By Jorden Curran
The 2025 IMMAF Awards took place on October 30 at the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia, during the week of the 2025 IMMAF World Championships. The annual occasion, which celebrates the achievements of competitors and national federations, featured 6 athlete focused awards with a total of 31 nominees spanning 22 nations. With thousands of online votes cast, winners were decided by a combined weighted vote of the IMMAF fanbase and board of directors.
BEST SENIOR MALE ATHLETE
Bohdan Cherepania
Nominated alongside the likes of Gimbat Magomedov and Yerulan Kabdulov, Bohdan Cherepania was the chosen winner in one of the most competitive best senior male lineups to date. Over the past year, the Light-Heavyweight standout secured the 2024 IMMAF world title and 2025 European Championships silver medal for Team Ukraine, securing each win with an opening round stoppage.
BEST SENIOR FEMALE ATHLETE
Anna Hyria
The sensational Anna Hyria earned the best senior female award after setting herself apart as a pound-for-pound leader among the current generation of IMMAF competitors. Ukraine’s star talent captured the 2024 atomweight world title before successfully stepping up to strawweight to win gold at the 2025 European Championships. The 23-year-old’s exploits were underpinned by a 5-0 streak of back-to-back submission wins. In the days following the awards ceremony, Hyria went on to retain the Atomweight world title, expanding her record to 11-0.
BEST JUNIOR MALE ATHLETE
Ibrohim Rahimzoda
At just 20 years age Rahimzoda holds a 15-1 record and picked up the best junior male award for his 2024 world championships triumph in Uzbekistan. He retained the junior lightweight world title in 2025 for Tajikistan, producing one of the most elite displays of athleticism and skill by a junior competitor, and will no doubt be among the senior title front runners this time next year.
BEST JUNIOR FEMALE ATHLETE
Mariia Klein
Perhaps no junior athlete has been spotlighted for lighting up the IMMAF octagon with as much character and relentlessness as Mariia Klein. Alongside some of the most celebrated junior nominees to date, including Isla Fono, Abigail Alvarez, Amy Scully and Maria Kitoko, Klein has excelled beyond being unstoppable to test the boundaries of being undeniable. Ukraine’s top young prospect won bantamweight gold at both the 2024 World Championships and 2025 Euros, forcing submission wins over all eight of her opponents, seven in the opening round. After winning her second world title last week at the 2025 IMMAF Worlds, this time as a flyweight, she advances to 13-0 with a near 100% rate of first round submission wins.
BEST NEWCOMER
Dmytro Lytvynchuk
At just 19 years of age Dmytro Lytvynchuk made his IMMAF debut at the senior level and claimed gold at the 2025 European Championships, in a gruelling flyweight division. The young newcomer faced trial by fire with each rival demanding a locked in effort to go the distance. Lytvynchuk’s skill and stamina overcame every obstacle as he prevailed to earn the European title for Ukraine, and he has since made history as one third of the inaugural IMMAF Refugee Team competing at the 2025 IMMAF World Championships.
PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Ognjen Mićović
From a stacked nominees listed of 8 highlight reel performances, Mićović received the nod for his 2025 European Championships moment on home soil in Serbia. In the blink of an eye, the super-welterweight contender unleashed and landed a sublime question mark kick KO to send the Belgrade audience into a frenzy and showcase the devastating technical prowess shown by athletes on the IMMAF platform.
