Sherdog’s 2024 Event of the Year
As soon as the dust settled from UFC 300, it was clear no fight card would top it this year.
With Bellator MMA paring down drastically, the Professional Fighters League slimming down its own roster and ONE Championship all but out of high-level MMA entirely, 2024 was a year largely devoid of massive tentpole events. As it has done for the last decade and a half, the Ultimate Fighting Championship ruled the roost and garnered most of the attention. Of the seven fight cards nominated for “Event of the Year,” only one played out away from the confines of the Octagon—and not due to some pro-UFC bias. The fights that mattered most happened in the UFC, whether they went down in the UFC Apex or the magnificent Sphere.
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Exciting fights are a dime a dozen on the regional scene, and plenty of regional leagues are able to garner massive support in their own territory. What would happen if KSW or Oktagon tried to plant their flag in Las Vegas or New York? One Championship took to Denver in September, and even with seven finishes in nine matches, the result was a resounding “meh.” There has to be relevance to make the spectacle worth watching, or else someone could tune into Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, where practically every event delivers tremendous violence, as former MMA pros vie for late-career paychecks. It might not sound fair to other organizations, but the UFC has the sport on lock for the time being. If major organizations currently active in the sport include the UFC, the PFL (with Bellator), One and Rizin Fighting Federation, the only league of those four that maintained its schedule from the previous years was the UFC. Bellator only authored five fight cards; PFL nixed its Challenger Series; One has pivoted to muay thai; and Rizin retracted, as well.
The lone non-UFC card that earned a nod this year came at the
conclusion of the PFL 2024 season. It was a bold move for the
organization to stage an unmatched 10 title fights across the PFL
Championships billing split between PFL MENA and the main PFL
tournament show, taking a risk that could have backfired to the
level of UFC 33. Instead, fight fans in attendance in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, were blessed with terrific action, as eight of those
championship affairs ended by stoppage, many of them quite
exhilarating. Additionally, a star was born, as unbeaten wunderkind
Dakota
Ditcheva dispatched Taila
Santos with relative ease, snaring the
“Breakout Fighter of the Year” award due to her brutal run of
body shot battery in her 2024 campaign. Other than that, it was all
UFC.
Other nominees that did not reach the peak included UFC 308, where Ilia Topuria and Khamzat Chimaev put on dazzling performances over all-time greats; UFC 299, which temporarily cemented Sean O'Malley as the top bantamweight in the world, all while Dustin Poirier reminded those watching that he remains a destructive force; Dricus Du Plessis dazzled, as he dismantled Israel Adesanya in the championship rounds atop UFC 305; and Topuria established himself as the king at 145 pounds by laying waste to pound-for-pound talent Alexander Volkanovski in the main attraction of UFC 298. All were thrilling events that provided plenty of storylines and wowed audiences domestic and abroad, but they did not even reach the level of intrigue as when the UFC blew the doors off with a million-dollar gala in the Sphere in Las Vegas for UFC 306. But for a superior lineup or more exciting fights—Esteban Ribovics-Daniel Zellhuber delivered and then some—and Noche UFC might have taken the top spot.
All eyes were on the UFC at the T-Mobile Arena on April 13. No promotion worth its salt dared stand against the global leader in mixed martial arts that night, and for good reason. It is a strange human idiosyncrasy to value numerical milestones, especially when they do not reflect reality. In this case, UFC 300 was not the organization’s 300th fight card, it was not its 300th pay-per-view and it did not take place around a holiday or anniversary date. Instead, simply the round double zeroes made it matter more to those observing. It was reflected by the matchmaking and event building, as the league pulled out all the stops. The fighters scheduled for the evening answered the call.
With ranked combatants in practically every slot on the bill, it was remarkable that of all matchups slated for UFC 300, former flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo taking on ex-bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt served as the curtain jerker. In comparison, the preceding UFC show trotted out Nora Cornolle-Melissa Mullins as fight No. 1. Figueiredo outdueled “No Love,” throttling him with a rear-naked choke to set the stage for the violence that was to come. Jim Miller made history by becoming the lone competitor to appear at UFCs 100, 200 and 300, although he fell short to Bobby Green in a bloody brawl. Jessica Andrade went on to outwork Marina Rodriguez in a pairing on the early prelims that could have headlined a random UFC Fight Night, and Renato “Money” Moicano put Jalin Turner away with a hail of elbows and fists to wrap the first set of preliminary contests.
