One show to rule them all. While any card can punch up, rest assured you won’t hear any talk of the Apex in this awards category (save for this sentence, right here). Logically, the bigger the show, the bigger the stakes, the better the result. That proved true in 2025, with all of our entries save for one honorable mention coming from the UFC’s PPV line-up.
Event of the Year 2025
Eddie Law: UFC 317 – Ilia Topuria cemented himself as the new big star in the UFC taking the lightweight title over Charles Oliveira via KO, Alexandre Pantoja turned yet another contender away, Joshua Van earned himself a title shot in the likely FOTY and Gregory Rodrigues scored the scariest KO of the year. Insane event.
Gabriel Gonzalez: UFC 317. The entire event saw plenty of highlights from top to bottom. The history making performance by Topuria ruled the night, but we got a great buildup for a flyweight title fight with the dominance of Pantoja and the breakout of Van for a great face-off. Add in highlight reel finishes by the likes Gregory Rodrigues and Terrance McKinney and it made for a fitting night for what has annually been a tentpole event for the company.
Jay Anderson: I really, really want to go with either UFC 314 or 315 here, because I attended both in person, and getting a chance to cover mixed martial arts as a journalist in the house that GSP built in Montreal is a checkbox item for me personally. I have to acknowledge, however, that UFC 317 was the better card. Ilia Topuria made history, Joshua Van had a breakout performance, and Alexandre Pantoja continued to shine, with a fight between the two set up here. Shoutout to RIZIN 49, which was technically the final big event of 2024, but due to deadlines gets consideration as part of this year’s awards.
Brett Cagle: UFC 319. Two spinning knockouts, Chimaev earning a title, and the return to Chicago for UFC this card was the most electric of 2025.
Mathis Desjardins: UFC 317. UFC 322 was nuts until the main and co-main event then took some air out of the balloon. UFC 314 and UFC 320 had some real jump-out-of-your-seat moments, but UFC 317 ending on a three-fight run of Royval/Van, Pantoja/Kara-France and Topuria/Oliveira was always going to be tough to beat. From a true Fight of the Year contender to Pantoja asserting his dominance and Topuria capping it off with what might be a career-best highlight. This takes the cake.
Daniel Vreeland: UFC 317 was an exciting night of fights capped off by a pair of title fights. Not only did we see Ilia Topuria and Alexandre Pantoja stake their claims for a spot in the history books, but we also had the consensus fight of the year on the card as well. The undercard was also filled with phenomenal finishes that all wound up missing out of the performance bonuses they would usually be shoo-ins for.
Bryson Hester: UFC 314. Volk’s title defense against Diego Lopes which many had as the Fight of the Year. Co-main event slot had Paddy’s showdown with Michael Chandler with the Baddy having his coming out party, producing a bloody finish and creating an interim title shot for himself. Jean Silva styled on and submitted Bryce Mitchell, which produced a huge pop from the crowd and also resulted in Mitchell moving down to 135lbs. Dominick Reyes built to a 3-fight finish streak with a first round KO after losing 4 straight, 5’7” Dan Ige KO’d a 6’2” Sean Woodson in the final round of what was a great fight too. Plus a future title challenger (Virna Jandiroba) and a few more finishes on the card. This was an excellent card, start to finish.
End Result: UFC 317 claims top spot as our Event of the Year for 2025!
