2024

The past year in mixed martial arts featured 42 UFC events, hundreds of bouts, memorable title changes, knockouts, submissions and immeasurable moments of enjoyment for fight fans across the globe.

To help celebrate the past 12 months during this rare quiet period on the UFC schedule, a roundtable of Sportsnet’s UFC contributors – reporter Aaron Bronsteter, producer Dan Fernandes writer/editor Mike Johnston and writers Spencer Kyte, Arden Zwelling and Zulfi Sheikh – look back at the year that was and review some of their favourite moments from an action-packed 2024.

WHO WAS YOUR FIGHTER OF THE YEAR?

Aaron: Not only did he beat two perennial top-10 pound-for-pound fighters in Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, he was also the first to finish either fighter with strikes at featherweight. While Alex Pereira was an active champion, the calibre of opponent that Topuria defeated, and the way in which he defeated them, earns him this designation.

Arden: There’s no wrong choice between Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria, but I give the edge to Poatan. Dude’s 37 and regularly competing injured in short-notice fights yet somehow manages to top his last performance each time out. Three title defences in 175 days and he pops up everywhere in between from Australia to Mexico to Brazil. Just a relentless schedule inside and outside the Octagon. And a relentless year. Chama.

Dan: For me, the Fighter of the Year is “El Matador” Ilia Topuria. He began the year with an impressive KO win over Alexander Volkanovski to capture the featherweight crown. He followed up that impressive display in Anaheim by becoming the first fighter to KO Max Holloway in October. In the span of one-year he went from perennial title contender to King to the Featherweights. For these reasons, it’s difficult to deny Topuria this accolade.

Mike: Ilia Topuria’s back-to-back definitive victories over featherweight greats Volkanovski and Holloway is the pinnacle of the sport type stuff that makes him the Fighter of the Year for me with an honourable mention to rising star Carlos Prates who went 4-0 with four performance bonus-winning knockouts. Prates is a real problem for the welterweight division heading into 2025. 

Spencer: Ilia Topuria. Outside of the standard group that most people will mention, the person I want to shout out is Youssef Zalal, who started the year outside of the promotion and ends it with a 3-0 record with three finishes. “The Moroccan Devil” has clearly matured and grown as a fighter, and is a dark horse in the featherweight division heading into 2025.

Zulfi: Alex Pereira had to be my fighter of the year for a few reasons. First, his willingness to remain active has to be appreciated. Three title fights in seven months is no joke, and much more than most other UFC champions can claim. Second, the quality of his wins were very high. Three title bouts against top-10 fighters in the division and “Poatan” finished all of them. Third, he was a meme magnet. From his epic “Chama” screams to his hilarious post-KO celebration vs. Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, looking like a proud child showing his parents the art project he made at school.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE FIGHT OF 2024?

Aaron: My favourite fight was Mateusz Rebecki versus Myktybek Orolbai. This fight had so many ebbs and flows and momentum shifts over the course of three frenetic rounds and spoke volumes about the toughness of both men. Having watched it back recently, it holds up as my favourite fight of the year.

Arden: Dustin Poirier vs. Islam Makhachev at UFC 302. As much as I’d like to make an under-the-radar pick like Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber or Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai, there’s nothing like a long-awaited main event between two high level fighters with massive stakes that lives up to the hype. Poirier surviving four minutes in Makhachev’s guard in Round 1; Makhachev holding his own in the standup in Round 2; the moment Poirier escaped full mount and went on the attack in Round 3; the brutal exchanges in Round 4; Makhachev hitting an unreal ankle pick sweep to set up the finish in Round 5. Just a masterpiece fight from start to finish.

Dan: Holloway vs. Gaethje from UFC 300. It wasn’t a grappling classic, but this fight produced arguably the greatest singular moment of any sport in 2024. A buzzer beating KO from Holloway with the lights on bright at UFC 300 will live on in MMA lore forever. It was a “you know where you were moment.” I was backstage watching on a monitor when it happened and the pop from the crowd was truly electric. Favourite fight of the year and probably my favourite fight of all-time given the stage, stakes, participants and Hollywood ending. It’s the type of outcome you would expect at WrestleMania not at an unscripted sporting event.

