Best of UFC in 2025: Petr Yan steals Fighter of the Year from Islam Makhachev with stunning upset

The 2025 Fighter of the Year conversation was a no-brainer in its closing months. Merab Dvalishvili was on a trajectory to make his case open and shut. Petr Yan had other intentions. He upset Dvalishvili to win the UFC bantamweight title, causing a commotion among CBS Sports' panelists.

Suddenly, identifying the year's top fighter became complicated with a fast-approaching deadline. UFC champions Islam Makhachev and Valentina Shevchenko were back in the running off their earlier success, but had no time to separate themselves from the pack. Yan, who wasn't on anyone's radar before UFC 323, emerged from the aftermath as a legitimate contender.

Such awards often straddle a line between objective and subjective success. For example, the three fighters receiving the most votes each won two fights this year, exiting 2025 as champions. Whether a single meteoric win is more impressive than the culmination of historic achievements is up to interpretation.

More 2025 UFC awards: Knockout of the Year | Fight of the Year

UFC 323 fight fallout: Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili 3 among top fights to make after wild PPV

Shakiel Mahjouri

Our panel of CBS Sports experts sat down to have their vote for which fighter enjoyed the most memorable year. Let's take a look at the final results. 

Winner: Petr Yan 2-0 (UD Marcus McGhee, UD Merab Dvalishvili)

Yan threw a wrench in everyone's Fighter of the Year plans. Heading into UFC 323, Dvalishvili was the clear frontrunner. "The Machine" had beaten the three top challengers in the division -- Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen -- and was on the cusp of doing something no fighter had done: making four successful UFC title defenses in one year. Yan was a means to an end, a convenient foe for Dvalishvili's crowning achievement. Then the rematch rolled around. 

Yan fought like The Terminator. He was perfect. Dvalishvili isn't explicitly the most skilled bantamweight. What separated him from the pack was his endurance. Dvalishvili always comes forward, and eventually, his opponents fall apart. Not Yan. He clearly studied and prepared extensively for the champion. Yan's stamina never waned as he methodically interrupted Dvalishvili's grappling system. He took down the champ more times than he was taken down, outstruck him on the feet and repeatedly attacked the liver, a known structural weak point for Dvalishvili. Yan insisted before the fight that any "Machine" can be broken. He was right.

Yan's return to the mountaintop is even more impressive considering the circumstances. Winning one UFC championship is difficult enough; winning two is nearly impossible. Most fighters who reclaim titles do so almost immediately. For Yan, it was three consecutive losses and a five-year gap sit between his two title reigns. If there's one thing that narrowly separates him from his fellow nominees, it's that he dethroned the man we too quickly anointed the Fighter of the Year.

Honorable mentions

Islam Makhachev (2-0) (SUB1 Renato Moicano, UD Jack Della Maddalena)

No one achieved more historically this year than Makhachev. He started 2025 by setting the UFC lightweight title defense record, breaking a longtime tie shared by his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov, BJ Penn, Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson. Then, in November, Makhachev became the 11th two-division UFC champion with a dominant welterweight debut. So how could Makhachev, the top pound-for-pound fighter in MMA, fall behind in the Fighter of the Year scoring? Makhachev's quality of opposition weighed him down. 

Makhachev originally planned to defend his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311. Beating the top lightweight contender would've done wonders for Makhachev's 2025 campaign. However, Tsarukyan pulled out of their fight on 24 hours' notice and was replaced by a much lower-ranked Renato Moicano. Makhachev scored a first-round submission with minimal effort, reflecting how overmatched and underprepared Moicano was for such a tough fight on short notice. Dominating defending welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena was far more impressive, especially with the steep 15-pound differential between lightweight and welterweight, but Della Maddalena was an unproven commodity as champion. 

These demerits aren't criticisms of Makhachev. The man did his job with professionalism and precision. However, his historic achievements are cumulative and more impressive than the sum of their parts. 

Valentina Shevchenko 2-0 (UD Manon Fiorot, UD Zhang Weili)

Shevchenko has been a top fighter for nearly a decade. 2025 was another year that solidified her as an all-time great. In May, "Bullet" delivered Manon Fiorot the same fate as many other challengers who tried and failed to overthrow Shevchenko. Then, at UFC 322, on the same night that Makhachev became a two-division champion, Shevchenko shut down Zhang Weili's attempts to join Makhachev in the exclusive club.

Shevchenko had already carved out her spot on the Mt. Rushmore of women's MMA. One of the few things eluding her was a signature, career-defining win. Her best wins were arguably decisions over Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Holly Holm, both of whom were on a downslide after losing UFC titles. Shevchenko's dominant victory over Zhang was by far her biggest win. Zhang was too small in hindsight, but that comes with the territory of jumping weight classes. Unlike Holm and Jedrzejczyk, Zhang wasn't a lesser version of herself. She was in peak form and voluntarily vacated the women's strawweight title to pursue glory. Shevchenko had every answer, neutralizing Zhang's advantages and overwhelming her from start to finish. 

Shevcenko's prolonged excellence notched her numerous accolades in 2025. She enters the new year extending numerous women's flyweight records, while surpassing longtime rival Amanda Nunes for most combined women's title defenses in UFC history.

Others receiving votes: Merab Dvalishvili