The Professional Fighters League purchased Bellator MMA, Francis Ngannou finally lived out his boxing dreams by fighting (and knocking down) Tyson Fury, and the UFC and USADA parted ways. But the fighters shined the brightest this year throughout all of the madness, controversy, and changes. Here are 10 fighters who had standout performances in 2023.
Sean Strickland
Could you ever have imagined Sean Stickland would be champion? Because we sure
didn’t. Everyone counted Strickland out when it was announced he would fight the
long-standing middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. And that’s why he makes the
list of 10 best fighters of the year.
Not only did Strickland go toe-to-toe with the champion over five rounds, but he dismantled him completely along the way. He even dropped Adesanya in a feat no one thought possible.
“Am I f—ing dreaming? Am I going to wake up? Somebody hit me. Literally, never in a million years did I think I was going to be here, he said in the Octagon after the win. “Izzy is a bad motherf—er. You don’t fight a guy with that many highlight-reel KOs. The majority of my friends, he’s beat pretty easy. I was even kind of doubting myself at times.”
Following the win he became a bit of a cult hero due to his controversial trash-talk and brash personality. Strickland will face Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 for his first title defense.
Alexandre Pantoja
Alexandre Pantoja became the UFC flyweight champion when he defeated Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 in July. The new champion was the first flyweight champion in years not named Moreno or Deiveson Figueiredo.
Many UFC fans feel like a champion isn’t a legitimate threat until they defend their title and that’s what Pantoja did versus Brandon Royal on Dec. 16 in the co-main event at UFC 296. After having a blockbuster year, he asked UFC president Dana White a favor … grant him a fight in Brazil.
“I’ve (been) fighting across all the world. I fight in South Korea, I fight in Abu Dhabi, I fight in Chile, Argentina, Glasgow. (But) I never fight for UFC in Brazil,” Pantoja said during his post-fight interview. “That’s my wish for papa Dana for Christmas. I want to defend my belt in Rio de Janeiro. That’s my town. I try to be a new idol for Brazil. Brazil needs good idols, good heroes right now.”
The champion will head into 2024 secure on his throne.
Impa Kasanganay
In 2021, Impa Kasanganay was cut from the UFC following his appearance in one of the greatest knockouts of all time. Unfortunately, he was the one getting KO’d. He was living in his car, praying for a fight.
Flash forward to 2023. Kasanganay fought in the Challenger Series in March, the PFL’s version of The Contender Series. He won his fight via a first-round TKO and earned his place as a backup fighter for the 2023 PFL season. He came into the season in the second round after a mass exodus of fighters flagged for PED use and worked his way into the PFL Finals on Nov. 24.
Kasanganay would win his fight versus Josh Silveira after a five-round domination to become the light heavyweight champion and the owner of $1 million. It’s funny how I look back a year ago, I’m like, ‘Life’s a bit different!’ Kasanganay told The Sun. Every time I walk past that parking spot, I’m like, ‘Man, now I’m going home, I’ve got a house with a garage.’”
Patchy Mix
Patchy Mix won three titles in 2023, an unbelievable feat.
On April 22, Mix faced the Bellator interim bantamweight champion Raufeon Stots in the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix final round. He knocked out Stots in just 80 seconds to earn the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix title and the interim bantamweight championship title.
On Nov. 17, Mix stepped into the cage to unify the title versus the reigning champion, Sergio Pettis. He defeated Pettis via a second-round submission to earn the undisputed title.
It’s unclear where Mix will go from here as PFL has announced the Bellator champions will face the PFL champions but PFL does not have a bantamweight division or a champion.
Alexa Grasso
Alexa Grasso had a blockbuster 2023 when she defeated the unbeatable champion, Valentina Shevchenko.
On March 4, Grasso finished Shevchenko with a nasty face crank in the fourth round of their fight becoming the first new UFC flyweight champion since 2018. Before Shevchenko’s loss, she’d won and defended her title eight times.
The women fought again as the headliners for Noche UFC but their bout ended in a controversial draw with Grasso retaining the title. She’s currently recovering from an injury and should make her return in 2024.
