Newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison believes someone *else*, not herself or fellow nominees, truly deserves this year`s `Best UFC Fighter` ESPY award.
Harrison had a successful past year inside the Octagon, culminating in her achieving her goal of becoming a UFC champion.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist started strong with a dominant submission win against Holly Holm in her debut. She then secured a hard-fought decision victory over Ketlen Vieira last October. These performances led to a title shot at UFC 316, where Harrison capitalized by submitting Julianna Pena with a kimura to claim the championship.
Her impressive run earned Harrison a place on the four-person shortlist for the upcoming `Best UFC Fighter` ESPY award. However, the new bantamweight queen is publicly supporting a teammate she feels was unfairly overlooked for the nomination.
Kayla Harrison Endorses Non-Nominee Alexandre Pantoja for ESPY Award
The other nominees joining Harrison for the 2025 ESPY award are former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, current middleweight titleholder Dricus du Plessis, and reigning bantamweight king Merab Dvalishvili.
After the nominees were confirmed, the official ESPN MMA account on X (formerly Twitter) polled fans for their opinion.
Interestingly, one of the nominated fighters quickly shared their pick, and it wasn`t anyone from the official list.
While some online commenters questioned the omission of fighters like Ilia Topuria, Harrison specifically named her teammate from American Top Team and fellow champion, Alexandre Pantoja.
She simply wrote, “My vote is for Pantoja.”
Pantoja, known as `The Cannibal`, recently competed this past Saturday at UFC 317 in Las Vegas. He successfully defended his flyweight title for the fourth time by submitting Kai Kara-France in the co-main event.
Notable Past ESPY Winners: Sean O`Malley, Jon Jones, and More
Whoever takes home the award at this year`s ceremony on July 16 will be in esteemed company.
In recent years, the `Best UFC Fighter` ESPY has gone to several legends and prominent former champions, including former bantamweight kingpin Sean O’Malley in 2024, retired two-division champion Jon Jones in 2023, popular lightweight Charles Oliveira in 2022, and former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2021.
The year 2020 marked the first time MMA had its own dedicated category for the award. Before this, MMA fighters were grouped with boxers for a general “best fighter” award. Daniel Cormier was the first recipient of the MMA-exclusive award.
Even when competing against boxers, UFC stars managed to secure the award. Demetrious Johnson, Conor McGregor, and Ronda Rousey notably broke the streak of boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.`s dominance in winning the award.
Gareth Pendleton