Female Fighter of the Year 2025
Eddie Law: I’ll probably get some scoffs for this pick, but when you look at the full arc of Mackenzie Dern’s martial arts journey, her crowning moment at UFC 321 against Virna Jandiroba feels like the perfect capstone to a long road to gold. Now the question becomes whether she can grow into a dominant champion, or if this reign proves to be a one-and-done.
Gabriel Gonzalez: Valentina Shevchenko continues to remain head and shoulders above elite competition in stunning fashion. If there was worry that she is slowing down at this stage of her career, she showed she’s just not there yet in neutralizing a top contender in Manon Fiorot and a fellow legend in the making in Zhang Weili earlier this year.
Jay Anderson: 2025 was a strange, sort of transitional year for women’s MMA. Dakota Ditcheva was barely active, Kayla Harrison won her first UFC championship but only fought once, Weili Zhang vacated her UFC strawweight belt but came up short in her quest for flyweight gold. PFL champ Cris Cyborg fought once, and that was kind of a “gimmie” fight, with apologies to Sara Collins. That leaves Valentina Shevchenko, who defeated Zhang to retain her flyweight belt while also defending against Manon Fiorot, and Mackenzie Dern, who won Zhang’s old title a few months back. At least among champs. There’s no rule here that says Fighter of the Year has to be a champion however. The problem is, a lot of contenders were also inactive: Erin Blanchfield and Natalia Silva, for example, had just one fight each in 2025. Same with Norma Dumont, who is now circling a title shot, at bantamweight. Liz Carmouche did win the PFL’s World Tournament, winning three fights this year, but I’ll side with Shevchenko’s two victories due to level of competition.
Brett Cagle: Valentina Shevchenko. After dominating a title fight against fellow future Hall of Famer Weili Zhang and turning back French standout Manon Fiorot, “Bullet” is a surefire pick for Female Fighter of the Year. The quality of opponents Shevchenko beat in 2025 far exceeds that of her peers.
Mathis Desjardins: Valentina Shevchenko. Mackenzie Dern and Kayla Harisson both became champions in 2025, but with two successful title defences against what, on paper, was supposed to be some of the toughest competition she had to face yet, Valentina Shevchenko was a no-brainer.
Daniel Vreeland: Valentina Shevchenko. Not only did Shevchenko turn away the obvious number one contender in Manon Fiorot this year, but she also won a super fight against rising champion Weili Zhang. While those two wins are already enough to cement her in place for this award, the fact that she manhandled Zhang to a 50-45 scorecard certainly doesn’t hurt.
Bryson Hester: Kayla Harrison narrowly edges out Valentina Shevchenko here for my Women’s fighter of the year. Kayla challenged Julianna Pena for the Bantamweight strap back in June and made quick work of Pena submitting her with 5 seconds left in the first round via kimura. The finish on UFC 316 earned Kayla a performance bonus and attracted the attention of another legendary Women’s UFC fighter. Harrison now has a scheduled bout against one of the greatest female fighter ever, Amanda Nunes. That fight is booked for the co-main event slot of UFC 324 on January 24th, 2026 for the 135lbs. title. Nunes was submitted by Pena in 2021 before returning the following year to earn her belt back in a unanimous decision. With the story line already in place it makes sense that Harrison with her gold medals and smooth landing in the UFC would attract a fight of that magnitude.
End Result: Mackenzie Dern and Kayla Harrison both won titles, but it’s Valentina Shevchenko getting the bulk of the votes as our Female Fighter of the Year. That’s a repeat for “Bullet,” who was also our 2020 Female Fighter of the Year.
