There are really only two candidates for this year’s MMA fighter of the year- UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira and featherweight kingpin Ilia Topuria. ‘Poatan’, of course, has had an extraordinary, record-breaking run in 2024 where he successfully defended his 205-pound crown thrice within the span of seven months.

But on the other hand, ‘El Matador’ has perhaps an even better CV for this year that prompted UFC legend Matt Brown to place him above the Brazilian. “Beating Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway back to back, via knockout, you can’t compare the two,” Brown told EssentiallySports’ Andrew Whitelaw in an Exclusive interview.

At which point the 170lbs legend was asked if he felt Topuria deserved to be “Fighter of the Year?” And Brown, without missing a beat, answered in the affirmative before going on to explain his reasoning. “Yeah, I get that a lot of people are saying Alex, right? I get that, it’s a fair argument, I got Ilia all the way. You just, you can’t compare what he has done, I mean Max has never been knocked out. I don’t think he’s ever been dropped, right? Yeah, and Alex[ander Volkanovski] is not a guy that gets knocked out a bunch,” Brown said.

Max Holloway, of course, has a granite chin which had never failed him before he stepped into the octagon against Topuria at UFC 308 this October. In fact, ‘Blessed’ was considered one of the greatest featherweight of all time, behind only the other man Topuria beat in 2024- Alexander Volkanovski.

This is exactly what Brown told to EssentiallySports as he remarked, “That’s a once in a lifetime that you’re going to see that run,” and deserves the award despite having fought only twice this year, which is one less than Pereira. But with ‘El Matador having dealt with the two most elite at 145lbs, there is one question many are asking.

What is next for Ilia Topuria?

It is unclear whom Ilia Topuria will fight next. The UFC had Alexander Volkanovski step into the octagon to face off against Topuria after the champ beat Holloway, which might be an indication that he will rematch the Aussie sometime next year. Another top contender for the featherweight title is Diego Lopes, who has set fire to the division recently and is ranked #3 at the moment.

There is also the possibility of ‘El Matador’ fighting for a second title glory against lightweight phenom Islam Makhachev. In fact, the Spanish-Georgian had expressed his intentions to fight the Dagestani after Holloway, but the UFC is not very enthusiastic about fighters wanting to move up without ‘clearing out’ their division. To be fair, even Makhachev doesn’t want to fight Topuria since it wouldn’t do much for him professionally but has confirmed that he wouldn’t turn Topuria down if the UFC so wanted. But the chances of that happening next for ‘El Matador’ are pretty slim.

But as far as Topuria taking the Fighter of the Year award for 2024 goes, the chances of that are much much better, as Matt Brown explained in his exclusive ES interview. What do you think about Matt Brown’s pick for Fighter of the Year 2024?