UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili can add another piece of hardware to his collection.
Though ESPN's ESPY Awards ceremony will not be held for four more days, the UFC revealed the nominees and winner of the ESPY Award for UFC Fighter of the Year, with Dvalishvili taking home the honors. The UFC made the announcement during the UFC Nashville broadcast.
The other nominees were UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, UFC women's bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison, and UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
Dvalishvili is the only one of the nominated winners to win in three title fights during the July 1, 2024 - June 20, 2025 timeframe the awards are based on.
This stretch began with Dvalishvili capturing the UFC bantamweight title from Sean O'Malley at Noche UFC 2: UFC 306 in September. He then retained the title in a comeback decision over Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 and a finish of O'Malley at UFC 316.
He is expected to face Cory Sandhagen in his next defense of the gold.
Merab Dvalishvili Wins Fighter Of The Year ESPY Award
Makhachev retained his lightweight title, defeating Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 and Renato Moicano at UFC 311, before vacating the title to move up to welterweight.
Harrison defeated Ketlen Veiera at UFC 307 before defeating Julianna Pena at UFC 316 to become women's bantamweight champion. She is expected to face the returning great Amanda Nunes at a time and place to be determined.
Du Plessis retained the middleweight title against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 and Sean Strickland at UFC 312. He will defend the title against Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of UFC 319 next month.
The UFC commentary team stated new lightweight champion and former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria was not nominated because of the timeframe the awards are based on. His lightweight title win came a week after deadline.