On the main ESPN airwaves, Diego Lopes punched his ticket to the featherweight rankings by uprooting Sodiq Yusuff with an uppercut, and the action did not relent from there. Kayla Harrison introduced herself to the UFC brass by dominating Holly Holm; Aljamain Sterling moved up in weight to crack into the Top 15 at 145 pounds with a clean sweep on the scorecards against Calvin Kattar; and Jiri Prochazka concluded the prelims by putting a stamp on Aleksandar Rakic, overcoming a bit of adversity to remain a top contender at light heavyweight. The main card loomed, and anticipation grew to a fever pitch.
In a move decried by those concerned about bout order and card positioning, 5-0 college wrestling great Bo Nickal kicked off the paid portion of the evening by choking out Cody Brundage to keep his flawless record intact. Action turned to a title eliminator at lightweight, with a closely matched and intriguing grappling affair going the way of Arman Tsarukyan over ex-champ Charles Oliveira. The table was set for three championship-level collisions, the first of which for a belt the UFC created for promotional purposes and not for merit or achievement. The “Bad Mister Falcon”—your uncensored text may read differently—was on the line, as Justin Gaethje planned on “defending” that strap against the oncoming freight train that was Max Holloway.
Holloway was a game fighter but too small, analysts noted. Gaethje just hits too hard, others broke down. The Hawaiian has never been knocked out, but Gaethje is the one who can crack that chin, more posited. “Blessed” laughed in the faces of everyone who counted him out, stood in the pocket against the mighty brawler and nearly landed two for every one that Gaethje gave him back. With the fifth round as the pinnacle of the thriller, Holloway goaded Gaethje to hit him with everything he had. It was the former featherweight who shocked the world, as he pointed to the ground with seconds to spare to initiate a brawl. What happened next was the easiest winner for “Knockout of the Year” in ages.
There were two 25-minute encounters still left on the card, but fans as well as commentator Joe Rogan had already shouted themselves hoarse from the insanity of Holloway-Gaethje. Barely able to catch our collective breaths, the promotion moved along to a first in its history: an all-China championship clash. Weili Zhang put her strawweight strap on the line against countrywoman Xiaonan Yan, and while it may not have merited the accolades of the previous tilt, few fights in the history of the sport could have matched that previous lightweight banger. Zhang largely ran roughshod over her opponent until the third round, where she tossed out an errant low kick that was met with a counter that floored her. The champ recovered and went on to win out the last two rounds thanks an overwhelming grappling attack, prompting Bruce Buffer to call “And Still!” at the conclusion of the five-rounder.
One to go, and the UFC may have saved the best for last. The spotlight was on Alex Pereira, who had quickly become a heroic figure this year for his willingness to not only fight anywhere anytime but also to do so at the highest echelon of the 205-pound division. The former Glory kickboxer drew ex-beltholder Jamahal Hill, with the latter only surrendering it due to an injury that left him on the sidelines. A brash Hill was confident that he could blaze through Pereira, claiming he spotted weaknesses and that he could replicate the success Israel Adesanya had against “Poatan” in their second matchup. He was wrong.
The titanic Brazilian stood firm against the offense hurled at him right out of the gate, with Hill firing off heavy low kicks in hopes of hampering Pereira’s potent offense early. Fraught with danger, the fight could end at any second courtesy of one concussive blow. Pereira and Hill engaged tete-a-tete for the good part of three minutes, seemingly matched well. It was all working out for the challenger as he launched a thudding body kick at his opponent, but a fight of this magnitude can and often does change in an instant. Known for his devastating left hook, Pereira timed the perfect blow to send Hill crashing to the floor like a sack of potatoes. A few crushing follow-up hammerfists from the Brazilian sent Hill astral traveling, and Pereira admired his work by standing back and pointing down at his defeated adversary. In the time of pi—that is, 3:14—Pereira had successfully defended his throne by shutting Hill’s lights clean out.
The victory drew a close to an evening that featured eight dramatic finishes worthy of more than one year-end award, with those in attendance at the T-Mobile Arena getting their money’s worth and more. Pereira, Zhang and Holloway all secured belts at the conclusion of UFC 300, all doing work in their own masterful ways. The UFC fittingly doled out $300,000 bonus checks, and two of those went to Holloway for “Performance of the Night” and “Fight of the Night,” making him the richest bonus-earner at a single fight card by a wide margin. Fans and observers were in awe at what had gone down that fateful April night, with the proceedings so memorable that even a $20-million showcase with eye-popping video packages at the Sphere could not hold a candle to it.
The monumental UFC 300 adds to the glorious list of Sherdog “Event of the Year” winners: UFC 290, UFC 281, UFC 268, UFC 249, UFC 236, UFC 229, UFC 214, UFC 206, UFC 194, UFC 178, UFC 166, UFC on Fox 5, UFC 134, WEC 53, UFC 100 and UFC 84.
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