Sorry Alex Pereira, you weren’t the Fighter of the 12 months in accordance with one former UFC champion.
Whereas ‘Poatan’ topped a lot of 2024’s best-of lists, together with LowKick MMA’s personal Fighter of the 12 months award, former middleweight king Robert Whittaker thinks there was one other fighter who outperformed the Brazilian boogeyman over the past 12 months.
“My fight of the year—and I’ve mentioned this on a Unibet video that I did recently as well—is Ilia Topuria,” Whittaker mentioned on his MMArcade podcast. “I feel, not solely… yeah, I feel the work that he has put on this 12 months, the names that he has defeated in his division, like Alex Volkanovski—in all probability among the best featherweights ever—and Max Holloway, among the best featherweights ever once more.
“Two guys that stand out to me in that division, so far ahead of the rest of the division. I mean, the gap was massive. It’s like, when we saw Volk beat Max, and then Max didn’t reclaim that title, I—and a lot of other people—thought, “Who beats him?” As a result of then Max went again to the pool and simply began destroying individuals. You noticed how massive that hole distinction was between Max and the remainder of the division, which implies, how good is Volk?
“And then Topuria comes in and finishes both of them.”
Who’s 2024 was higher? Alex Pereira or Ilia Topuria?
For most individuals, it was an in depth name between Pereira and Topuria. ‘Poatan’ efficiently defended his mild heavyweight world title thrice all year long, scoring highlight-reel knockouts towards Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree.
In the meantime, ‘El Matador’ modified the panorama of the featherweight division, beginning together with his beautiful second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February. He adopted that up with a history-making win over division staple Max Holloway, changing into the primary fighter to KO ‘Blessed’ in his blended martial arts profession.
Beating two of the best possible 145’ers of all time in back-to-back fights was sufficient for a lot of, together with Whittaker, to present Topuria the Fighter of the 12 months honors.
Do you agree with ‘The Reaper,’ or have been Pereira’s trio of title defenses extra spectacular than what Topuria completed?
