MMA Fighting’s 2023 Fight of the Year: Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski 1

MMA fans are no strangers to seeing champion vs. champion fights dangled in front of them for years before watching them cruelly fizzle out.

Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva.

Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg.

Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou (there’s still a chance!).

So there was much rejoicing when the UFC pulled the trigger on a superfight between arguably the two most skilled athletes in all of combat sports: Newly crowned lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and indomitable featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

The timing was perfect. Makhachev had just demolished Charles Oliveira, and Volkanovski—conveniently cageside at UFC 280 for said demolishing to face off afterward with Makhachev—was coming off of a silence-any-doubts win over rival Max Holloway. The upcoming UFC 284 event just happened to be taking place in Volkanovski’s home country of Australia. We always talk about wanting to see the best fight the best and, on paper, Makhachev vs. Volkanovski was arguably the highest-level matchup in UFC history.

It lived up to the hype.

This was a fight where not just every moment, but every movement was filled with tension. The crowd ate up every second of this 25-minute chess match, the beauty of mixed martial arts on full display, with neither fighter willing to concede an inch in any facet of the game.

Makhachev goes for a takedown? Volkanovski shows his incredible balance and ability to reverse out of almost any situation. Volkanovski lands a big hook on Makhachev? Makhachev aggressively responds with power punches and brutal clinch knees. The back-and-forth in the first round alone left both men smiling as the buzzer sounded. Like two jazz greats sharing the stage for the first time, they sensed the opening five minutes were only the beginning of something special.

Volkanovski’s Australian supporters added plenty to the atmosphere, cheering loudly at every show of force their champion could muster. Even just standing up after a Makhachev takedown had them celebrating as if Volkanovski had connected with a spinning wheel kick. And justifiably so, as the smaller Volkanovski did everything in his power to show that size didn’t matter.

We saw Makhachev answer plenty of questions, too. Conventional wisdom suggested a prolonged battle would favor Volkanovski and his endless gas tank. But Makhachev showed little signs of fading, and he was relentless in working to bring the resilient Volkanovski to the mat. If there was a way to accurately gauge the energy these two exerted in the fight, my guess is it would have been enough to power the entire arena.

Amazingly, the most memorable image of the fight came when Volkanovski roared into the camera after surviving three minutes of Makhachev back control. Has there ever been a more exciting sequence in history revolving around one fighter defending against MMA’s most dominant position?

With a minute to go, Volkanovski scored the lone knockdown of the fight and ended on top, a snapshot that encapsulates how close he came to ending Makhachev’s lightweight reign just as it was getting started. Makhachev won a fair decision, but Volkanovski had done more than enough to support the argument that, pound-for-pound, there was no better fighter on the planet.

Their rematch eight months later at UFC 294 (necessitated by an Oliveira injury that forced him out of his own rematch with Makhachev) was thrilling in its own way, as Makhachev finished Volkanovski with a head kick. But it fell well short of the drama displayed in their first meeting. None of that should tarnish the legacy of their initial duel, though, which is, simply put, one of the finest martial arts contests we’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing.

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2. Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Moreno 2

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If Makhachev vs. Volkanovski was the ultimate test of technique, then Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Moreno was a classic war of attrition.

The second meeting (or third, if you count their exhibition bout on The Ultimate Fighter) between these elite flyweights was long overdue, with the stars never quite aligning for them to cross paths again. Moreno was embroiled in an unprecedented four-fight series with Deiveson Figueiredo, while Pantoja suffered a few key losses that kept him short of a guaranteed title shot.

But once Moreno definitively settled the score with Figueiredo in their final championship fight, there was nothing standing in the way of the Mexican star getting the chance to earn a win over his nemesis. Pantoja had defeated Moreno on TUF, and in their first proper UFC fight. If Moreno was to continue to make his case for all-time flyweight greatness, he’d have to vanquish his personal boogeyman.

Damn if he didn’t try.

Pantoja scored a knockdown in the opening round of their UFC 290 clash, and from there, it was a sprint to the finish. On the feet, everything they threw was with the intention of ending the fight; on the ground, their grappling exchanges were mesmerizing demonstrations of determination.

Were it not for Pantoja’s diamond chin, Moreno would likely be celebrating the new year with gold still around his waist. Instead, Pantoja matched Moreno blow for blow, refusing to let Moreno get on the board in their rivalry. Every time it looked like Pantoja was tiring, he’d answer with a damaging flurry, which consequently pushed Moreno to a performance that surpassed anything he showed in the Figueiredo tetralogy. It still wasn’t enough.

Pantoja won again and did so in style, making him the rightful ruler of the always-entertaining flyweight division.

