MMA Fighting’s 2025 Fight of the Year: Joshua Van vs. Brandon Royval

Here are the top fights that stole the show during 2025

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

2025 provided more than a few thrilling moments from championships changing hands to unexpected retirements and plenty of knock-down-drag-out action that won’t soon be forgotten.

While there’s a plethora of great fights to remember from the past year, the drama that unfolded in the cage included the more traditional slugfests that always get remembered but there were also some technical masterpieces and even a couple of wars that ended early but left an undeniable impression as 2025 comes to a close.

So with that said, here’s our selections for the best fights in 2025.

1. Joshua Van vs. Brandon Royval (UFC 317)

It’s safe to say Joshua Van had one of the best years out of any fighter in all of combat sports but it was a short notice matchup against Brandon Royval that rocketed him to the top of the flyweight division after these two put on a war for the ages back in June.

Fresh off a knockout over Bruno Silva, Van accepted a fight against Royval with about three weeks to go until the event. It was a cool story and just about everybody expected an action-packed fight but very few thought Van would actually beat a former title challenger like Royval after starting out 2025 as an unranked fighter.

What resulted in this fight was the definition of beautiful violence and calculated mayhem.

Van and Royval combined to throw nearly 800 strikes across three rounds with both fighters connecting on more than 200 significant blows, which was a new record for a three-round fight. It’s actually the first time in UFC history that both fighters connected with over 200 significant strikes and the flyweights did it with only 15 minutes to work.

Van was credited with the only knockdown and that helped propel him to victory while becoming the No. 1 contender at 125 pounds and both fighters enjoyed an extra $50,000 bonus for Fight of the Night. The battle was so memorable that UFC CEO Dana White even paid Royval his show and win bonus because while the scorecards went against him, “Raw Dawg” still won everybody’s respect with that performance.

2. Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes 1 (PFL Dubai)

Much like his famous teammates and coaches, Usman Nurmagomedov had been nothing short of dominant in every fight between his time in Bellator and the PFL. He looked like an unstoppable wrecking machine that didn’t give up rounds much less come close to losing a fight.

But Paul Hughes had different ideas when he was granted a title shot back in January and the Irish lightweight stepped into the contest with all the swagger and skill to pull off the upset. Hughes punished Nurmagomedov in many of the striking exchanges with an emphasis on body shots that definitely took a toll.

But despite his pedigree as a world-class grappler, Nurmagomedov was giving as good as he got while chewing up Hughes’ lead leg with kicks and feeding him a steady diet of punches to the head as well. By the final round both fighters were covered in sweat and blood as they continued to trade bombs with Nurmagomedov and Hughes looking like they were willing to go five more rounds just to get the job done.

When it was over, Nurmagomedov secured a majority decision victory but he gave Hughes his respect after enduring the toughest fight of his entire career.

3. Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier 3 (UFC 318)

Did we expect anything less than an instant classic from these two?

After two previous meetings with Poirier coming out on top both times — including another Fight of the Year contender when they met back in 2019 — the Louisiana native prepared to call it a career with his final appearance booked in a trilogy with Holloway at UFC 318 in New Orleans. While “The Diamond” was hanging up his gloves no matter the result, he planned to leave it all in the cage and it’s safe to say that’s exactly what happened while Holloway was seemingly determined to get his revenge and take a piece of Poirier’s soul with him as a reward.

Holloway looked like he was destined for an early finish after he battered Poirier with punches and dropped him to the canvas in the opening round. There were several more near finishes with Holloway pouring on the punishment but Poirier refused to back down and he unleashed plenty of blistering combinations to deliver his own knockdowns in the fight.

Poirier even made one last attempt for a guillotine choke but to no avail.

Over the course of the five-round fight, Holloway was just relentless with his pressure and pace and Poirier refusing to go away. Holloway got the win but it was a fitting goodbye for Poirier, who was almost always in the running for some year end award throughout his legendary career.

4. Nazim Sadykhov vs. Nikolas Motta (UFC Baku)

This lightweight war didn’t even make it past the second round but Nazim Sadykhov and Nikolas Motta absolutely delivered in the nine-plus minutes they spent in the cage together.

A fast start from Motta saw him unloading everything in his arsenal trying to put Sadykhov away but he weathered the storm and just kept coming right back at the Brazilian. The pace was frenzied with the crowd in Azerbaijan coming unglued to support Sadykhov as a local favorite.

There was no rest for the weary in this fight as the lightweights just kept blasting away at each other including Sadykhov scoring with some nasty elbows. Sadykhov finally put Motta away in the second frame after trapping him against the cage and just unloading punches including a devastating right hand that ended the fight.

They were rewarded with Fight of the Night honors (obviously) but Motta also paid in blood after suffering a broken jaw as a result of the insane battle with Sadykhov.

5. Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili 2 (UFC 323)

With a perfect 3-0 record in title fights in 2025, Merab Dvalishvili looked to cap off his year with another stunning performance in a rematch with Petr Yan. Their first encounter wasn’t exactly a barnburner with Dvalishvili spamming takedowns and Yan just couldn’t keep up with the relentless pace and pressure from the Georgian.

The rematch played out much differently because Yan was ready for Dvalishvili’s takedowns and a game plan that allowed him to stay in the hunt for all five rounds. While Dvalishvili never lets up off the gas pedal in his fights, Yan was ready to match him punch for punch except he has always been the better striker so he actually carved up the bantamweight champion in many of the wildest exchanges.

Even when Yan had Dvalishvili hurt, he never went wild trying to score a finish because he knew there was a good chance that if he didn’t get the knockout, he might not have the energy left to maintain that same strategy during the championship rounds. There were plenty of close exchanges but when it was over Yan reclaimed the title after putting on a five-round masterpiece while Dvalishvili’s ambitious year came to a close with a 3-1 record and hopes that he’ll have the chance to fight for the title again in 2026.

Here is how voting for MMA Fighting’s Fight of the Year played out