Mike: Petr Yan vs. Deiveson Figueiredo. It’s maybe not a conventional pick for this year – it didn’t even win Fight of the Night back at UFC Macau – but I simply adore fights like this one. Two championship-calibre competitors going for constant offence and defending with counter-offence always in mind. Yan ended up sweeping the scorecards in a five-round decision thanks to a terrific top-to-bottom performance. It was MMA done proper.

Spencer: Jean Silva vs. Drew Dober (UFC Denver): Silva moved up a division on two-weeks’ notice after just having finished Charles Jourdain, and was going into Dober’s adopted hometown, at altitude no less.

Zulfi: If you’re a fight fan and want to feel like a kid on Christmas morning, watch Holloway vs. Gaethje at UFC 300. It personified everything spectacular about combat sports. Two absolute BMFs laying it all on the line for the enjoyment of all who watched. Gaethje had a busted-up nose after round one and still accepted Holloway’s fifth-round invite to exchange blows in the middle of the Octagon. And the knockout was so picturesque, right at the final second of the fight, it quite literally made my jaw drop.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE KO/TKO FINISH OF 2024?

Aaron: Max Holloway’s knockout win over Justin Gaethje with one second left in the fifth round of their BMF Championship fight will go down as one of the greatest highlights in UFC history, so I’ve got to imagine that this is the consensus outside of a handful of hipster outliers.

Arden: Dustin Poirier knocking out Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299. Fights like these are typically heart-wrenching to watch as a legend of the game is fed to a young, dangerous up-and-comer. And I’ll admit I went in prepared to see one of my favourite fighters get wrecked. But then Poirier withstood Saint Denis’s relentless early pressure, tugged at his shorts, and stopped a hungry kid in his tracks with a right hook from hell. A lot of fighters in Poirier’s position wouldn’t have even given Saint Denis this opportunity. But Poirier carries himself the way you wish every fighter would. And we’ll all miss performances like these when he’s gone.

Dan: Holloway v Gaethje - UFC 300. Zero justification needed here. What. A. Moment.

Mike: *hipster outlier pick here* So many to choose from but Steve Erceg’s picture-perfect left hook of Matt Schnell from March that earned him a title shot against Pantoja will be shown on highlight reels for years to come. I also loved Dominick Reyes’s first-round KO of Dustin Jacoby to earn him his emotional first win in several years. I also LOVED the way Carlos Prates put away Charles Radtke with a knee to the body in June.

Spencer: Max Holloway def. Justin Gaethje (UFC 300): the thing that kind of gets lost of forgotten in the awesomeness of this moment is that Holloway had absolutely no reason to call Gaethje to the centre of the Octagon and give him 10 seconds to change the outcome. Doing it when you’re down is dumb, and it has quickly become something we should outlaw, but Holloway doing it while up huge on the brink of a decision win is so gangster, and makes the ending even wilder.

Zulfi: Topuria’s reign of terror over the UFC began well before he dethroned Volkanovski for the featherweight belt at UFC 298, but his KO of the Aussie was so cerebral it cemented “El Matador” as one of the most lethal strikers on the planet. Right hand to the body, left to the chin and right hook follow up. Just like that, faster than you or I could blink, Volkanovski was crumpled against the cage and Topuria saw his hand raised as the first Spanish champion in UFC history. 

Honourable mention to Fares Ziam for obliterating Matt Frevola with a knee to the head in September and to Shara Magomedov landing a swift, devastating spinning backfist on Armen Petrosyan in October.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE SUBMISSION FINISH?

Aaron: Another pick that could be near-consensus is Khamzat Chimaev’s absolutely vicious face crank submission over Robert Whittaker. The former champ is known for his toughness and durability, but he could not tap any faster after Chimaev broke his jaw with the brute strength that has made him one of the UFC’s most fearsome competitors.

Arden: Michel Pereira submitting Ihor Potieria at UFC 301. An annual favourite for most chaotic fighter of the year, Pereira is a must-watch for me any time he’s on a card. He’s not strategic, he’s not technical, he doesn’t make sense. He’s just bedlam in the octagon and the Potieria fight was no exception. Pereira’s finishing sequence went step-in jab knockdown, backflip knee to the chest, elbows from north-south position, scramble back to the feet into a standing guillotine, drop Potieria back to the mat unconscious. Who does that? I hope Pereira fights forever.

