#fighter-of-the-year

#fighter-of-the-year

"I do hate him," Morales told Alvaro Colemenoro. "We don't have a very good vibe. But at the end of the day, he's still a fighter. I'm not gonna get overconfident if I had to prepare myself to fight him... That fight is gonna be intense if it happens... I think that if I were to fight him, it would be the first time that I would fight in a very aggressive way."

Makhachev's cryptic response to a photo of Morales and Topuria, featuring a telephone emoji, hints at a potential matchup with one of them next.

"About the decision, about the fight, nobody stay happy. I think the only people who stay happy about the decision is my opponent and his team. The president is making the right choice with that, that's protecting the image of the company and not tainting their legacy and the sport."

"I think I had one fight left, and I was hoping to have that fight since last year. I've been asking for the fight, but they keep telling me they are working on it... A lot of things were changing in the PFL. And sometimes it was even hard to know - because I used to talk fight-related [stuff] with Peter Murray. And then things started to change, and then John [Martin] came around, and the conversation basically had to start all over again."

I swear to God, I didn't know he was in the UFC. I saw him fighting in ONE Championship. His highlight was everywhere when he knocked out the guy with flying knee... Now I know him but I've never watched his fights.

Quillan Salkilld burst onto the MMA scene with the kind of poise, power, and finishing instinct rarely seen in a UFC debut, immediately marking himself as a problem for the lightweight division. Shot selection and ruthless efficiency made every moment he was in the cage box office, signaling that his rise isn't a flash in the pan. In a year loaded with strong rookie performances, Salkilld separated himself by looking less like a newcomer and more like a future contender from the moment the lights hit him.

It's hard not to pick Jiri Procházka's comeback knockout over Rountree Jr. when you consider how brutal those first two rounds were. Rountree appeared to be cruising to a clear decision win, but a brilliantly timed combination flipped the entire fight on its head, giving the former champion one of the year's most dramatic finishes.

Javid Basharat was released from the UFC despite a winning record in the promotion. | Getty/UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship is moving on from some fighters following its most recent event. The Las Vegas-based promotion has parted ways with Javid Basharat, Alex Morono and Lucas Almeida. Sherdog.com contributor Tom Feely initially brought word of the releases, which were later confirmed by MMAFighting.com. It's unclear if the aforementioned fighters were cut, or if the UFC simply elected not to renew their respective contracts.