MMA Junkie's Fight of the Month for October: A trilogy bout for the ages

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from October 2026: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie's Fight of the Month award for October.At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.Nominee: Ismail Naurdiev def. Marvin Vettori at UFC 332Marvin Vettori's career hit another new low when his losing skid hit five consecutive fights against Ismail Naurdiev.Former middleweight title challenger Vettori (19-10-1 MMA, 9-9-1 UFC) was in desperate need of a victory against Naurdiev (26-8 MMA, 5-3 UFC), but he couldn't get back on track and dropped a unanimous decision. Naurdiev landed some hard strikes and mixed in takedown attempts, and while Vettori hung in it, he couldn't land the big shot he needed to swing the result in his favor.MARVIN'S MOMENT AT THE END OF RD2 👊[ #UFC332 | LIVE NOW on @ParamountPlus and @CBS ] pic.twitter.com/TICga2J8m5— UFC (@ufc) October 3, 2026Nominee: Esteban Ribovics def. King Green at UFC 332Esteban Ribovics vs. King Green was a barnburner for as long as it lasted – which wasn't long.Ribovics (17-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) rocked Green (36-18-1 MMA, 17-3-1 UFC) several times en route to a TKO stoppage at 4:08 of Round 1. Referee Herb Dean nearly intervened on multiple occasions, even ending up between the two fighters at one point. The left hand continued to land for Ribovics, and upon dropping Green one final time, Dean finally stopped it.ESTEBAN RIBOVICS WITH A MASSIVE TKO AGAINST KING GREEN 💥📺 #UFC332 on @CBS & @paramountpluspic.twitter.com/oZ3xQbcYnd— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) October 4, 2026Nominee: Lorenzo Figueroa def. Helton Jose at LFA 243Lorenzo Figueroa with one of the most insane comebacks of the year.Botched guillotine stoppage. A fight restart. Helton Jose Jr. almost knocks Figueroa out. Figueroa with the comeback KO. What the hell just happened. #LFApic.twitter.com/BPLJf8Pv1u— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 10, 2026Nominee: Brendan Allen def. Christian Leroy Duncan at UFC Fight Night 290Brendan Allen pulled off a slick finish of Christian Leroy Duncan late in their main event, and he said it's a statement for his shot a the middleweight title.Allen (28-7 MMA, 16-4 UFC) took Duncan (15-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) into deep waters, and pulled off a late submission win to close the show with an exclamation point. Duncan found himself trapped in Allen's bread-and-butter rear-naked choke, and was forced to tap at with just over two minutes remaining in the final round.BRENDAN ALLEN GOES ALL OUT FOR THE SUBMISSION 😤[ #UFCVegas122 | LIVE on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/xNOClDmg1o— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) October 11, 2026The winner: Petr Yan def. Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333Merab Dvalishvili's record-breaking takedown attempts weren't enough to dethrone Petr Yan in their trilogy fight.Bantamweight champion Yan (20-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC) got the last laugh when he defeated Merab Dvalishvili (21-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) by unanimous decision to take a 2-1 advantage in their series.The fight was two rounds a piece going into the final rounds, which was fitting given the highly competitive nature of the rivalry between the divisional elites.Dvalishvili stormed into Round 5 with a big right and a takedown attempt. Yan fired back with a combination. Yan decided to surprise Dvalishvili with a takedown attempt of his own. Yan stuffed a couple of Dvalishvili takedowns and pressed forward with a combination. Dvalishvili was trying to connect with a big shot, but Yan was making the defensive reads. Yan connected with a body kick and a knee. Dvalishvili continued to fight hard, but was failing to land anything significant. Yan landed a jumping knee that connected to the body. Yan wobbled Dvalishvili with a big combination. After losing the first two rounds, Yan figured out Dvalishvili's timing and took over to win the fight.A title fight for the ages![ #UFC333 | LIVE on @paramountplus ] pic.twitter.com/AEHsOuyyYZ— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) October 24, 2026After the fight, Yan said he'd fight Song Yadong or anyone UFC puts in front of him."Give me Song Yadong, give me King Kong! Give me anybody! Just make the weight, and I will take you down," Yan said through an interpreter in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier.