ONE Championship Awards 2022: Full List of Fighter Of The Year Awards Winners

After another action-packed year in 2022, ONE Championship has announced its end of year award winners in four categories across all four disciplines in the promotion featuring some newly crowned champions in the year.

At the start of every year, ONE Championship like most promotions honours it's athletes based on their performance and display over the last year.

The Singapore-based promotion has awards for fighter of the year, knockout of the year, submission of the year, and fight of the year awards across all four combat sports disciplines under its banner - MMA, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and submission grappling.

Here are the four ONE Fighter of year winners in 2022:

MMA Fighter Of The Year: Anatoly Malykhin

Anatoly Malykhin had a near-flawless 2022. "Sladkiy" started the year as an undefeated contender and finished it as a two-division ONE World Champion.

The Russian powerhouse captured the ONE Interim Heavyweight World Title with a crushing knockout win over Kirill Grishenko in February, taking home a double US$50,000 performance bonus for his efforts.

Malykhin then shocked the world in December with a one-round demolition of previously undefeated superstar Reinier de Ridder to capture the ONE Light Heavyweight World Title.

ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong saw fit to award the surging behemoth with another US$100,000 performance bonus for his scintillating performance against the Dutchman, bringing his year to a close in perfect style.

Kickboxing Fighter Of The Year: Roman Kryklia

After sitting out 2021, Roman Kryklia returned in a big way in 2022. The towering Ukrainian ended the year with a perfect 3-0 record in the Circle.

He also earned three performance bonuses and the ONE Heavyweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Championship to add to his light heavyweight kickboxing strap.

Kryklia knocked out Murat Aygun and Guto Inocente inside a round before surviving a first-round knockdown from Iraj Azizpour to stop his longtime rival in a classic trilogy fight.

The 31-year-old enters 2023 with a 26-pound belt adorning each shoulder, and he is the man to beat in the heavier kickboxing divisions.

Muay Thai Fighter Of The Year: Tawanchai PK.Saenchai

After a 1-1 start to his ONE tenure, Muay Thai phenom Tawanchai PK.Saenchai made his move in 2022.

The 23-year-old took out contenders Saemapetch Fairtex and Niclas Larsen in January and June, respectively, before capturing the ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Title in an upset over longtime divisional king Petchmorakot Petchyindee at ONE 161 in September.

Tawanchai was dominant against the Thai superstar, and he delivered on his promise that he could snatch the gold. The new featherweight Muay Thai king will take some beating in 2023.

Submission Grappling Athlete Of The Year: Kade Ruotolo

At just 19 years old, Kade Ruotolo spearheaded a huge push for submission grappling in the last 12 months.

The American submission ace opened his campaign in ONE with a unanimous decision win over Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki at ONE 157 in May.

He then notched up a huge win for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by tapping out four-time Sambo World Champion Uali Khurzev to win the inaugural ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Title at ONE FIGHT NIGHT 3 in October.

The California native wasted no time in defending his title in December, scoring a unanimous decision win over multiple-time BJJ World Champion Matheus Gabriel.

Still not even close to hitting his prime, Ruotolo is poised to take submission grappling to a new level once again in 2023.

Source: Media Release