Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award

The Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of an individual from the world of mixed martial arts. The Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award trophy is presented to the mixed martial arts fighter adjudged to be the best in a given calendar year at the annual ESPY Awards ceremony. It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2019, succeeding the Best Fighter ESPY Award, which encompassed both boxers and MMA fighters.

Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award
Awarded for	best mixed martial arts fighter
Presented by	ESPN
First award	2019
Currently held by	Merab Dvalishvili
Website	espn.com/espys/

The inaugural winner of the Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award was American UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier, who won and defended the championship in 2018.^[1]

Winners and nominees

Best Fighter ESPY Award winners and nominees

Year	Image	Winner	Nationality	Sanctioning body or league	Weight class	Nominees	Ref.
2019		Daniel Cormier	USA	Ultimate Fighting Championship	Heavyweight	Israel Adesanya Henry Cejudo Amanda Nunes	[1][2]
2020	Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021		Khabib Nurmagomedov	RUS	Ultimate Fighting Championship	Lightweight	Amanda Nunes Rose Namajunas Francis Ngannou	[3]
2022		Charles Oliveira	BRA	Ultimate Fighting Championship	Lightweight	Kayla Harrison Kamaru Usman Alexander Volkanovski	[4]
2023		Jon Jones	USA	Ultimate Fighting Championship	Heavyweight	Leon Edwards Amanda Nunes Islam Makhachev	[5]
2024		Sean O'Malley	USA	Ultimate Fighting Championship	Bantamweight	Islam Makhachev Alex Pereira Zhang Weili	[6]
2025		Merab Dvalishvili	GEO	Ultimate Fighting Championship	Bantamweight	Dricus du Plessis Kayla Harrison Islam Makhachev	[7]