2024 supplied followers with some really excellent moments of UFC motion; with numerous fighters having gone on to change into international MMA superstars – albeit some greater than others.
‘Fighter of the Yr’ stays probably the most fiercely debated matters in all of MMA however now that 2024 is in our rear-view mirror, let’s be trustworthy, there are solely two fighters who really had a shout at profitable that award.
Kenny Florian makes case for Ilia Topuria being 2024 ‘Fighter of the Yr’
There’s nonetheless over per week to go earlier than the primary UFC occasion of 2025, which signifies that there’s loads of time to take a seat again and benefit from the Anik and Florian Podcast 2024 awards present.
The previous fighter and well-liked commentator went backwards and forwards on a spread of classes throughout their 100-minute-long broadcast, but it surely’s their disagreement on ‘Fighter of the Yr’ that stood out essentially the most.
For Kenny Florian, there was just one man who really deserved to win the award – featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, with ‘KenFlo’ first acknowledging the size of El Matador’s success this previous 12 months.
“I’d be curious if we ran a ballot on Twitter, what proportion of individuals would’ve picked Ilia Topuria to beat each Volkanovski and Holloway in a single calendar 12 months; and I’d additionally prefer to see what proportion of individuals would’ve picked him to complete each of these guys inside a calendar 12 months.”
“You’re speaking about two of the greats within the sport, not to mention simply the featherweight division, and the truth that he was in a position to do this exhibits how nice – not good, nice – he’s.”
Topuria entered that first title bout in opposition to Alexander Volkanovski because the slight betting underdog, though solely 33% of Tapology Customers picked the Spanish-Georgian sensation over the Aussie.
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While that quantity rose to 58% for his showdown with Max Holloway, solely a minority of followers predicted that ‘El Matador’ would end the BMF champion – not to mention by flush KO.
“It is a man whose approach, his prowess, his aggression, his intelligence is simply merely above everybody else’s within the sport proper now… I speak about this on a regular basis, about how uncommon that is – they elevate the game as an entire and everybody appears to be like in the direction of that fighter and goes ‘Oh, that’s how good I have to be’.
“That’s how good Ilia Topuria is and yeah man, I might like to hate the man, he’s acquired all of it, however I can’t – the man is solely head and shoulders above lots of people proper now, and he’s my Fighter of the Yr.”
Jon Anik argues 2024 belongs to at least one man: Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira
Jon Anik has seen his fair proportion of UFC superstars from the printed sales space, and while he did acknowledge the insane success of El Matador, remained bullish on the truth that 2024 belonged to at least one man, and one man solely.
“For me, once I assume again in 10-15 years down the road to 2024, are you aware what I’m going to assume? I’m going to assume it’s the 12 months of Poatan.
“Alex Pereira is my 2024 male Fighter of the Yr and it’s wild to assume that he didn’t even compete till April after which 3 times, saved the day… They didn’t have a headliner for UFC 307, they wanted any individual to step up at UFC 303 for Worldwide Combat Week, and naturally, UFC 300 goes with out saying.”
Pereira was lately named because 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’ll be able to argue that Jiri Prochazka, Jamahal Hill, and Khalil Rountree Jr might not go down as all-time greats like Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski… However in Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, you’re nonetheless speaking about two former champions… Dude, it’s Poatan’s world.”
This debate will probably rage on nicely into the New Yr, with the argument between Topuria or Pereira having split the Bloody Elbow writing staff proper down the center.
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