'I would love to hate the guy'… UFC icons argue over Fighter of the Year
01/02/2025 12:56 PM
2024 provided fans with some truly outstanding moments of UFC action; with countless fighters having gone on to become global MMA superstars – albeit some more than others.
'Fighter of the Year' remains one of the most fiercely debated topics in all of MMA but now that 2024 is in our rear-view mirror, let's be honest, there are only two fighters who actually had a shout at winning that award.
Kenny Florian makes case for Ilia Topuria being 2024 'Fighter of the Year'
There's still over a week to go before the first UFC event of 2025, which means that there's plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the Anik and Florian Podcast 2024 awards show.
The former fighter and popular commentator went back and forth on a range of categories during their 100-minute-long broadcast, but it's their disagreement on 'Fighter of the Year' that stood out the most.
For Kenny Florian, there was only one man who truly deserved to win the award – featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, with 'KenFlo' first acknowledging the scale of El Matador's success this past year.
"I'd be curious if we ran a poll on Twitter, what percentage of people would've picked Ilia Topuria to beat both Volkanovski and Holloway in one calendar year; and I'd also like to see what percentage of people would've picked him to finish both of those guys inside a calendar year."
"You're talking about two of the greats in the sport, let alone just the featherweight division, and the fact that he was able to do that shows how great – not good, great – he is."
Topuria entered that first title bout against Alexander Volkanovski as the slight betting underdog, although only 33% of Tapology Users picked the Spanish-Georgian sensation over the Aussie.
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Whilst that number rose to 58% for his showdown with Max Holloway, only a minority of fans predicted that 'El Matador' would finish the BMF champion – let alone by flush KO.
"This is a guy whose technique, his prowess, his aggression, his intelligence is just simply above everyone else's in the game right now… I talk about this all the time, about how rare this is – they elevate the sport as a whole and everyone looks towards that fighter and goes 'Oh, that's how good I need to be'.
"That's how good Ilia Topuria is and yeah man, I would love to hate the guy, he's got it all, but I can't – the guy is simply head and shoulders above a lot of people right now, and he's my Fighter of the Year."
Jon Anik argues 2024 belongs to one man: Alex 'Poatan' Pereira
Jon Anik has seen his fair share of UFC superstars from the broadcast booth, and whilst he did acknowledge the insane success of El Matador, remained bullish on the fact that 2024 belonged to one man, and one man only.
"For me, when I think back in 10-15 years down the line to 2024, do you know what I'm going to think? I'm going to think it's the year of Poatan.
"Alex Pereira is my 2024 male Fighter of the Year and it's wild to think that he didn't even compete until April and then three times, saved the day… They didn't have a headliner for UFC 307, they needed somebody to step up at UFC 303 for International Fight Week, and of course, UFC 300 goes without saying."
Pereira was recently named as the biggest seller of official UFC merchandise in 2024, above the likes of Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier, and Sean O'Malley.
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"You can argue that Jiri Prochazka, Jamahal Hill, and Khalil Rountree Jr may not go down as all-time greats like Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski… But in Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, you are still talking about two former champions… Dude, it's Poatan's world."
This debate will likely rage on well into the New Year, with the argument between Topuria or Pereira having split the Bloody Elbow writing staff right down the middle.