Dan: Gabriella Fernandes chokes out Cong Wang at UFC Macau. Honourable mention to Aaron Bronsteter tapping out to Alexa Grasso in the Sportsnet App commercial but Gabriella Fernandes' reminded everyone just how unpredictable MMA can be. Cong Wang was way too over-confident in this one and even painted her face like the joker during the face-off. In the end the joke was on her, as Gabriella Fernandes reminded everyone of what is possible in this sport when complacency becomes an issue.

Mike: For Makhachev to pull off a submission like his brabo choke of Poirier in the fifth round of a gruelling title fight, and for it to come off such an advanced setup off that leg drag, just phenomenal. World class stuff from the No. 1 P4P fighter on the roster.

Spencer: Alexandre Pantoja def. Kai Asakura (UFC 310): the flyweight champ was on a mission from the outset of this one, and the way he maniacally pursued the back and eventually put Asakura to sleep in a massive moment, when all eyes were on them was outstanding to me. Pantoja deserves a bunch of Fighter of the Year votes in my opinion.

Zulfi: In his native England on the main card of UFC 304, it took Paddy Pimblett all of 3:22 to put Bobby Green to sleep. No, not figuratively. The Englishman wrapped his legs around Green’s neck, after taking the fight down to the canvas, and Pimblett then swiftly transitioned from a guillotine to a triangle choke that was so deep the American was snoozing before he could even tap.

WHICH RESULT SURPRISED YOU THE MOST?

Aaron: The result itself isn’t necessarily surprising, but Anthony Smith’s submission win over Vitor Petrino so early into their fight was unexpected. While I thought that Smith had paths to victory in this fight, him snapping up a guillotine two minutes into the fight against an undefeated fighter in Brazil, who was a sizeable favourite, was not on my bingo card that night.

Arden: Dricus Du Plessis winning and defending UFC’s middleweight title. The South African is such an awkward, clunky fighter and didn’t look like a champion-in-waiting early in his UFC career when he was winning fights through sheer force of will while taking substantial damage and appearing visibly tired early in second rounds. But credit to him for proving me wrong.

Dan: Pantoja def. Kai Asakura - UFC 310. After months of listening to the hype surrounding Kai Asakura and getting caught up on his past bouts...I expected more in his UFC debut. Nothing wrong with losing to the champ, I just expected a more even fight and thought it would go at least four rounds. It ended up being Pantoja's easiest fight of 2024.

Mike: That Steve Erceg shot for takedowns in the final round against Pantoja was the biggest surprise for me. I suppose the end result at UFC 301 itself didn’t surprise me – Pantoja’s unanimous decision win was the correct verdict – but Erceg was landing effectively at range and in control of the final round of a close championship fight yet inexplicably attempted multiple takedowns in Round 5, the second of which resulted in Pantoja winding up in top position after a scramble. The final 90 seconds were spent with the champion on top. Had Erceg won that final round he would’ve emerged with a split decision win and would’ve went home with the men’s flyweight title.

Spencer: Paddy Pimblett subbing King Green (UFC 304): Paddy looked massive, first and foremost, and then to see how swiftly and expertly he locked up the triangle choke and put Green out blew me away.

Zulfi: Belal Muhammad may not have been a major underdog by the numbers (+215) against Leon Edwards in their rematch, but it was no secret most fans were expecting Edwards to retain. In fact, nearly 80 per cent of 7,000 people who voted via Tapology predicted “Rocky” would retain his belt at UFC 304 in England. What made Muhammad’s victory even more of a surprise was the dominant fashion in which he did it. “Remember the name” put forth a performance worthy of that moniker as he landed more significant strikes, more than doubled Edwards in total strikes and took the Brit down nine times en route to capturing his first title. Muhammad simply ignored the former champ's reputation as a lethal striker and overwhelmed him with constant pressure.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE NON-HOLLOWAY BMF MOMENT?

