After a challenging year of fights with no crowds in attendance at the UFC Apex and fight island (du Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates). The UFC in 2021 as Dana White would say "had one of their best years to date” with audiences returning and events booming. As 2021 was one of the premiere years to become a fan and watch the best go against one another.

So with that being said here are my winners for fighter of the year, the event of the year, the fight of the year, and many more.

Male Fighter Of The Year: Kamaru Usman

In a tough race with contenders such as Charles Olivera, Dustin Poirer, Alexander Volkanovski, Francis Ngannou, and Brandon Moreno. Kamaru Usman stood out the most going undefeated (3-0) in 2021 beating the likes of Gilbert Burns (UFC 258), Jorge Masvidal (UFC 261), and Colby Covington (UFC 268) in dominant fashion. Already known as an elite wrestler in a stacked welterweight division under new head coach Trevor Wittman. Kamaru Usman improved his striking and showcased himself to be an all-around fighter.

Female Fighter of The Year: Valentina Shevchenko

What was supposed to be a three-person race for female fighter of the year changed to two after the upset loss of Amanda Nunes against Juliana Pena who herself deserves consideration based on her performance at UFC 269.

This leaves strawweight champion Rose Namajunas and flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko for the crown. Although Rose may deserve the award based on her performances against former strawweight champ Zhang Weili. I believe Shevchenko gets the crown just because of how truly dominant she has been in 2021 finishing her opponents with ease. Thanks to her plethora of skills from muay thai to wrestling.

Lastly, if you believe Rose deserves the award over Valentina; I wouldn’t disagree.

Fight Of The Year

Over the span of 42 events across different arenas, this year may be one of the greatest years for dream matchups. As MMA fans normally after events or speculation, create these sort of fantasy matchups that we hope the UFC matchmaking generates.

An even though there were many fight of the year contenders, Justin Gaethje versus Michael Chandler at UFC 268 in Madison Square Garden was the fight of the year.

Besides recommending you to watch the full fight or highlights, Gaethje versus Chandler absolutely blew the roof off MSG with their back and forth war with one guy landing one big shot after another. From knockdowns to near knockouts these two men put everything on the line to be considered the number one contender in the lightweight division.

Event of the year

As I continue to hype up 2021 to be a great year for the UFC, the events this year were incredible with top to bottom, stacked cards featuring name upon name.

From UFC 261 with a packed returning audience to UFC 264 featuring highlight finishes to UFC 266 and the return of Nick Diaz to lastly UFC 269 featuring the upset of the year in Julianna Pena.

However, when deciding the UFC’s event of the year, UFC 268 stood above all of them. With back-to-back finishes from Chris Barnett and Ian Garry to the fight of the year with Gaethje/Chandler then to Kamaru and Rose reclaiming their titles.

Overall, UFC 268 will forever be one to remember in the year 2021.

Other Awards to bring in the new year

Coach of the year: Trevor Wittman. He went 5-0 in 2021. As his fighters either retained their title or secured a future title shot.

Upset of the year: Juliana Pena win over Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight title at UFC 269

Performance of the year: Max Holloway’s dominant victory over Calvin Katter at UFC Fight Night Holloway vs Katter.

Comeback fighter of the year: Gerald Meerschaert, went 1-2 in 2020 and suffered back-to-back KO/TKO losses. In 2021 he went 3-0, winning all three fights by submission.

KO of the year: Cody Sandhagen flying knee KO against Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night Volkov vs Overeem.

Submission of the year: Anthony Hernandez submission against Rodolfo Viera at UFC 258 Usman vs Burns

Breakout fighter/rookie of the year: Chris Curtis, jumped in last minute for a couple of big fights and won both in spectacular fashion via KO/TKO.

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