Demetrious Johnson Wins Fighter Of The Year Over Conor McGregor At ESPY Awards

UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is finally getting some shine for his performance inside the world famous Octagon.

Johnson, who has defeated top names in his division and is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, received his first nomination at the ESPY Awards. The UFC flyweight champion took the ESPY Award for Best Fighter of the year. Johnson won the fan-voted award over UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and boxers Terence Crawford, Gennady Golovkin, and Andre Ward.

If you recall, McGregor won the 2016 award for Best Fighter and was nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete. The 2017 ESPY nominees took place on July 12 in Los Angeles. The show aired live on ABC.

McGregor is preparing for the biggest challenge of his life as he is set for a boxing showdown with Floyd Mayweather on Aug. 26 in Las Vegas. On the flip side, Johnson is on the wrong side of the UFC as he refused to fight the ex-bantamweight champ, T.J. Dillashaw. Instead, he is set to fight Ray Borg.

Johnson is the company’s longest-reigning current titleholder at just under four years. He holds 10 successful defenses, which ties former middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s title-defense record. Johnson is widely talked about as No. 1 pound-for-pound MMA fighter.

MMA continues to grow within the mainstream specter of the sports world. Johnson, McGregor, Holly Holm, Robbie Lawler, Ronda Rousey, Lyoto Machida, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva and Edson Barboza are among the fighters nominated for honors at past ESPY Awards shows.