Holloway’s last-second win over Gathje was the ultimate BMF moment, so besides that one…

Aaron: I am going to cheat a little bit here because I do not think that it dismisses the spirit of this question. Topuria being the first featherweight to knock out Holloway is my favourite BMF moment outside of Holloway’s own moment at UFC 300. Holloway’s chin had held up for over eight hours of cage time without an opponent registering a knockdown and Topuria was able to do it and score the finish.

Arden: Dan Hooker, paying little attention to Eugene Bareman’s strategic instructions while on the stool between the second and third rounds of his war with Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 305, his face badly swollen and bloodied as a cutman forced cotton swabs into open wounds around his eyes, leaning back with a grin to declare, “Boys, boys — I love this shit,” and laughing manically. Then he went out for the third round and landed more strikes than he had in the first or second to claim victory.

Mike: Alex Pereira waving off referee intervention after taking a kick to the cup and immediately knocking out Jamahal Hill with his patented left hook in the UFC 300 main event. Then later in the year Poatan would not let Hill intimidate him at the UFC Performance Institute in another BMF moment.

Spencer: Dan Ige fighting Diego Lopes: there is no bigger BMF moment this year, Holloway’s knockout of Gaethje included, than Ige getting off the couch to fight Lopes on four-hours’ notice at UFC 303. Add in that he pushed Lopes and won Round 3 and you have the most BMF moment of the year.

Zulfi: I fully expect others could make this pick as well but I don’t care, Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics at UFC 306 in Las Vegas’ Sphere was fighting cinema. They showed each other the utmost respect leading into the fight and went at it like sworn enemies for 15 straight minutes once the bout started. Even in the final seconds, after three rounds that made me tired just watching, the pair kept exchanging blows up into the final bell. I couldn’t think of anything that personified BMF more than the warrior spirit Zellhuber and Ribovics displayed that night in the Sin City. It doesn’t matter what the scorecards said, both fighters and everyone watching were winners that night.

FAVOURITE MISCELLANEOUS MOMENT FROM 2024?

Aaron: The UFC event at The Sphere was something that I will never forget. The amount of ingenuity and hubris that was required to pull off that sort of event in a theatre format at a new venue that had never held a sporting event was remarkable and showed how prevalent mixed martial arts has become in the sporting world.

Arden: The intense, unblinking staredown between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka before their rematch at UFC 303. Never has two men standing still and staring at each other stoically for five minutes been so captivating. It was like round zero of the fight. And no two other fighters on the roster could have pulled it off.

Dan: Watching Noche UFC inside the Sphere. I’ve been fortunate enough to cover many high-profile live sporting events in countless disciplines in almost every continent so I approached this event with cautious enthusiasm. Yet here I am, at the end of 2024, still finding it difficult to summarize how mind-blowing it was to witness the entire main card of Noche UFC from inside Sphere. There was so much happening that it wasn’t until after I left the venue that I realized every fight on the main card went the distance. That’s how immersive the experience was. My head was on a swivel the whole time and it felt like the main card ended in an under an hour. With so much going on in the venue, it all flew by so quickly. Looking back, I can honestly say that the event was so good it was actually under-hyped. Here’s hoping it doesn’t turn out to be a one-of-a-kind event, just so more people can experience it in person.

Mike: Shi Ming made her UFC debut with a wild third-round head kick knockout win that resulted in her opponent being stretchered out of the cage and taken to the hospital. She is only 5-foot-2, has bad eyesight, is a registered doctor outside of her fighting career and she revealed after the fight that her parents were unaware that she competed in MMA. 

Spencer: The Continued Rise of Jasmine Jasudavicius: I got to cover each of Jas’ last two events in person, and her energy, her whole “might as well make the absolute most of this” approach, and her performances were awesome to see. Plus, I love that the Niagara Top Team crew rolls 47 deep everywhere they go.

Zulfi: A staple of any UFC event is the endless number of celebrities in attendance, from local athletes to the President of the United States. You never know who’ll be cageside, and sometimes the UFC doesn’t have a clue either. My favourite non-fight moment was when the UFC 306 broadcast pointed to a man who was very clearly Terence Crawford, multiple world boxing title holder, and called him Kendrick Lamar, the Grammy-winning musician. The LA-based rapper did get a laugh out of it at least, even making reference to the moment on his latest album GNX.