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The World MMA Awards are back from the dead.
The 17th Annual Fighters Only World MMA Awards go down tonight (Wed., July 8, 2026) live from SAHARA Theatre at SAHARA Las Vegas, Nevada, and will stream globally on Rumble for the first time starting at 10:30 p.m. ET.
The ceremony — hosted once again by Chael Sonnen — was originally supposed to happen last year in Dec. 2025; however, after the event never took place, Fighters Only basically went radio silent. For a while, it felt like the long-running awards show had finally reached the end of the road.
Then, out of nowhere a few weeks ago, Fighters Only rose like a phoenix and announced the show was officially back on.
Of course, there is going to be one very weird part about tonight’s ceremony: the nomination period is ancient history by MMA standards. This year’s awards will highlight performances from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, which means fans will be voting on plenty of old news, old fights, old knockouts and old storylines that have already been replaced by the chaos of the current MMA calendar.
Fighters Only also revealed that additional recognitions will be handed out for the remainder of 2025 as the promotion tries to get the awards show back to a normal annual format for the first time since 2018.
Still, after months of wondering whether the show was cooked for good, the World MMA Awards are officially back tonight.
Check out the full list of nominees below:
Charles “Mask” Lewis Fighter of the Year
– Magomed Ankalaev
– Merab Dvalishvili
– Alexandre Pantoja
– Gadzhi Rabadanov
– Ilia Topuria
Female Fighter of the Year
– Dakota Ditcheva
– Kayla Harrison
– Jasmine Jasudavicius
– Valentina Shevchenko
– Natalia Silva
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
– Sean Brady
– Reinier de Ridder
– Dakota Ditcheva
– Jean Silva
– Joshua Van
International Fighter of the Year
– Phil De Fries
– Reinier de Ridder
– Jack Della Maddalena
– Dricus Du Plessis
– Paddy Pimblett
Fight of the Year
– Jack Della Maddalena vs. Belal Muhammad – UFC 315
– Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes – PFL Champions Series 1
– Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber – UFC 306
– Nazim Sadykhov vs. Nikolas Motta – UFC on ABC 8
– Joshua Van vs. Brandon Royval – UFC 317
Knockout of the Year
– Shara Magomedov vs. Arman Petrosyan – UFC 308
– Gustavo Oliveira vs. Anas Azizoun – PFL Europe 2
– Mauricio Ruffy vs. King Green – UFC 313
– Roberto Soldic vs. Saygid “Dagi” Arslanaliev – ONE 171
– Fares Ziam vs. Matt Frevola – UFC Fight Night 243
Submission of the Year
– Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker – UFC 308
– Virna Jandiroba vs. Amanda Lemos – UFC on ESPN 60
– Paddy Pimblett vs. King Green – UFC 304
– Stevie Ray vs. Lewis Long – PFL Europe 3
– Jean Silva vs. Bryce Mitchell – UFC 314
Comeback of the Year
– Jared Cannonier vs. Gregory Rodrigues – UFC Fight Night 251
– Gabe Green vs. Matheus Camilo – UFC Fight Night 256
– Toshiomi Kazama vs. Charalampos Grigoriou – UFC on ESPN 61
– Gerald Meerschaert vs. Edmen Shahbazyan – UFC on ESPN 62
– Phil Rowe vs. Ange Loosa – UFC on ESPN 69
Upset of the Year
– Raoni Barcelos vs. Payton Talbott – UFC 311
– Reinier de Ridder vs. Bo Nickal – UFC on ESPN 67
– Yuneisy Duben vs. Shannon Clark – DWCS 8-4
– Gabriella Fernandes vs. Wang Cong – UFC Fight Night 248
– Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane vs. Anatoly Malykhin – ONE 169
Commentator of the Year
– Jon Anik
– Brendan Fitzgerald
– John Gooden
– Sean O’Connell
– Michael Schiavello
Analyst of the Year
– Michael Bisping
– Paul Felder
– Dan Hardy
– Laura Sanko
– Din Thomas
Shawn Tompkins Coach of the Year
– Mike Brown – American Top Team
– Khabib Nurmagomedov – Abdulmanap School
– Pablo Sucupira – The Fighting Nerds
– Mike Valle – Valle Flow Striking
– John Wood – Syndicate MMA
Trainer of the Year
– Brandon Gallagher
– Heather Linden
– Everton Oliveira
– Charles Hu Stull
– Andrew Wood
Gym of the Year
– Abdulmanap School
– American Top Team
– The Fighting Nerds
– Syndicate MMA
– Valle Flow Striking
Referee of the Year
– Mike Beltran
– Herb Dean
– Marc Goddard
– Jason Herzog
– Mark Smith
Ringcard Girl of the Year
– Red Dela Cruz – UFC
– Kasia Kejsi – KSW
– Nikola Uhlirova – OKTAGON MMA
– Brookliyn Wren – UFC
– All Eight Octagon Girls of Noche UFC
Leading Man
– Graham Boylan
– Peter Murray
– Nobuyuki Sakakibara
– Ed Soares
– Dana White
Best Promotion
– Cage Warriors
– Legacy Fighting Alliance
– Professional Fighters League
– Rizin FF
– Ultimate Fighting Championship
Personality of the Year
– Bruce Buffer
– Daniel Cormier
– Nina Drama
– Joe Rogan
– Chael Sonnen
Best MMA Programming
– The Anik & Florian Podcast
– The Ariel Helwani Show
– Dana White’s Contender Series
– JAXXON Podcast
– The Ultimate Fighter
MMA Media Source of the Year
– ESPN
– MMA Fighting
– MMA Junkie
– Sherdog
– Uncrowned
MMA Journalist of the Year
– Mike Bohn – MMA Junkie
– Aaron Bronsteter – Sportsnet
– Ben Fowlkes – Uncrowned
– Ariel Helwani – Uncrowned
– Damon Martin – MMA Fighting
Fighting Spirit Award
– Ben Askren – Inspiration: Documenting his fight against life-threatening illness
– Jeff Brady – Heroism: Sacrificing his own life to save two children
– Ryan Curtis – Resolve: Battling against paralysis after horrific spinal injury
– Adam Hicks – Resilience: Continuing his role as coach despite battling brain cancer
– Francis Ngannou – Resilience: Overcoming the traumatic loss of a child to continue career
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