3. Irene Aldana vs. Karol Rosa

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The women’s bantamweight division has become somewhat of a punchline over the past few years, having fallen far in terms of notoriety from the halcyon days of Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate and Holly Holm. Amanda Nunes did her best to bring glory to the division, but her dominance only served to shine an unflattering light on a shallow contender pool.

Nunes’ retirement this past summer has left the 135ers scrambling to regain relevancy, and women’s bantamweight bouts are rarely even scheduled, much less highly anticipated.

At UFC 296, Irene Aldana and Karol Rosa had something to say about that.

No one expected Aldana and Rosa to be anything but a standup battle. Even fewer people predicted the women would deliver the best preliminary bout of the year. Early on, it looked like it could be another disappointing night for Aldana after a listless performance against Nunes six months prior. Rosa smartly targeted Aldana’s leg, doing everything she could to turn Aldana into a one-legged fighter. Somehow, Aldana marched forward, becoming more aggressive with every passing second.

By Round 3, Rosa realized she was no longer in a martial arts contest. She was in a fight, and she responded accordingly, making sure to add plenty of face-punching to her repertoire, to the tune of a combined 106 head strikes between her and Aldana in the final round alone. The UFC built its name on having quality fights from the top to the bottom of the lineup, and while the promotion can’t consistently claim that anymore, Aldana and Rosa reminded us that there’s still plenty of magic to be found for those dedicated fans who never miss a scrap.

If you missed it, all you need to do is check out these two pictures from the aftermath to understand how incredible the action was.

4. Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev

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Justin Gaethje has been the baddest m*********** for a minute, and he’s never needed a shiny belt to prove it.

Before officially becoming the “BMF” champion at UFC 291, Gaethje threw down with Rafael Fiziev in an instant classic that would have been a five-rounder in a better, more just world. Fiziev entered their UFC 286 clash on a run of five consecutive fight night bonuses, and his matchup with Gaethje was a striking fan’s dream.

Each punch and kick fired off in this fight was rife with meaning, neither man wasting an opportunity to capitalize on the other’s mistakes. Isolate any exchange from this fight, and you’ll marvel at their ability to not only dish out extraordinary punishment, but to take it. There’s only a handful of lightweights in the business who could have absorbed these shots and made it to the scorecards.

Did Gaethje do enough to maintain his reputation as MMA’s most dangerous standup fighter? The scoring raised a few eyebrows, with Fiziev somehow not winning Round 1 on all three judges’ cards, and Gaethje receiving a questionable 10-8 in Round 3, but Gaethje’s narrow decision win is secondary to what actually happened over the span of a breathtaking 15 minutes.

Let’s hope this one is run back someday, this time with five rounds on the contract.

5. Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Geoff Neal

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Some people go into fights wanting to win them. Others go into fights wanting to end them. Guess which category Shavkat Rakhmonov belongs to.

In what would prove to be the undefeated welterweight’s toughest test yet, Rakhmonov had to deal with the always-confident Geoff Neal at UFC 285. Neal was in the best form of his career after knocking out Vicente Luque and sure enough, Neal tagged Rakhmonov a few times in Round 1. It was a reminder that the path to the top of any division is fraught with peril.

How did Rakhmonov answer? He kicked Neal square in the head. He came forward with battering punches. He mixed in his wrestling. Neal withstood it all and kept finding Rakhmonov’s chin, which Rakhmonov actually seemed to enjoy.

Rakhmonov’s relentless offense had him well on his way to a decision win, but he had a reputation to maintain. Sixteen fights, sixteen finishes, a record he wouldn’t let anyone challenge. With a minute remaining in an exhilarating final round, Rakhmonov went back to basics and clamped an arm down on Neal’s neck as they grappled against the fence. No hand-fighting, no hooks, just a future champion pouring all of his strength into draining the last of his opponent’s health bar – and removing the judges from the equation.

There wasn’t a nastier exclamation point in 2023.

Here is how the voting for MMA Fighting’s 2023 Fight of the Year played out.

MMA Fighting

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner, UFC 290
• Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo 4, UFC 283
• Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko 2, UFC Las Vegas
• Nazim Sadykhov vs. Viacheslav Borshchev, UFC 295
• Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya, UFC 293
• Clay Collard vs. Shane Burgos, PFL 9
• Kurt Holobaugh vs. Jason Knight, The Ultimate Fighter 31: Episode 11
• Jamahal Hill vs. Glover Teixeira, UFC 283
• Max Holloway vs. The Korean Zombie, UFC Singapore
• Chepe Mariscal vs. Trevor Peek, UFC Jacksonville