The Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of an individual from the world of
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...
. The Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award trophy is presented to the mixed martial arts fighter adjudged to be the best in a given calendar year at the annual ESPY Awards ceremony. It was first awarded as part of the
ESPY Award
An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...
s in 2019, succeeding the
Best Fighter ESPY Award
The Best Fighter ESPY Award was an annual award honoring the achievements of an individual from the world of combat sports. The Best Fighter ESPY Award trophy was presented to the professional or amateur boxer or mixed martial artist adjudged t ...
, which encompassed both boxers and MMA fighters.
The inaugural winner of the Best MMA Fighter ESPY Award was American
UFC Heavyweight Champion
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships.
Historical notes
At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight class ...
Daniel Cormier
Daniel Ryan Cormier (; born March 20, 1979) is an American former professional mixed martial artist, amateur wrestler, and current commentator for the UFC. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Ch ...
, who won and defended the championship in 2018.
Winners and nominees
References
External links
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{{ESPYs
ESPY Awards
Awards established in 2019