The 15th Annual World MMA Awards were held on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
The Sahara Theatre played host to the ceremony, which is staged on a yearly basis by Fighters Only Magazine to recognize those throughout the MMA industry.
To hand out the awards at the end of the year, the period of eligibility differs from the calendar year and this year’s awards cover the period from July 1, 2022, until June 30, 2023.
The nominees are chosen by industry insiders with the winners determined by fan voting and revealed at the ceremony.
Below are the list of winners and nominees for each award:
Charles Lewis Fighter of the Year
Leon Edwards
Israel Adesanya
Aljamain Sterling
Islam Makhachev
Sadiboy Sy
Female Fighter of the Year
Alexa Grasso
Amanda Nunes
Larissa Pacheco
Liz Carmouche
Seika Izawa
Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
Alex Pereira
Ilia Topuria
Dricus du Plessis
Sergei Pavlovich
Alexa Grasso
International Fighter of the Year
Leon Edwards
Israel Adesanya
Dricus du Plessis
Sergei Pavlovich
Sadibou Sy
Fight of the Year
Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski (UFC 284)
Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler (UFC 281)
Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev (UFC 284)
Matt Schnell vs. Su Mudaerji (UFC on ABC 3)
Brennan Ward vs. Sabah Homasi (Bellator 290)
Knockout of the Year
Leon Edwards def. Kamaru Usman with a head kick (UFC 278)
Israel Adesanya def. Alex Pereira by TKO (UFC 287)
Sadiboy Sy def. Shane Mitchell with a spinning wheel kick (PFL 6)
Ismael Bonfim def. Terrance McKinney with a flying knee (UFC 283)
Krzysztof Glowacki over Patryk Tolkaczewski by KO (KSW Colosseum 2)
Submission of the Year
Alexa Grasso def. Valentina Shevchenko by face crank (UFC 285)
Louis Glismann over Melvin van Suijdam by Inverted omoplata (OKTAGON 43)
Islam Makhachev def. Charles Oliveira by arm-triangle choke (UFC 280)
Olga Rubin def. Claire Guthrie by Buggy choke (Invicta FC 53)
Reinier de Ridder def. Vitaly Bigdash by Inverted Triangle (ONE 159)
Comeback of the Year
Leon Edwards against Kamaru Usman (UFC 278)
Jon Jones
John Hathaway
Matt Schnell against Su Mudaerji
Yaroslav Amosov
Upset of the Year
Alexa Grasso over Valentina Shevchenko (UFC 285)
Larissa Pacheco over Kayla Harrison (PFL 10)
Christian Echols over Pat Downey (Bellator 289)
Jesus Pinedo over Brendan Loughnane (PFL 4)
Zebaztian Kadestam over Roberto Soldic (ONE Fight Night 10)
Shawn Tompkins Coach of the Year
Mike Thomas Brown
Eugene Bareman
Eric Nicksick
Ray Longo
Dave Lovell
Trainer of the Year
Heather Linden
Brandon Gallagher
Jonathan Reynolds
Everton Oliveira
Jordan Sullivan
Gym of the Year
ATT (American Top Team)
City Kickboxing
Team Renegade
Kill Cliff FC
AKA (American Kickboxing Academy)
Referee of the Year
Herb Dean
Jason Herzog
Marc Goddard
Mark Smith
Rich Mitchell
Ring Card Girl of the Year
Brittney Palmer
Louise McKie
Brookliyn Wren
Luciana Andrade
Jhenny Andrade
Leading Man
Dana White
Scott Coker
Peter Murray
Maciej Kawulski
Ondrej Novotny
Best Promotion
UFC
KSW
PFL
Bellator MMA
OKTAGON
Personality of the Year
Joe Rogan
Laura Sanko
Chael Sonnen
Daniel Cormier
Jon Anik
Analyst of the Year
Michael Bisping
Dan Hardy
Paul Felder
Kenny Florian
Anthony Smith
Best MMA Programming
Dana White’s Contender Series
The MMA Hour
Morning Kombat
UFC Embedded
The Anik & Florian Podcast
MMA Media Source of the Year
ESPN
MMA Fighting
Sherdog
MMA Junkie
Bloody Elbow
MMA Journalist of the Year
Ariel Helwani
John Morgan
Marc Raimondi
Nolan King
Aaron Bronsteter
Fighting Spirit Award
Themba Gorimbo
Yaroslav Amosov
Steven Ray
Biaggio Ali Walsh
Chris Barnett
Lifetime Achievement Award
Ken Shamrock
