As 2025 quickly approaches its end, it’s time to name some award winners from the last calendar year. Websites, analysts, fans, and fighters make their picks known, and former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad listed his picks in key categories.
Knockout of the Year
2025 saw some vicious knockout finishes inside the octagon. There were one-hitter-quitters, head kicks, spinning elbows. There were knockouts in every conceivable way, but for Muhammad one stood above the rest.
“First up, we’ll talk about Knockout of the Year. My pick, I’m going with Diego Lopes against Jean Silva. Spinning elbow. It was a war. He got rocked,” Muhammad said on his YouTube channel. “Man, anytime Diego is in a fight, anytime he’s in the cage it’s just nothing but chaos. It’s either he’s getting hit or he’s hitting.”
“Jean Silva went into that fight very hot. Guaranteed if he would have won that fight, he would have gotten a title shot. And I think the way Diego won that fight with the excitement, the crowd loves him, I think that knockout earned him a title shot.”
Submission of the Year
Knockouts are great, but forcing an opponent to quit via submission is equally satisfying. There were plenty of submission finishes to choose from and Muhammad settled on one from UFC 320.
Submission of the Year, I think I’m going to go different, right? Everybody’s going to go with the Jean Silva against Bryce Mitchell, but I’m going to go with Youssef Zalal subbing [Josh] Emmett who’s been in the game a long time, been at the top, fought for the belt, and got him with an armbar in the first round is crazy,” Muhammad said.
“You don’t really see armbars anymore in the UFC. So, you get him to do it against a guy like Emmett, you get my award.”
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Fighter of the Year
“Fighter of the Year, I mean, you can’t deny Merab, right? To have four title fights, four title matches in a year is crazy. For him to want to strive for greatness, strive for history, you can’t be mad at him,” Muhammad said. “The schedule was crazy. The toughest guys in the division. I’m still going to give it to Merab.”
“Islam [Makhachev] got double-champ status, Poatan (Alex Pereira) got his belt back. But I thought Merab, you can’t deny the schedule, man. That was a crazy schedule. I think I’m going to give it to him (Dvalishvili). I think he still earned it.”
