UFC names top “Fights” from first half of 2026 in midyear Thomas Gerbasi UFC.com Awards

UFC has reached a penultimate stop in its Thomas Gerbasi Half-Year Awards, publishing its “The Fights” category for the first half of 2026. In the franchise’s midyear review, is handing out recognition for the sport’s most compelling bouts from January through June, and the “Fights” list was built around voting that, according to UFC, saw five contests dominate the ballots with familiar names setting the tone.

The way the awards are presented matters because it frames the midyear conversation around entertainment and competition rather than just one-off moments. ’s midseason awards are structured as a sequence of categories, with “The Fights” positioned as the second-to-last grouping in the overall run. That placement is intended to preview what fans will likely carry into the second half of the year, after earlier installments have already covered other performance angles.

UFC’s own description of the category emphasizes two themes: volume and familiarity. The “five contests” phrasing indicates that only a small set of bouts rose to the top through the voting process, while the reference to “familiar faces” points to established fighters shaping the story of the first six months of 2026 rather than an entirely new cast dominating the conversation.

The timing also lands during a period when UFC’s year has included unusually high-profile staging and broad media visibility, which has helped keep mainstream attention on fight results. In a separate recap, MMA Junkie’s Megan Olivi video discussed how the first six months included the promotion’s media transition to Paramount+ from ESPN, a major lightweight-title storyline culminating in a Gaethje victory over Ilia Topuria to unify and become undisputed champion, and a landmark all-time fight-card event at the White House.

Within that wider context, ’s choice to focus on “The Fights” functions like a scoreboard for what audiences connected with most. Even without getting into the full mechanics of the voting here, the framing suggests these were the bouts that best captured what defines UFC’s appeal during the first half of the calendar: decisive momentum, clean finish windows when the fight opens up, and the kinds of matchups that pull viewers past the early rounds.

For fans tracking narratives into the back half of 2026, the practical value of the award categories is less about a single trophy and more about sorting the contenders and compelling matchups in their minds. If “The Fights” delivers recognizable names at the top, it also hints at which storylines are likely to keep getting promoted, discussed, and eventually scheduled for title-adjacent opportunities later in the year.

Next, ’s remaining awards will complete the midyear picture by wrapping up the series after this penultimate installment. The list can also be read as a guide to where the sport’s attention is trending, which matters because UFC builds future marketing, matchups, and promotion emphasis around the same themes that drive engagement in these fan-and-editorial votes.