Islam Makhachev
Islam Makhachev had two big fights in 2023 and both were against the same man … UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
The UFC lightweight champion welcomed Volkanovski into his division on Feb. 12 knowing that Volkanovski was looking to make history off his back and he didn’t even flinch. Makhachev defended his title and stopped Volkanovski’s champ-champ goals with a unanimous decision win.
They fought again on Oct. 21 when Volkanovski re-ignited the goal by stepping in on short notice. There were doubts in their first fight, but Makhachev left none this time around knocking out Volkanovski with a head kick in the very first round.
Larissa Pacheco
Larissa Pacheco may not be a name the casual MMA fans recognize at first glance, but she’s absolutely a powerhouse in women’s MMA and deserves her flowers. In 2022 she shocked the world when she became the first woman to hand Kayla Harrison a loss in MMA. She backed up that year with another historic PFL season.
Pacheco moved down to the featherweight division after winning the lightweight title and remained undefeated through her four appearances in 2023. She became the first PFL double champion when she defeated Marina Mokhnatkina for the PFL featherweight title.
As mentioned earlier, the PFL has announced Pacheco will fight the Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg in 2024. It’s champ versus champ, PFL founder Donn Davis said after the event. Larissa’s earned that, but then will Cris fight Kayla in 2024? One hundred percent, that is going to happen. Cris will have two fights in 2024. Kayla will have two fights in 2024. One of those will be Cris against Kayla, but we think that Larissa’s earned that.
Tom Aspinall
Tom Aspinall got off the couch and won the interim UFC heavyweight title in 2023. Aspinall was called up to face Sergi Pavlovich in just two weeks’ notice. When he stepped into the Octagon, most people counted him out versus the knockout artist. But not only did he win, but he finished Pavlovich at his own game … a knockout in just 69 seconds.
Unfortunately, Aspinall may not get to fight Jon Jones next to unify the title. UFC president Dana White says Jones will fight Stipe Miocic next as was originally planned as a legacy fight.
You can sugarcoat it all you want, these legacy fights and whatever. My next fight has to be for the undisputed title. Why would they do otherwise? Let’s f*cking find out who the guy is, simple as that, Aspinall said on the True Geordie podcast. All this legacy fight sh*t, I don’t understand how that can happen. Yeah, let them have a legacy fight, but why for the undisputed title? Why are you making the rest of us wait? I understand it’s Jon Jones. There’s no person walking this earth who is a bigger Jon Jones fan than me, but this isn’t boxing. This isn’t guys avoiding each other. This isn’t the No. 1 guy fighting the No. 10 guy. Let’s find out who the f*cking guy is, because I believe it’s me.
Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira might have had the best comeback story of 2023.
He started the year off by losing his middleweight title to longtime foe Israel Adesanya and became the tail end of a knockout meme. But he bounced back with a vengeance by moving up to light heavyweight and defeating former champions Jan Błachowicz and Jiří Procházka.
On Nov. 11, Pereira won the vacant light heavyweight title when he knocked out Procházka in the second round at UFC 295. After the fight, Pereira called out Adesanya who lost his title and announced he’d be taking time off.
It doesn’t matter for me. I called him out in the cage after the title win, and I wanted to give him the chance, and I saw he was not giving me any respect for this – he was laughing about it and making some jokes, Pereira said at a Q&A in France hosted by Ares FC. So for me, it doesn’t matter anymore. I gave him the chance. If he comes up, nice; if he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter.
Jesus Pinedo
Jesus Pinedo started his 2023 PFL season on the losing end of a split decision but never let that happen again. In his sophomore fight with the promotion he knocked out the 2022 champion Brendan Loughnane and instantly put himself on the map.
He followed that win up with another knockout, this time of fan favorite Bubba Jenkins,punching his ticket to the PFL Finals.
In the finals he faced Gabriel Braga, the man he lost to in June. But he was determinedto prove himself champion and finished Braga to win the PFL featherweight title and $1 million in his first season with the growing promotion.
