Five Things In UFC/MMA To Be Thankful For In 2024

Happy Thanksgiving, Maniacs! We hope you have a great holiday that includes food, family and memories that last a lifetime.

It’s been a strange year for mixed martial arts (MMA) in 2024. While there have been some fantastic fights and moments, it has been kind of “meh” for the most part. There are still two more Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight cards left (schedule here), and Professional Fighters League (PFL) has its championship card tomorrow (results here). Oh, and RIZIN will also have its huge New Year’s Eve event.

Nevertheless, because it’s Thanksgiving, I wanted to list five UFC/MMA things that we’re thankful for in 2024:

Alex Pereira

“Chama!!!!!“

Alex Pereira has been an absolute stud this year and has become a bonafide superstar. The frightening Brazilian monster singlehandedly saved UFC in 2024, competing three times this year on two of the three biggest fight cards. In the process, Pereira set the record for the shortest time for three title defenses in UFC (175 days), beating Ronda Rousey‘s previously-help record (189 days).

“Poatan” headlined the iconic UFC 300 card against Jamahal Hill and ended this big night with a memorable knockout. Next, Pereria stepped on short notice two months later, replacing Conor McGregor‘s anticipated return, and headlined UFC 303, which was 2024 International Fight Week (he knocked Jiri Prochazka out with a brutal head kick).

Finally, he fought a “game” Khalil Rountree at UFC 307, and after losing the first two rounds, Pereira battered Rountree to win via technical knockout in the fourth.

“Poatan” might not say much, but he speaks through absolute violence.

UFC 300

UFC 300 went down on April 13, 2024, and it was AWESOME. Yes, it wasn’t headlined by a returning Brock Lesnar or McGregor, as everyone expected, but it was filled with fun fights and champions galore.

Twelve former, interim, and/or current UFC champions competed at UFC 300, with former champions Cody Garbrandt and Deiveson Figueiredo kicking off the “Prelims.”

You can relive all of the highlights and finishes from UFC 300 here, but obviously, we have to rehash Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway, right?

When the fight was announced, I remember mostly everyone writing ‘R.I.P. Max’ in the fight announcement comments on social media because the last time Holloway fought at Lightweight, Dustin Poirier beat him up.

Well, that’s not what happened. “Blessed” broke Gaethje’s nose in the first round and then just had his way with him for all five rounds. Then, in the final 10 seconds of the fight — when he was up on the scorecards and had everything to lose — Holloway pointed the canvas, and both men went out swinging. Holloway found Gaethje’s chin and put him out cold with one of the best knockouts ever (watch highlights).

UFC 300 lived up to the expectations and will be remembered just like UFC 100 and UFC 200 are/were.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Rule Changes

Fourteen years and 11 months after Jon Jones suffered his first professional loss due to being disqualified for a 12-to-6 elbow to batter Matt Hamill, Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) officially changed course.

12-to-6 elbows are now completely legal (and have already been used in UFC fights … for better or worse … 12-to-6-to-anus.

In addition to the 12-to-6 elbows being legal, the definition of a downed fighter changed as well: “A fighter shall be considered grounded and may not be legally kneed or kicked to the head when any part of their body other than their hands or feet is in contact with the canvas (ground).”

We haven’t seen someone eat a knee to the dome yet while trying to game the system yet but it’ll happen eventually.

The fact that these violent tactics are now legal gives hope that other rules will be changed.

Soccer kicks next? (Probably not).

Francis Ngannou Returns To MMA

It wasn’t long, but Francis Ngannou finally returned to the sport where he is truly elite: MMA. Ngannou smashed Renan Ferreira unconscious in under four minutes from inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (watch highlights).

It was great to see “The Predator” back in MMA, but the backstory of what he was really fighting for made it special yet heartbreaking. Ngannou lost his son, Kobe, earlier this year, and it almost retired him. Somehow, the former UFC Heavyweight champion found the strength to fight again and took all his anger out on Ferreira.

Ngannou is uncertain about his next move, but hopes to fight MMA again in 2025.

Contender Series, Season Eight

Season eight of Contender Series was excellent this year, and to be honest, the fights were better than some UFC events.

There were brutal knockouts, slick submissions, and a fighter who literally refused to compete on fight night because of ‘nerves.’

Four fighters from the season have already competed inside the Octagon, and three of them have won – Cody Haddon, Mansur Abdul-Malik (watch highlights), and Lone’er Kavanagh.

Some other names to look out for next year are Austin Bashi, Jacobe Smith, Kody Steele, Kevin Vallejos, Islam Dulatov and Luis Gurule.

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