Highlights
The Fights | 2026 Half-Year Awards
Five Contests Dominated The Voting, With Familiar Faces Leading The Way | The Thomas Gerbasi UFC.com Awards
As we roll along in this week’s delivery of the Thomas Gerbasi UFC.com Half-Year Awards, we arrive at our penultimate category — The Fights.
This was the category with the clearest consensus, with the five fights mentioned below outpacing the rest of the nominees and the breakdown from first to fifth being the cleanest yet.
HALF-YEAR AWARDS: The Newcomers | The Submissions | The Knockouts
You know it’s been an exciting six months when there are five clear “these have been the best fights of the year” selections and a handful of others that garnered votes, and if the pattern holds, we’re in for an outstanding back half of the year as well.
Here’s a look at how the voting shook out.
1. Joshua Van vs Tatsuro Taira
This is now three straight first place finishes in this category for Van, whose UFC 317 bout with Brandon Royval took top spot at the midway point last year and held on to land as the consensus Fight of the Year amongst the UFC.com staff at the close of 2025.
Watch The Full Fight On UFC Fight Pass
Now the flyweight champ’s first title defense sits atop the podium as June readies to shift into July after his UFC 328 win over Tatsuro Taira earned the most votes this year.
The fight was a tale of two contests, really, with the challenger dominating the opening nine minutes or so with his wrestling before Van started to really assert his will in the striking department. While Taira showed his mettle and continued to battle the whole way through, landing takedowns in the third and fourth that made Van work, “The Fearless” found a way to stuff the early shots at the start of the fifth and punish his opponent for his mistakes, earning the stoppage win.
Joshua Van Earns Epic Fifth-Round Stoppage Over Taira | UFC 328
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there`s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world`s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Joshua Van Earns Epic Fifth-Round Stoppage Over Taira | UFC 328
/
This was an outstanding fight between two of the best flyweights in the world, and one that we’re likely to see again at some point down the road as Van and Taira are 24 and 26 respectively and sure to remain fixtures in the title conversation for the foreseeable future.
2. Justin Gaethje vs Ilia Topuria
Gaethje’s lightweight title win at the White House last month was both a classic effort from a perennial Fight of the Year combatant, and an incredible story all wrapped into one.
Watch The Full Fight On UFC Fight Pass
Though the American came out hot, Topuria was able to stem the tide and put Gaethje on the ropes in the second, hurting him badly to the body numerous times before chasing a series of submissions on the ground. But when he couldn’t find a finish, the champion was tired and Gaethje took full advantage, beginning his real onslaught in the third, where he started to bust up Topuria to the point the doctor was called in to assess his ability to continue before the start of the fourth round.
While the bout continued, so too did the one-way beatdown, as Gaethje pummeled Topuria for the next five minutes, leaving him a bloody, swollen mess to where it was clear that if his corner didn’t stop the fight, the doctor would. Topuria’s team said, “No más” and Gaethje kicked into celebration mode, having finally achieved his dream of becoming the undisputed UFC lightweight champion.
3. Josh Hokit vs Curtis Blaydes
Hokit cruised through his first two opponents with minimal push-back, but this bout with Blaydes was penciled in as the measuring stick moment for the brash Contender Series grad, who showed immediately that he was ready to hang with top 5 talents.
Watch The Full Fight On UFC Fight Pass
The former NFL practice squad player charged across the Octagon and put Blaydes on skates almost immediately, landing a big right hand that set the tone of the contest. While the veteran heavyweight steadied himself, returned fire, and won the opening frame on all three scorecards, there was never truly a point where it felt like Hokit was in trouble or that Blaydes’ attacks were having as much of an impact as those of his opponent.
This was a statement effort by the first-year UFC fighter, who followed it up with a win over Derrick Lewis last month at UFC Freedom 250 to move to 4-0 inside the Octagon. While his personas, politics, and overall approach are quite divisive, there is no questioning that Hokit is a tremendous athlete and very much in the thick of the chase in the heavyweight division already.
4. Justin Gaethje vs Paddy Pimblett
Gaethje’s second appearance on this list comes courtesy of his UFC 324 battle with Paddy Pimblett for the interim lightweight title.
Watch The Full Fight On UFC Fight Pass
This was a thoroughly entertaining fight from the outset, with the American deploying something closer to his original style, pressing the action and hurting Pimblett in the early going before the Liverpool man steadied himself and worked his way back into the fight. In a bout contested largely on the feet, Gaethje’s more fluid striking, great power, and overall, more successful deployment of his weapons were the deciding factors, but Pimblett did more than hold his own and the fight itself was far closer than the scorecards suggest.
The first time Gaethje won the interim title, he wanted little to do with the belt, viewing it as a consolation prize and a golden ticket, with his only interest being in the undisputed title he would later fight for and fall short of collecting. This time, you could see that the veteran battler understood the magnitude of this win and that it unlocked one final chance to claim the belt that had eluded him, and a few months later, he went out and made good on that opportunity.
5. Mason Jones vs Axel Sola
Sometimes the fights that make this mid-year collection are loaded with championship stakes and laden with divisional ramifications. Sometimes they’re just old-school donnybrooks where a pair of tough-as-nails competitors leave every ounce of themselves inside the Octagon.
Watch The Full Fight On UFC Fight Pass
This one falls into the latter category, as neither Jones nor Sola are close to contention in the lightweight division at the moment but still stepped into the cage against one another in late March and went to war with one another as if there were gold on the line, claiming Fight of the Night honors in London and delighting the crowd at The O2 Arena. Sola came out strong, dropping Jones in the early going, but the Welshman did what he’s done throughout his career: steeled himself and rose to the occasion, battling back to win the round on one scorecard and then sweep the final two frames.
We spend a ton of time talking about contender and prospects and the people that make the most noise, but we have to give it up for the battle-hardened grinders like Jones and emerging all-action talents like Sola: these are the folks that rarely get their due and far too often fly under the radar, but if you tuned into this year’s event in London, they unquestionably made an impact on you and deserve your attention next time out.
Others receiving votes: Sean Strickland vs Khamzat Chimaev, DooHo Choi vs Daniel Santos, Angela Hill vs Xiong Jingnan, Charles Oliveira vs Max Holloway, Sean O’Malley vs Song Yadong, Marwan Rahiki vs Harry Hardwick, Jose Miguel Delgado vs Andre Fili
Tags