Sean O’Malley, the reigning UFC bantamweight champion, has been crowned the top UFC fighter of 2024 at the prestigious ESPN “ESPY” Awards. He emerged victorious over his fellow cage fighters and UFC champions, namely Alex Pereira (light heavyweight), Islam Makhachev (lightweight), and Zhang Weili (strawweight).
ESPY stands for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly.
Jon Jones edged out Israel Adesanya to claim last year’s top honor and in the 12 months since that achievement, O’Malley (18-1, 1 NC) captured the bantamweight title by stopping Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292, then defended the 135-pound strap with a decision win over Marlon Vera at UFC 299.
During that same timeframe, Pereira (11-2) went 4-0 with three knockouts, with all three finishes coming in light heavyweight title fights. That includes a pair of stunning, short-notice stoppages at UFC 300 and UFC 303.
Makhachev (26-1) racked up a pair of pay-per-view (PPV) title defenses at UFC 294 and UFC 302, both finishes, while Zhang (25-3) defended her 115-pound belt with a couple of decision wins at UFC 292 and UFC 300.
The recipient of the Best Boxer award at the 2024 ESPYs was Terence Crawford.
