The 2026 Best Fighter ESPY is the first time since 2018 that ESPN has judged boxers and mixed martial artists for one trophy, and the merged field runs four deep: UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje against boxers Terence Crawford, Claressa Shields, and Gabriela Fundora. Gaethje is the only MMA nominee, and on Kalshi he is the market favorite. The live board above ranks every contender by current price. The award is decided at the ESPYS on July 15, 2026.
The 2026 ESPYS put boxing and mixed martial arts back in the same bracket. For the first time since 2018, ESPN folded its split Best Boxer and Best UFC Fighter honors into a single Best Fighter ESPY, and the reunified 2026 field is four names deep: UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje against boxers Terence Crawford, Claressa Shields, and Gabriela Fundora. Gaethje is the lone MMA nominee. On Kalshi he is the clear favorite, and the live board above carries the current price on every name.
Justin Gaethje earned the nod on the strength of a two-fight title run. He beat Paddy Pimblett for the interim lightweight belt, then upset Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 to unify the UFC lightweight championship. As the only MMA fighter in a category that spent seven years handing MMA its own separate award, Gaethje inherits the crossover-name advantage that has historically carried UFC stars in fan voting, and the board above treats him as the one to beat.
Terence Crawford is the resume of the field. He moved up and dominated Canelo Alvarez in one of the biggest boxing nights in years, becoming the first male boxer of the four-belt era to win undisputed titles in three different weight classes. Crawford has been here before. He won the unified Best Fighter ESPY in 2018 and the Best Boxer ESPY in 2024, which makes him the only nominee who has already won this trophy in its combined form.
Claressa Shields brings the deepest ESPY history among the boxers. She defended twice inside the voting window, beating Lani Daniels by unanimous decision in July 2025 and controlling Franchon Crews-Dezurn in February 2026, and she already owns the 2023 Best Boxer ESPY. Shields is the most accomplished woman in the field and the nominee most likely to split the boxing vote with Crawford.
Gabriela Fundora is the least nationally known of the four and the longest shot on the board above. She stayed busy in the window, stopping Alexas Kubicki by TKO in September 2025 and beating Viviana Ruiz Corredor in March 2026. In a fan-voted award that rewards mainstream recognition, the gap between Fundora's ring results and her odds is the widest in the field.
The unified Best Fighter ESPY ran from 2007 through 2018 before ESPN split it in two. Floyd Mayweather Jr. owned the category with six wins (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014). Manny Pacquiao took it in 2009 and 2011. Ronda Rousey became the only woman to win the combined award in 2015, Conor McGregor won in 2016, Demetrious Johnson in 2017, and Terence Crawford closed the unified era in 2018. That makes this year's Crawford the last man to win the award before it was divided.
From 2019 through 2025 the honor lived as two trophies. On the boxing side, Canelo Alvarez won in 2019, Tyson Fury in 2021 and 2022, Claressa Shields in 2023, Terence Crawford in 2024, and Katie Taylor in 2025. On the MMA side, Daniel Cormier won the first Best MMA Fighter ESPY in 2019, followed by Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2021, Charles Oliveira in 2022, Jon Jones in 2023, Sean O'Malley in 2024, and Merab Dvalishvili in 2025. Neither award was presented in 2020 after the pandemic scrambled the sports calendar. Two of the 2026 nominees already hold a split-era ESPY: Crawford from 2024 and Shields from 2023.
The award is decided on July 15, 2026, at the ESPYS at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York, hosted by Marcello Hernandez and airing at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and the ESPN app. The same ceremony decides the night's marquee individual honors, including the Best Athlete Men's ESPY 2026 market. ESPYS winners are chosen by fan voting, and the Best Fighter result is announced live during the telecast. The market resolves to whichever nominee is named Best Fighter that night.
The 2026 ESPYS board runs well beyond the fighters. Compare the Best Athlete Women's ESPY 2026 odds for the top individual honor on the women's side, or the Best Team ESPY 2026 market for the night's group award. Sport-specific races like the Best NFL Player ESPY 2026 odds, the Best MLB Player ESPY 2026 market, and the Best NBA Player ESPY 2026 odds round out the slate. For every award on the board, start at the entertainment prediction markets hub or browse sports prediction markets.
Resolves to the fighter named Best Fighter at the 2026 ESPYS on July 15, 2026. ESPYS winners are chosen by fan voting and announced live during the ABC telecast, so the source of truth is ESPN's on-air and official announcement of the award. The winning nominee's contract pays $1 per share and every other nominee resolves to $0. If the ceremony is postponed past the resolution date or canceled, or if the result is declared a tie, platform-specific rules apply, and both Kalshi and Polymarket also list a separate Tie contract on the market above.
On Kalshi, UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje is the clear favorite at 71c as of July 11, 2026, with boxer Terence Crawford next at 26c and Claressa Shields and Gabriela Fundora in the single digits. Each nominee is also listed on Polymarket.
The Best Fighter winner is announced live at the 2026 ESPYS on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, held at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York and airing at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and the ESPN app.
Both Kalshi and Polymarket list a separate contract for each nominee, so you can back or fade Justin Gaethje, Terence Crawford, Claressa Shields, or Gabriela Fundora on either platform. The live board above shows every nominee current price.
The four nominees are Justin Gaethje, Terence Crawford, Claressa Shields, and Gabriela Fundora. ESPN merged its split Best Boxer and Best UFC Fighter awards back into a single Best Fighter category for 2026, the first combined field since Terence Crawford won it in 2018.
ESPYS voting is fan-driven, so watch how the three boxers split the boxing vote and whether Justin Gaethje consolidates MMA fans as the lone UFC nominee. The result is revealed during the July 15, 2026 telecast.