Justin Gaethje, Joshua Van, Josh Hokit and Ciryl Gane emerge as early UFC Fighter of the Year contenders for 2026

This has been quite the year for fighters leaving their mark in Octagon. As far as annual awards go, usually there is one that clearly should be considered as the best for a calendar 12 months. Kamaru Usman earned the nod in 2021 with a perfect run and the next closest competitor was Charles Oliveira. Alex Pereira ran away with the award in 2022 amid his rise to the top. Islam Makhachev was the clear top dog in 2023 with his pair of wins over Alexander Volkanovski.

Last year was the first time in a while that the award changed hands in a final fight of the year as Petr Yan essentially stole the recognition from Merab Dvalishvili with his stunning win in December. A Dvalishvili win would have been historical as he was going for a fourth title defense in a calendar year.

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All this to say, this year has four legitimate contenders to consider for the honor already. Justin Gaethje owns a pair of incredible wins as an underdog against Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria. Joshua Van erased any doubt about his legitimacy as the flyweight champion with his wins over Tatsuro Taira and Alexandre Pantoja. And the winner of Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit will have a case with Gane owning a win over Alex Pereira and Hokit looking to go 4-0 in a calendar year and capping it off with winning the heavyweight title. Then there's Sean Strickland, who also picked up a pair of upset wins in reclaiming the middleweight title.

Fighter of the Year contenders

FighterNumber of winsOpponents

Justin Gaethje

2

Paddy Pimblett, Ilia Topuria

Joshua Van

2

Tatsuro Taira, Alexandre Pantoja

Josh Hokit

3*

Denzel Freeman, Curtis Blaydes, Derrick Lewis

Ciryl Gane

1*

Alex Pereira

Sean Strickland2Anthony Hernandez, Khamzat Chimaev

*Hokit and Gane scheduled to fight for heavyweight title at UFC 334 in November

With that in mind, the CBS Sports experts took a look at some early considerations for who would get their vote as of today for this prestigous award.

Brian Campbell -- Justin Gaethje

With all due respect to the fighters who still have time over the next three months to boost their FOY case, no one is besting what Gaethje has been able to accomplish through two fights in 2026. No one.

The 37-year-old Gaethje, who likely would've retired had he lost either of his fights this year, scored a pair of upsets in two of the best scraps of the calendar year while finally adding an undisputed lightweight championship to his already Hall-of-Fame resume. Gaethje also defeated a pair of unbeaten fighters in order to do so and overcame adversity in both fights to complete one of the great renaissance runs for an aging legend in the sport's history.

In January, Gaethje helped usher in the Paramount era for UFC by outbrawling top contender Paddy Pimblett over five rounds in a victory that only aged better by year's end when Pimblett returned in July to submit a red-hot Benoit Saint Denis to catapult himself back into title contention. But it was Gaethje's victory over Topuria at the White House in June that was the most impressive as survived a hellacious storm early against arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter on the planet and broke him down in violent and systematic fashion.

Gaethje not only beat better competition than the other FOY contenders in possibly the sport's best overall division, he did so as an underdog both times in the advanced stages of his career in a span of just five months.

Brent Brookhouse -- Joshua Van

It's great to be in a year with an actual discussion about multiple legitimate Fighter of the Year candidates. Most years, there's a clear winner and several fighters who you have to push a case for to make the conversation interesting. While I would not fight hard against the idea of Gaethje as the top fighter of 2026 to date, my gut and heart say Van has earned the honor.

Gaethje's wins over Pimblett and Topuria were fantastic, and both showed the qualities that have made Gaethje so special in his career. For the sake of making the argument for Van, let's put those wins in context. Many felt that the Pimblett fight was a rushed attempt to get an unproven young fighter the interim title because of his marketability, more than what he'd done in the Octagon and he ran into a gritty veteran who exposed his shortcomings. And Topuria had only fought once at lightweight and was an unproven product at the weight, even if he had an argument as the pound-for-pound best in the UFC. It's picking nits, but that's the 2026 Fighter of the Year conversation.

Van entered 2026 feeling like an illegitimate champion due to winning the title when Pantoja was injured 26 seconds into their UFC 323 bout. As I write this, any doubts of Van's championship bona fides are gone. First, he defended the title as an underdog to Tatsuro Taira as an upward of +145 underdog and wore Taira down for a fifth-round finish in a Fight of the Night performance. Then, Van outworked Pantoja, surviving bad positions before showing off his elite boxing and even nearly submitting the former longtime flyweight king. There are no holes in Van's 2026 resume, no discussion of fighters coming from other weights or questionable competition, just clear wins over the best possible opposition. That's what a Fighter of the Year resume is supposed to look like.

Brandon Wise -- Josh Hokit

While both are really bullet-proof arguments, there is still a lingering fight out there that I think could play a factor in this race. Despite heavyweight being in a bit of flux with Tom Aspinall just recently vacating the title due to injuries that have kept him out all year, a brash, loudmouth contender has emerged. Hokit opened the year with a win over Denzel Freeman at UFC 324 in January. An unknown to say the least, but the win catapulted Hokit into a massive fight with Curtis Blaydes in April -- a fight that many have argued is the best heavyweight fight of all time.

Hokit then followed that up by getting a last-minute spot at UFC Freedom 250 in June against a faded version of Derrick Lewis. Despite none of his current wins carrying the cache of an Ilia Topuria or Alexandre Pantoja, Hokit could still make some incredible history by year's end. If Hokit is able to go from complete unknown in January to UFC heavyweight champion in November, it's one of the fastest rises to a title in the promotion's history. And that makes him (potentially) worthy of consideration for Fighter of the Year.