The 2024 MMA All-Star Team celebrates 36 fighters across various weight classes for their exceptional performances, entertainment value, and accomplishments throughout the year, with notable mentions including Denis Goltsov, Alex Pereira, Dricus du Plessis, Carlos Prates, Ilia Topuria, Merab Dvalishvili, Alexandre Pantoja, Macy Chiasson, Dakota Ditcheva, Gillian Robertson, and Max Holloway.
The MMA All-Star Team is back!
2024 is in the books, and it was a pretty great year in terms of MMA. Tons of violent knockouts, slick submissions, and back-and-forth wars made up the past 12 months. So, as we’ve taken to doing the past few years, it’s time to celebrate the 36 fighters who contributed most to our enjoyment this year.
The concept is simple: The three fighters in each weight class who had the best year based on excitement, activity, and accomplishment. We’re not just talking about who are the best fighters but which fighters delivered the most entertainment throughout the year. Losses aren’t necessarily disqualifying (so long as the fight was great), and neither are decisions (so long as they weren’t boring).
As always, this idea was originated by the great Jordan Breen, who used to do an “All-Violence Team” for Sherdog. Shout out to him.
Every other major sport has an All-Pro or All-Star team, and this is ours. Welcome to the 2024 All-Violence team.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Heavyweight
First Team: Denis Goltsov.
Quite possibly my favorite fighter I get to celebrate this year. Three times before this year, Goltsov made it to the PFL heavyweight tournament only to lose in heartbreaking fashion. But 2024 was different.
Not only did Goltsov finally get over the hump to win the title and the $1 million prize, but he did it in style with four finishes this year—three in the first round. Congrats and well-deserved!
Second Team: Marcin Tybura.
And after Goltsov, the quality undeniably drops off. Simply put, a lot of heavyweights (and staples of this list) weren’t very active in 2024, fighting only once or twice.
Tybura was the exception though, with three fights, two wins, two finishes, and one Performance of the Night bonus to his credit. Tybura even gets a little extra love because in his loss he did get finished—meaning you got bang for your buck when the big man fought this year.
Third Team: Kennedy Nzechukwu.
Nzechukwu made his heavyweight debut this year and while he didn’t exactly fight the steepest competition—the man I’ve affectionately dubbed “Kenny Nunchucks” did leave quite an impression. Two fights; two first-round finishes; a Performance of the Night bonus—good enough for Third-Team honors in a down year.
Honorable Mentions: Jairzinho Rozenstruik; Mick Parkin; Oleg Popov; Phil De Fries; Tim Johnson.